N.F.L.’s Top Lawyer Had Cozy Relationship With Washington Team President

By BY KEN BELSON AND KATHERINE ROSMAN from NYT Sports Jeff Pash, the N.F.L.’s general counsel, brokered penalties, discussed a cheerleading scandal and arranged perks in emails with the former president of the Washington Football Team.https://nyti.ms/2YVyOuS

Hopes Fade for Imminent Federal Deal on College Athletes, Pressuring N.C.A.A.

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports New state laws are scheduled to take effect on July 1, but there are vanishingly low expectations for a deal in Washington in the coming days.https://nyti.ms/2THT9AZ

In Moving All-Star Game, Another Sport Flexes Its Activist Muscles

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports Pulled by public opinion and sometimes their own players, leagues and teams are wading in to divisive political fights as never before.https://nyti.ms/3dy832O

How Blowing Up College Sports Became a Rallying Cry for Some in Washington

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports The N.C.A.A. is under scrutiny on Capitol Hill and at the Supreme Court. The pressure for college sports to change is bound to intensify.https://nyti.ms/3u2zloL

Sports Are Returning to Normal. So Is Their Role in Political Fights.

By BY KURT STREETER from NYT Sports American society is redrawing cultural norms and protections for citizens’ rights. It shouldn’t be a shock that sports is the most visible battleground.https://nyti.ms/3eEx1ja

Deep Within Relief Bill, Horse Racing Gets New Tools to Clean Up

By BY JOE DRAPE from NYT Sports A provision deep in the coronavirus stimulus package puts the United States Anti-Doping Agency in charge of regulating thoroughbred racing.https://nyti.ms/3812kBj

Lawmakers Ask N.F.L. About Race Norms Used in Concussion Settlement

By BY KEN BELSON from NYT Sports Members of Congress questioned whether the racial benchmarks used to settle dementia claims were consistent with discriminatory economic practices like redlining.https://nyti.ms/3jCwJss

Trump Led From Briefing Room After Shooting Outside White House

By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. The Secret Service stopped President Trump in the middle of his daily coronavirus briefing and led him to the Oval Office. He returned several minutes later, and said there had been a shooting nearby.https://nyti.ms/2PFQe6t

The N.C.A.A. Says It’s Working to Change. Next Year, at the Soonest.

By BY ALAN BLINDER AND BILLY WITZ from NYT Sports At a meeting in California, top officials in college sports mulled how to change the rules that would allow athletes to profit from their fame. But new standards won’t happen until at least 2021.https://nyti.ms/2RKVRRB

Asked About N.B.A., China Spat, Trump Instead Blasts Kerr and Popovich

By BY SOPAN DEB from NYT Sports The president said the league and Beijing “have to work out their own situation” in a dispute over a team executive’s tweet supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.https://nyti.ms/316mIKB

Asked About N.B.A., China Spat, Trump Instead Blasts Kerr and Popovich

By BY SOPAN DEB from NYT Sports The president said the league and Beijing “have to work out their own situation” in a dispute over a team executive’s tweet supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.https://nyti.ms/2pY9C4Z

With Time Running Short, Patriots Unlikely to Make White House Visit

By KEN BELSON and MICHAEL CROWLEY from NYT Sports They won the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. But since then the team and the White House have not agreed on a date, though both sides say politics has nothing to do with it.https://nyti.ms/33WRpUO

M.L.B. Asks Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith to Return $5,000 Donation

By DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports The money was given after the Mississippi senator made comments endorsing public hanging.https://nyti.ms/2SalZUl