33 pro sports venues were open as polling locations on Election Day, offering voters a more socially-distanced option to cast their ballots, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.

• Venues by state: California (8), Texas (5), D.C. (3), Arizona (2), Indiana (2), New York (2), Maryland (2), Missouri (1), Colorado (1), Washington (1), Wisconsin (1), Pennsylvania (1), New Jersey (1), Ohio (1), Illinois (1), Utah (1).
• Venues by league: NBA (14), NHL (10), NFL (9), WNBA (5), MLB (4), MLS (2), NWSL (1).

Photos from around the country...

NEW YORK — Madison Square Garden served 60,000 eligible voters for both early voting and Election Day, making it the largest polling site in New York City.

CHICAGO — The United Center's first voter was a woman registered on the South Side who'd received mixed signals about where to vote. So, she woke up at 4am and went to the arena where she'd heard "anyone and everyone" could vote.

KANSAS CITY — Through his foundation, 15 and the Mahomies, Patrick Mahomes helped foot the bill to ensure that Arrowhead Stadium was used as a voting site. He and the Chiefs split the costs of 25 machines and 30 poll workers.

LOS ANGELES — It's been quite the celebration at Dodger Stadium over the past few days, with Marisa Tomei giving out free cookies to voters on Sunday and a mariachi band serenading them on Election Day.

The Mid-American Conference (MAC), which on Aug. 8 became the first FBS conference to postpone its season, kicks off tonight with a six-game slate.

• Eastern Michigan at Kent State, 6pm ET
• Western Michigan at Akron, 6pm
• Ball State at Miami (Ohio), 7pm
• Buffalo at Northern Illinois, 7pm
• Ohio at Central Michigan, 7pm
• Bowling Green at Toledo, 8pm

The big picture: Since 2000, the MAC has played football games in the middle of the week, a scheduling quirk that earned its own nickname — MACtion.

• This has helped the conference elevate its profile and build a national brand, since it doesn't have to compete against other college games on Saturday.
• Each fall, there are days (like tonight) where they're the only football on TV.

The other side: One major drawback to playing on freezing cold weeknights in November is low attendance and lack of campus buzz.

• "There's a better atmosphere at high school games than the Tuesday and Wednesday MAC games," one Miami (Ohio) graduate told The Ringer.
• The atmosphere will be even bleaker this season, as fans are not allowed in stadiums. Then again, that's the reality for many schools across the country.

The bottom line: MACtion caters to college football fans at home in their living rooms. Normally, that comes at the expense of students and fans who want the typical Saturday experience. But this year, the living room fan is all they have.

Fun, timely fact ... Miami (Ohio) is one of just four schools to produce both a U.S. President and a Super Bowl-winning QB.

• Miami (Ohio): Benjamin Harrison and Ben Roethlisberger
• Stanford: Herbert Hoover and John Elway/Jim Plunkett
• Michigan: Gerald Ford and Tom Brady
• Navy: Jimmy Carter and Roger Staubach

All North American sports leagues face enormous uncertainty heading into 2021, but the NHL's reliance on ticket sales and cross-border travel puts it in a particularly tough spot.

The state of play: While leagues like the NBA and NFL make most of their revenue from media rights, the NHL is a much more gate-driven league.

• This means playing in empty arenas could cripple the bottom line — so much so that a few owners have suggested that the league might be better off financially if it shuts down next season, according to ESPN.
• Commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly shut that idea down, but it gives a sense of the stress the NHL is under.

Where things stand:

• Start date: The NHL and NHLPA announced on Oct. 6 that they've shifted their target date to Jan. 1, 2021, after initially targeting Dec. 1. Bettman made it clear to me in our interview last month that they won't rush this decision.
• Canadian border: The Canadian border was closed for nonessential travel this summer, and the situation hasn't changed all that much. One potential solution: an All-Canada Division featuring the NHL's seven Canada-based teams.
• Season length: We almost certainly won't see a full slate. That could mean upward of 65 games or as few as 48, which is considered the absolute minimum, per ESPN.
• Paychecks: Thanks to an agreement the NHL and NHLPA made this summer, most players have already received 8.1% of their 2020-21 salaries.

Series schedule:

• Yesterday: NBA 2021
• Tomorrow: MLB 2021
• Friday: Mystery league (???)

In an act of both solidarity and protest, the College of William & Mary women's track and field team is boycotting the season until the recently cut men's team is reinstated, Jeff writes.

• The state of play: W&M is hardly the first school to make pandemic-related cuts, encounter Title IX complications or treat its student athletes like numbers in an unbalanced equation.
• Yes, but: This time, a monster was unleashed of the school's own making, with 26 young women taking what they've learned at their beloved institution and using it to fight back.

The backdrop: W&M cut seven athletic programs in September — four men's, three women's. But after being threatened with a Title IX lawsuit, they reinstated the women's teams (gymnastics, swimming and volleyball).

• Teams that remain cut: Men's gymnastics, swimming and both indoor and outdoor track & field.
• Samantha Huge, the school's AD at the time, was ousted amid the backlash to not just her decision, but its messy communication, which included plagiarism of Stanford's similar announcement back in July.
• Worth noting: Men's cross country avoided the axe in part because they've won 20 straight conference championships.

Between the lines: Title IX promises equitable, not equal, treatment on the basis of sex. A school's athletic makeup needn't be a 50-50 split, but rather reflect the student population as a whole.

• W&M is nearly 60% women, so Title IX compliance means the athletic department must look the same.
• Women runners are thus particularly valuable, as one person can count for as many as three tallies (cross country, indoor and outdoor track). That means a single distance runner offsets three, say, football players.

What they're saying: When the women's teams were reinstated, interim AD Jeremy Martin made them feel like pawns, not athletes, distance runner Lauren Finikiotis tells Axios.

• "He never said, 'We value your sport — what you can do in the pool, on the court, on the track.' He just said we need you here to be Title IX compliant."
• "If you want us to be confident and go out into society and represent William & Mary, how am I supposed to do that if this school makes it clear I'm only here so that a man can play a sport?"
• "Taking opportunities away from men to achieve gender equity is missing the point. If there's a compliance issue, they should give opportunities to women instead of taking them away from their male counterparts."

The bottom line: Finikiotis and her teammates love their school, so they're fighting for it to better represent how they've seen it all along.

• "As William & Mary students," she said, "this is what we're encouraged to do; this is what we're taught to do." Seems like a job well done.

USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter on Tuesday announced the 24-man roster for upcoming friendlies against Wales (Nov. 12) and Panama (Nov. 16).

• Youth: With 14 players 20 or younger, the roster's average age is 21 years, 10 months.
• Experience: The squad includes nine players currently competing in the Champions League, and even more who are starting in Europe.

Goalkeepers:

• Names: Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City), Zack Steffen (Manchester City)
• Notes: Steffen, who has made two appearances for Manchester City so far this season, is the clear starter.

Defenders:

• Names: John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht), Tim Ream (Fulham), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich), Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
• Notes: Brooks and Ream are both starters in Europe and have been regulars under Berhalter. Dest will likely start on the right side, with Robinson the favorite to start on the left.

Midfielders:

• Names: Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton)
• Notes: Adams and McKennie are the core. Musah, a 17-year-old winger who was born in New York and is a product of Arsenal's academy and England's youth national teams, has everyone intrigued.

Forwards:

• Names: Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Uly Llanez (Heerenveen), Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Sebastian Soto (Telstar), Timothy Weah (Lille)
• Notes: Pulisic and Reyna are the clear starters on the left and right wings, respectively, and Sargent will likely enter camp as the starting striker.

Thanks for choosing Axios Airlines. We'll be traveling to a new destination each morning this month. Sit back and enjoy the flight.

• Location: AccorHotels Arena
• Coordinates: 48.8385° N, 2.3786° E

Welcome to Paris! France's capital is currently hosting the Paris Masters, an indoor tournament that began second round play early this morning, Jeff writes.

• Arrondisements: The city is divided into 20 administrative districts, called arrondisements. The Louvre is in the 1st, the Eiffel Tower is in the 7th and the Arena is in the 12th.
• Fun fact: Paris is called "The City of Light," not just for its outsize role in the Age of Enlightenment, but because it was among the first major European cities to use gas street lights, installed as early as 1829.

Pandemic response: France imposed a strict lockdown in the spring that proved quite successful in curbing the spread, but it has entered yet another lockdown amid Europe's third wave — and a curfew could be implemented soon.

Paris Masters: This is one of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, which are considered the sport's best competition outside of the Grand Slams. Paris is the only one played indoors.

• Chasing 1000: A win today over fellow Spaniard Feliciano López (12:30pm ET) would make Rafael Nadal just the fourth player with 1,000 ATP victories in the Open Era (Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer).
• Players absent: Nadal is the heavy favorite with Federer still out due to injury and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic among the top players who pulled out.
• Aside from Nadal, four other top-10 players take the court today: No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, No. 7 Alexander Zverev, No. 8 Andrey Rublev and No. 9 Diego Schwartzman.

Where will we go tomorrow?

Democrats picked up Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona, but Republicans won race after race — South Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Montana.

Why it matters (for sports): The future of NCAA reform— and specifically name, image and likeness legislation — will be shaped by these races.

33 years ago today, the NBA announced four new franchises that would begin play over the next two seasons.

Charlotte Hornets (1988)

• Record: 1,050-1,345 (.438)
• All-time starting five: Dell Curry, Kemba Walker, Glen Rice, Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning (full roster)

Miami Heat (1988)

• Record: 1,338-1,229 (.521)
• All-time starting five: Dwyane Wade, Tim Hardaway, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning (full roster)

Minnesota Timberwolves (1989)

• Record: 980-1,496 (.396)
• All-time starting five: Sam Cassell, Terrell Brandon, Wally Szczerbiak, Kevin Love, Kevin Garnett (full roster)

Orlando Magic (1989)

• Record: 1,191-1,294 (.479)
• All-time starting five: Tracy McGrady, Anfernee Hardaway, Nick Anderson, Dwight Howard, Shaquille O'Neal (full roster)

🎥 Watch: 70 years of NBA expansion in 40 seconds (YouTube)

Nolan Arenado won his eighth consecutive Gold Glove (see all winners), the second-longest streak to begin a career in MLB history.

• Question: Who's the only player with a longer streak?
• Hint: He retired last decade.

Answer at the bottom.

Here's how you voted...

AL

• MVP: José Abreu, White Sox (56.5% of votes)
• Cy Young: Shane Bieber, Indiana (93.8%)
• ROY: Luis Robert, White Sox (55.5%)
• Manager: Kevin Cash, Rays (68.3%)

NL

• MVP: Freddie Freeman, Braves (55.4%)
• Cy Young: Trevor Bauer, Reds (67.7%)
• ROY: Jake Cronenworth, Padres (59.7%)
• Manager: Don Mattingly, Marlins (66.3%)