Axios Sports

July 26, 2023
👋 Good morning! Lionel Messi won't stop scoring goals.
✍️ Some news: After 4.5 years, this will be the final week of Axios Sports. But don't worry — I'll still be writing a newsletter elsewhere. More to come…
Today's word count: 1,800 words (7 minutes).
Let's sports...
1 big thing: 🇫🇷 Cleaning up the Seine
Photo: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
The Paris Olympics begin one year from today, and the clock is ticking to prepare the beautiful — and filthy — River Seine for its big moment, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.
State of play: The Seine will not only host swimming events for both the Olympics and Paralympics, but also the opening ceremony, which for the first time ever will not be held in a stadium. Instead, each nation's delegation will be ferried down the river.
- Yes, but: The City of Love's central waterway is in desperate need of a major cleanup, overrun by pollution for so long that civilians haven't been allowed to swim in it since 1923.
- Such a cleanup was discussed for decades to no avail, but Paris' successful Olympic bid provided the spark required to kickstart the plan that has now been underway for years.

Details: The $1.5 billion project is focused on decreasing the river's bacteria levels to an acceptable standard by limiting the amount of untreated water that's dumped into it.
- For example, heavy rains overwhelm the city's outdated sewage system, so a series of tunnels and storage facilities were built to prevent filthy runoff from flowing directly into the river before it's treated.
- Another major project involved workers knocking on more than 20,000 doors in hopes of accessing and retrofitting old pipes that no longer properly connect to the sewage system.
So far, it's working: In samples taken last summer, the water quality was overwhelmingly "good," per AP. There's even been a return of various fish species that had been unable to survive there before this process began.

Looking ahead: Every Olympic host is charged with leaving a lasting legacy, and one of Paris 2024's major contributions will be giving the city back its river.
- Nearly two dozen swimming areas for civilian use are expected to open by summer 2025, a century after swimming was banned due to pollution.
- "I learned to swim as a child in the Marne [the Seine's upstream tributary]," a 70-year-old Parisian told NYT. "I would be very happy to swim again there."
2. 💵 Jaylen and Justin get paid
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Tuesday was a great reminder that it pays to be a superstar athlete — especially if your sport is basketball.
Driving the news: The day began with Celtics star Jaylen Brown signing the richest deal in NBA history (five years, $304 million). Hours later, Chargers signal caller Justin Herbert became the NFL's highest-paid QB by average annual value (five years, $262.5 million; $52.5 million per year).
State of play: The NFL's top QBs keep one-upping each other. Herbert got slightly more than Lamar Jackson (five years, $260 million), who got slightly more than Jalen Hurts (five years, $255 million).
- And Joe Burrow, who's in talks on an extension with the Bengals, will likely get slightly more than Herbert whenever he signs. On and on this will go until the NFL stops printing money (don't bet on it).
- Wild stat: Remember when Patrick Mahomes signed a record 10-year, $450 million deal in 2020? He's since dropped to eighth in QB pay per year — and third in his own division behind Herbert and Russell Wilson.
Yes, but: NFL QBs have nothing on NBA stars, who represent 32 of the 50 richest contracts in North American sports by average annual value, per Sportico. The NFL has 12 players on that list, MLB has five and MLS has one (Messi).
Wild stat … Brown will make more money over the next five seasons than all but two NFL players have made in their entire careers. Tom Brady earned $333 million over 23 seasons, and Aaron Rodgers has earned $306 million over 18.
Looking ahead: Brown's teammate, Jayson Tatum, will supplant him as the NBA's highest-paid player next summer when he becomes eligible for a supermax extension.
3. 🙏 Bronny stable following cardiac arrest
Photo: Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images
Bronny James suffered cardiac arrest during a practice on Monday and was taken to the hospital. He's currently in stable condition and out of the ICU, according to his family.
Details: Cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly stops beating, halting blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. It's what happened to Bills safety Damar Hamlin during "Monday Night Football" back in January.
- Bronny, the eldest son of LeBron James, is entering his freshman year at USC as the No. 20 player in the Class of 2023, per ESPN.
- He and his teammates were practicing ahead of an overseas exhibition tour in Croatia and Greece that begins next week.
Of note: This is the second time in about a year that a USC basketball player has suffered cardiac arrest during practice. Vince Iwuchukwu was hospitalized last July and returned to play six months later.
By the numbers: A decadelong study found that sudden cardiac death was far more common for NCAA men's basketball players (1 in 8,978) than other NCAA sports (1 in 23,689 for men's soccer, 1 in 35,951 for football).
4. ⚡️ Lightning round
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
🏊🏼♀️ Ledecky ties Phelps: Katie Ledecky dominated the field by 17 seconds to win her fifth world championship gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle. It was her 15th individual world title, tying Michael Phelps for the most ever.
⚽️ Two more shutouts: While you were sleeping, Japan blanked Costa Rica, 2-0, and Spain crushed Zambia, 5-0, in the Women's World Cup. Remarkably, 16 of the first 20 games have been shutouts, plus three more scoreless draws as just one game has seen both teams score.
🏒 Bergeron hangs 'em up: Patrice Bergeron, who spent his entire 19-year career with the Bruins, is retiring. The future Hall of Famer won the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) a record six times.
🏈 Harbaugh suspended: Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is expected to be suspended for the first four games of the upcoming season due to recruiting violations, per Yahoo Sports.
🥊 The best: Naoya Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) made his case as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world on Tuesday with an eighth-round TKO of Stephen Fulton to claim the WBO and WBC junior featherweight titles.
5. ⚾️ Beltway baseball: A tale of two streaks
Nationals manager Dave Martinez and Orioles IF Gunnar Henderson. Photos: Rob Carr/Getty Images.
The Nationals and Orioles are heading in polar opposite directions as the MLB trade deadline approaches, Jeff writes.
Nationals: Washington took all three games off the Giants last weekend for their first sweep in nearly two years, snapping an MLB-record 95 straight series without a sweep.
- It was Washington's first sweep of any kind since taking both games off the Blue Jays on Aug. 17-18, 2021, and it was their first three-game sweep since June of that year.
- And though they've been better of late, playing .500 ball for the past month, they still have the NL's second-worst record (42-59) and run differential (-92).
Orioles: An entirely different story is being written 38 miles northeast in Baltimore, where the Orioles have gone 72 consecutive series without being swept, dating back to May of last year.
- That's tied for the longest streak of the post-war era (2003-05 Braves) and the fifth-longest ever.
- At 62-39, they have the AL's best record, having won eight of 12 since the All-Star break.
The big picture: Those dueling streaks are indicative of the seismic shift that beltway-area baseball has experienced in the past few years.
- The Nationals were the class of the National League from 2012-19, winning four division titles and a World Series. But since then they've been among MLB's worst teams, selling off stars to kickstart a rebuild that likely won't bear fruit until 2025 at the earliest.
- The Orioles started last decade strong before bottoming out in 2018, when they began a four-year, tank-induced stretch that saw them go 178-368 (.326). But the tide turned last year when they called up the likes of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, and now they're legitimate contenders.
6. 📺 Streaming inflation

Every major subscription streaming company has increased its prices in the past year in an effort to address Wall Street's push for profits, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.
- Why it matters: The average consumer is willing to pay roughly $42 monthly for streaming services. With prices rising, more consumers are being forced to lean into cheaper ad-supported options.
- By the numbers: The median increased price among major streamers has been $2 over the course of their lifetimes. Peacock was the latest to do so, raising prices for the first time last week.
💭 Our thought bubble … These price hikes impact sports fans, whose favorite teams and leagues are often spread across numerous streaming apps. And, of course, many live games still require a cable subscription (or YouTube TV, Fubo, etc). It all starts to add up pretty quickly.
7. 📸 Pic du jour

Iris Schmidbauer of Team Germany competes in the women's high dive on Day 2 of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Now that's a photo. Wow.
8. 📺 Watchlist: The rematch


The USWNT's second World Cup game is tonight in Wellington, New Zealand, against the Netherlands (9pm ET, Fox) in a rematch of the 2019 final — a 2-0 victory for the Americans.
- Head-to-head: The USWNT is 8-1-1 against the Dutch, with their only loss coming in their first meeting in 1991.
- State of play: As the two clear favorites in Group E, this match should determine who wins the group vs. who advances as the runner-up.
More to watch:
- ⚽️ Women's World Cup: Canada vs. Ireland (8am, FS1)
- ⚾️ MLB: Braves at Red Sox (7pm, ESPN) … Atlanta starter Spencer Strider has 354 strikeouts through his first 40 starts, the most since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893.
- ⚽️ Friendlies: Chelsea vs. Newcastle (8:15pm, Peacock); Real Madrid vs. Man United (8:30pm, ESPN+); Arsenal vs. Barcelona (10:30pm, ESPN+) … In Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles, respectively.
- ⚽️ Leagues Cup: Seven games (Apple TV) … Four are free to watch.
- 🏀 WNBA: Mystics at Lynx (8pm, NBA)
- 🏀 The Basketball Tournament: Six games (1-8pm, ESPN+) … Just over a week left in the 64-team tournament for $1 million.
- 🏒 3ICE: Week 5 in Boston (7pm, CBSSN)
9. ⚾️ MLB trivia
Photo: Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Orioles closer Félix Bautista has a real chance to become just the ninth reliever in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award.
- Question: Who was the last reliever to do so?
- Hint: 2003.
Answer at the bottom.
10. ⚾️ 1 rare thing: 8-3-5
Masataka Yoshida after making the final out of the triple play. Photo: Winslow Townson/Getty Images
The Braves did something incredibly rare on Tuesday night at Fenway Park, turning just the second 8-3-5 triple play in MLB history.
Why it matters: The only other 8-3-5 triple play came way back in 1884, when the Boston Beaneaters (who are now the Atlanta Braves!) turned one against the Providence Grays.
How it happened: Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris II caught a shallow fly by Boston's Triston Casas then threw to first to nab Adam Duvall, who had strayed too far, thinking the ball would drop.
- First baseman Matt Olson then immediately threw to third to get Masataka Yoshida, who had tagged up and attempted to advance.
- To recap: Center fielder —> First baseman —> Third baseman. Just how they drew it up!
Talk tomorrow,
Kendall "Beaneater" Baker
Trivia answer: Eric Gagne (Dodgers)
🙏 Thanks for reading! Follow us for more (@kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy). Friends can sign up here. Thanks to Matt Piper for copy edits.
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