The NFL and NFLPA suspended all COVID-19 protocols on Thursday, becoming the first major North American sports league to do so.

State of play: After nearly two years of restrictions, zero missed games and four known hospitalizations, the NFL is back to normal.

• The league cited "encouraging trends regarding the prevalence and severity of COVID-19," evolving guidance from the CDC and changes to state laws as reasons for the change.
• New case numbers and hospitalizations have fallen sharply from the Omicron-fueled nationwide peak in January. The NFL had more than 1,200 positive tests from Dec. 12 to Jan. 8.

What to watch: The latest COVID numbers, and decisions like this one, are cause for optimism as Americans return to pre-pandemic norms. But all it takes is one bad variant to reverse this progress.

Go deeper: Americans are over COVID (Axios)

Fanatics has raised $1.5 billion in a new funding round that values the 11-year-old company at $27 billion.

Why it matters: Fanatics is now the sixth-most valuable U.S. startup, per CB Insights.

1. 🚀 SpaceX: $100B
2. 💵 Stripe: $95B
3. 🎮 Epic Games: $42B
4. 🛒 Instacart: $39B
5. 🧱 Databricks: $38B
6. 🏀 Fanatics: $27B

The backdrop: Fanatics has been gobbling up the sports memorabilia market lately but is looking to expand beyond its core business of merchandise and memorabilia, writes Axios' Tim Baysinger.

• In January, the company bought Topps for around $500 million. Just last week, it purchased iconic throwback retailer Mitchell & Ness in a deal that valued it at $250 million.
• Recent hires include former FanDuel CEO Matt King, who is leading Fanatics' sports betting and iGaming division.

Go deeper: Fanatics bets big on trading card boom (Axios)

The 13th Winter Paralympics begin today in Beijing with two fewer competing nations than expected, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.

The backdrop: The IPC on Thursday banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Games, reversing their previous decision that would have allowed them to compete under the neutral Paralympic flag.

• "The environment in the village is deteriorating," IPC president Andrew Parsons told NYT, citing the athlete anger and boycott threats that led to the reversal.
• The other side: "[The] decision ... to bar our team is a blatant violation of athletes' rights," said Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin.

The intrigue: Coming off the most-watched Paralympics ever in Tokyo, NBC will air the Winter Paralympics in primetime for the first time ever. That, plus the political climate, could draw similar record viewership.

Details: 736 athletes representing a record 49 delegations will compete in Beijing. We're most excited to watch Team USA star Oksana Masters, who was born in Ukraine.

• Paralympians will live in the same athletes' village that hosted Olympians last month, which has been upgraded to meet all accessibility requirements.
• Six venues in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou will host 78 medal events across six sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, sled hockey, snowboarding and wheelchair curling.
• Three delegations are making their Winter Paralympics debut (Azerbaijan, Israel, Puerto Rico), and three more are back after lengthy absences (Liechtenstein, Estonia, Latvia).

Go deeper: Day-to-day viewing guide (Yahoo Sports)

🏈 Arch watch: Arch Manning, the No. 1 ranked high school QB and nephew of Peyton and Eli, has narrowed his search down to six schools: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas.

🎾 Djoker latest: France is easing its vaccination rules later this month, which would pave the way for Novak Djokovic to defend his title at Roland Garros.

🏀 Harlow can't jump: Hip-hop star Jack Harlow is set to make his acting debut in 20th Century's reboot of "White Men Can't Jump."

⚽️ Good read: Why are so many Spanish clubs called Real? (Alex Kirkland, ESPN)

"With Real Madrid due to play Real Sociedad in LaLiga on Saturday, it feels like a good time to ask: Why are there so many 'Real' clubs in Spain?"

Kenny Pickett, the Heisman Trophy finalist viewed as a potential first-round pick entering this week's combine, made news Thursday when his hand size was measured at 8.5 inches.

Why it matters: That would be the smallest of any QB currently in the NFL. The commonly accepted threshold is 9 inches, and the average for the 39 first-round QBs from 2008 to 2020 was 9.7 inches.

• "On the one (large) hand, the importance of hand size for NFL QBs seems to be completely overblown," writes The Ringer's Rodger Sherman, citing research that suggests there's no statistical correlation between hand size and any element of QB play.
• "On the other (small) hand, 8.5 inches is teensy. ... Only one QB [since 1980] with hands smaller than 9 inches has been a first-round pick, and that was Michael Vick — a pretty significant outlier because of his one-of-a-kind athletic abilities."

Of note: The smallest hand size among current NFL QBs is Taysom Hill (8.75 inches), who is debatably a QB. The three biggest among starters: Russell Wilson (10.25), Aaron Rodgers (10.1) and Josh Allen (10.1).

Go deeper: Hand sizes for all 32 starting QBs (ESPN)

The Basketball Africa League, jointly operated by the NBA and FIBA, begins its second season Saturday in Dakar, Senegal, Jeff writes.

Why it matters: The inaugural season in 2020 was canceled due to COVID and last year's debut was condensed and bubbled. Finally, the BAL will go off as planned.

Details: 12 teams from 12 countries — split in two conferences — will play 38 games over the next three months in Senegal, Egypt and Rwanda, with games broadcast on ESPN+ and ESPN News.

• Sahara Conference: US Monastir (Tunisia), DUC Dakar (Senegal), REG (Rwanda), AS Salé (Morocco), SLAC (Guinea), Ferroviário da Beira (Mozambique)
• Nile Conference: Zamalek (Egypt), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Cobra Sport (South Sudan), FAP (Cameroon), Espoir Fukash (DR Congo)

Fun fact: Eight-year NBA veteran Ty Lawson is playing for US Monastir, the first former NBA player to join the BAL.

The big picture: The NBA has hosted Basketball Without Borders camps in Africa since 2003, opened a league office in South Africa in 2010 and built a youth training academy in Senegal in 2017. This is the next step in growing the African pipeline.

• Each BAL team will feature one teen from the academy, which has already seen 19 men's and women's players commit to D-I schools.
• Zoom out: 22 current NBA players were born in 11 African countries, including MVP favorite Joel Embiid (Cameroon).

Go deeper: Guide to the BAL (ESPN)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alex Ovechkin, in the spotlight over his relationship with Vladimir Putin, was serenaded with familiar chants of "Ovi! Ovi!" on Thursday after scoring his 33rd goal of the season.

• By the numbers: Ovechkin (763 career goals) is now three shy of tying Jaromir Jagr for third on the all-time list.

ORLANDO — The second-best field of the year (to date) teed off Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Rory McIlroy (-7) leads by two strokes after 18 holes.

• 🎥 Watch: Best shots from Round 1 (YouTube)

TORONTO — Cade Cunningham and the Pistons beat the Raptors, 108-106, on Thursday. If this shot gets blocked, maybe they don't.

• ROY watch: No. 1 pick Cunningham (22 and 12) beat out No. 4 pick Scottie Barnes (21 and 10). Both still trail Evan Mobley in the ROY race.

Mike Krzyzewski's final home game, Saturday night against rival UNC (6pm ET, ESPN), headlines the final weekend of college basketball's regular season.

• ESPN's "College GameDay" crew — which includes Coach K's former player Jay Bilas — will be on site, anchoring a full day of coverage.
• It should be a night to remember for college basketball's winningest coach as he bids farewell to Cameron Indoor and the court that bears his name.

More to watch:

• ⚽️ Premier League: West Ham at Liverpool (Sat. 12:30pm, NBC); Manchester United at Manchester City (Sun. 11:30am, USA)
• 🏀 NBA: Bucks at Bulls (Fri. 7:30pm, ESPN); Warriors at Lakers (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC); Nets at Celtics (Sun. 1pm, ABC); Suns at Bucks (Sun. 3:30pm, ABC); Raptors at Cavaliers (Sun. 7:30pm, ESPN)
• ⚽️ MLS: LA Galaxy at Charlotte FC (Sat. 7:30pm, Fox) ... Charlotte's home debut is set to break MLS' attendance record (73,019).
• 🏀 NCAAM: No. 14 Arkansas at No. 13 Tennessee (Sat. 12pm, ESPN); No. 21 Texas at No. 6 Kansas (Sat. 4pm, ESPN); No. 16 USC at No. 17 UCLA (Sat. 10pm, ESPN); No. 24 Iowa at No. 20 Illinois (Sun. 7:30pm, FS1)
• 🥊 UFC 272: Masvidal vs. Covington (Sat. 10pm, ESPN+ PPV)
• ⛳️ PGA: Arnold Palmer Invitational (Fri.-Sun., Golf and ESPN+)
• 🏁 NASCAR: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sun. 3:30pm, Fox)

Magic Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the 1979 NBA draft, was one of two future Hall of Famers drafted that day.

• Question: Who was the other?
• Hint: Bucks.

Answer at the bottom.

The 50th annual Iditarod begins tomorrow as 49 mushers and their teams of sled dogs begin the 938-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, Jeff writes.

Details: The race actually begins 70 miles away in Willow. The Anchorage start is merely ceremonial, honoring the 1925 serum run to Nome, when sled dogs transported medicine to save Nome from an epidemic (plot of the 1995 Disney movie "Balto").

• The 49 mushers comprise 32 men and 17 women from five different countries (U.S., Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark), with five former winners and 13 rookies competing.
• Rookie Bridgett Watkins is just a month removed from a terrifying ordeal when a moose attacked her and her dogs.

Of note: Teams tend to finish in about a week and a half — if they finish at all. Since 2017, an average of 14 teams per year have failed to do so.

📚 Great read ... I always relish the chance to share this incredible piece by Brian Phillips, who tracked the 2013 Iditarod by plane. Enjoy.