Major League Baseball announced on Thursday plans to remove marijuana from its list of drugs of abuse, instead treating it the same as alcohol, ESPN reports.
But, but, but: The league will begin testing for opioids and cocaine, but only players who refuse to cooperate with treatment plans will be subject to disciplinary action. Testing was previously limited to performance enhancing drugs and prohibited stimulants.
The organizers of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris proposed that Tahiti host its surfing events, despite the fact that the Pacific island is 10,000 miles away from the city, the Guardian reports.
The big picture: Surfing will be added to the Summer Olympics for the first time next year in Tokyo. Compared to France, big waves are much more likely to occur off the coast of Tahiti, part of semi-autonomous French Polynesia.
The Justice Department has charged 10 former NFL players Wednesday with allegedly defrauding the health care benefit program for retired athletes.
The big picture: The charges follow an FBI investigation that showed the players filed nearly $4 million in false and fraudulent claims under the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan, which paid out more than $3.4 million between June 2017 and Dec. 2018.
The last month of the NHL season has brought changes behind the bench and in the broadcast booth that represent a cultural reckoning poised to change the sport of hockey forever.
Driving the news: Don Cherry, a longtime fixture on "Hockey Night in Canada," was fired by Rogers Sportsnet on Nov. 12for on-air comments that many believed disparaged Canadian immigrants.
Over the past decade, the NFL, NBA and NHL salary caps (i.e. limits on how much money teams can spend on players) have all increased, but at fairly different rates.
By the numbers: The NFL salary cap has jumped from $120 million to $188.2 million this decade, a 57% increase. The NBA's has jumped from $58 million to $109.1 million (+88%) and the NHL's has jumped from $59.4 million to $81.5 million (+37%).
As part of MLB's desire to overhaul the minor league system and streamline player development, it wants to sever its parent-club relationship with 42 minor league teams, entirely eliminating some and reorganizing others into a lower-quality "Dream League."
Why it matters: Major league clubs currently provide and pay for the farm club's players and staff, leaving the minor league organization to cover things like fields, equipment and travel.
