Your “Slow News Day” Tuesday Evening Open Thread

NFL News:

• The AAF, as expected, has “suspended operations“.
  • It was expected to cost Tom Dundon – owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes – about $20 million to finish the season & four-team playoffs.
    • I guess you don’t get rich subscribing to the “sunk cost fallacy”.
  • Deadspin speculates that the reason Dundon got involved at all was to obtain the rights to the gambling aspects the AAF were developing.
    • That the $70 million he’s allegedly already spent on the league is cheaper than the auction process that would have developed had the league folded on its own.
      • To borrow from ESPN: One of the more attractive things about the league was the technology it developed with its app. It allowed for faster real-time technology to reach consumers and also tracked multiple biometric data points. The hope was that other leagues would see the technology and express interest in using it.
    • Or, put another way,

Perception inside the AAF is that Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon bought a majority stake in the league simply for the gambling app being developed.

Source: "Dundon got the technology he wanted and he's now minus one rather large headache."

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 2, 2019

• The NFL is quietly worried about the number of referees retiring to take on higher-paying TV jobs.
  • PFT notes that so many have retired, current retirees are replacing others at the networks, most recently with John Parry (Super Bowl LIII ref) replacing Jeff Triplette at ESPN.
  • It’s a trend so obvious, even Peter King noticed.

This is bordering on a crisis for the league.
Seven of 17 refs retired/went to TV in last 13 months. https://t.co/HNwFjCorws

— Peter King (@peter_king) April 1, 2019

Finally, Russell Wilson has given an artificial deadline of April 15th to work out a new deal with the Seahawks.

• He wants to avoid all the noise that surrounded his attempts at a contract in 2015.
• He’s entering the final year of a four-year, $87.6 million contract, and the $21.9 million he’s scheduled to earn in 2019 places him 12th among active QBs.
  • If the Seahawks can’t work it out, Wilson’s franchise tag value in 2020 would be $32 million.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Bruins at Blue Jackets – 7:00PM | NBCSN
    • need to root for the Bruins so the Habs can catch Columbus
  • all Canadian teams are regional broadcasts only
• MLB:
  • Orioles at Blue Jays – 7:00PM | Sportsnet
  • Red Sox at A’s – 10:00PM | Sportsnet1
• NBA:
  • Regular NBA:
    • Lakers at Thunder – 8:00PM | TNT / TSN
    • Nuggets at Warriors – 10:30PM | TNT / TSN
  • NBA G-League Playoffs:
    • Lakeland Magic at Long Island Nets – 7:00PM | ESPNU
    • Santa Cruz Warriors at Rio Grande Valley Vipers – 9:00PM | ESPNU
• NCAA:
  • NIT Basketball Tournament: Semi-Finals
    • Lipscomb vs. Wichita State – 7:00PM | ESPN
    • TCU vs. Texas – 9:00PM | ESPN
  • College Baseball:
    • Texas A&M at Texas – 7:30PM | FS1
• WWE:
  • Smackdown – 8:00PM | USA / Sportsnet360
    • the “go-home” before Wrestlemania, which will have to work hard to top this moment from RAW, helpfully aided by “Yakety Sax”.

https://twitter.com/nickpiccone/status/1112903841383628802

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