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Angels owner Arte Moreno bullish on team's new TV deal: 'We are raising our payroll'

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Angels owner Arte Moreno bullish on team's new TV deal: 'We are raising our payroll'

When the television company that airs Angels games filed for bankruptcy last year, the team appeared to be faced with a stark choice: take less money to stay on its longtime broadcast home, or take much less money now in the hope that a streaming-first alternative would pay off later.

Either way, the prospect of lower revenue raised the prospect of a lower payroll. That would not be optimal for any team, but it could be particularly ominous for a last-place team coming off the worst record in franchise history.

On that front, then, the Angels have scored a much-needed victory. They have reached a new television deal and retained enough revenue that payroll will not be cut.

“One hundred percent,” Angels owner Arte Moreno said Monday. “We are raising our payroll.”

Under the deal, the Angels remain on FanDuel Sports Network, the recently renamed Bally Sports channels.

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“It’s just a name change,” Moreno said.

For the first time, local fans that do not have a cable or satellite subscription will be able to purchase a streaming-only subscription.

“We’re going to be working a little bit harder on streaming,” Moreno said. “There are just so many platforms now. During the pandemic, a lot of people went to Netflix. They got used to streaming Disney or ESPN.

“I think, in the next three to five years, we can continue to have a transition.”

Commissioner Rob Manfred has said the league hopes to assemble the streaming rights of a critical mass of teams, then offer fans the ability to subscribe to a national package without any local blackouts.

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Moreno declined to provide any details of the FanDuel deal. However, according to a person briefed on the agreement but not authorized to speak publicly, the Angels’ deal with FanDuel covers three years, which would give the team guaranteed revenue now and flexibility to join a national streaming package thereafter should the league be able to offer one.

The league hopes to entice one or more of its national broadcast partners to renew their deals by adding streaming rights currently held by local teams. The current MLB deals with ESPN, Fox and TNT expire in 2028.

That timing also would give the Angels three years to explore the viability of launching their own broadcast and streaming package, as the Ducks have done this year.

On Thursday, a federal bankruptcy court is expected to consider whether to approve a proposed course out of bankruptcy for the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network.

Major League Baseball has objected, saying in a court filing last week that an alleged failure to disclose pertinent data leaves MLB concerned about what it called the “substantial likelihood that the debtors will find themselves once again in financial distress and/or bankruptcy court in the near future.”

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The Angels hold an ownership stake in their FanDuel channel and thus are not part of the bankruptcy case. It is uncertain, however, how the FanDuel network would proceed if the bankruptcy court rejects the proposed restructuring plan.

The Angels had been set to receive about $120 million from the old Bally’s deal next year. Of the six major league teams in the three largest markets in the United States, the Angels are the only one on a FanDuel channel, and that larger audience meant the team did not have to take as steep a discount as teams in smaller markets.

Moreno said he believed fans would be more interested in how to watch the games than in the financial details of the FanDuel agreement.

“The economics for us are pretty good,” Moreno said.

No matter how much money a team spends, he added, “if you can’t keep them on the field, it doesn’t work.”

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The Angels’ two highest-paid players, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, played 19 games together last season. Over the past four seasons, Trout and Rendon played together in 18% of the Angels’ games.

Moreno spoke at a celebrity golf invitational to support the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. The Angels’ new deal with FanDuel was first reported by the Orange County Register.

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

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Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida.  (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.

Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.

It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.

In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.

Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.

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Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.

After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June. 

But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract. 

White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card. 

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Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City.  ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))

“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”

White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it. 

UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT

The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan. 

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On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter. 

UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026.  (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready. 

“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”

Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.

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Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote. 

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.

Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion. 

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