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Athletes, just like everyone else, often struggle with the transition into retirement. It is difficult for them to identify themselves outside of the sport that they have devoted most of their lives to and this shift can be even harder for elite and professional athletes.

In a video on her social media page, Alex Morgan announced her retirement from women’s soccer on Thursday. The USWNT revolutionary is widely considered one of the most important players in women’s sports history and her retirement marks the end of an era for the program.

Lorenzo Carter, a longtime defensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans, has decided to hang up his cleats at 29 years old. The former third-round pick racked up 21.5 sacks in his career and will now join the Buffalo Bills as an assistant.

After 12 seasons in the NFL, New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu is calling it quits. Known for his toughness and blond patch in his hair, the LSU Tiger was a Heisman Trophy finalist and was compared to a honey badger (a carnivorous mammal known to fight off much larger predators) throughout his career.

Despite the fact that many athletes retire at an early age, their transition to life after sport can be difficult. According to research done by Dr Cavallerio, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University, female gymnasts’ transition experiences fell into three narratives: Entangled, Going forward and Making sense. This study highlights that it is important for sport organisations to develop strategies for their athletes to prepare them for retirement.

As a fan, there’s nothing worse than seeing your favorite show or character get canceled. Fans have a long history of protesting these cancellations with letter-writing campaigns, billboards and even hunger strikes. For many fans, their favorite shows provide community and an identity that’s linked to their own sense of self. Losing that connection can feel like a loss of identity, which is why they often fight to keep their shows alive.

This week, Crystal Palace supporters took to the streets to protest their club’s owner and a decision by Uefa to demote them from Europa League competition. The fans walked in to Selhurst Park wearing white shirts and carrying banners, including one that read “Uefa: morally bankrupt” and another that called out the club’s owner, American businessman John Textor.

While the group’s protest was not as large as some other tifos, it still had a big impact. It’s a small example of a larger trend in fans using sports as a platform for social change. Several fan groups have formed around political causes, from the Harry Potter Alliance to the Racebending Movement and Nerdfighteria.

Whether you’re rooting for Coco Gauff to defend her 2023 title or watching Novak Djokovic break more records, the US Open schedule is chock full of excitement. There’s a lot to take in over two weeks as the field of players dwindles until just two men and women are left to fight for one of the four Grand Slam titles.

The main event takes place from Monday August 18- Thursday August 23 (Finals day is Sunday September 8), but don’t miss the FREE qualifying tournament and week before that. The qualifiers are the best opportunity to see major rising players. In fact, 2021’s Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam.

US Open tickets are available for purchase on the tournament website, with a variety of ticket options including resale and standard face value tickets (shown as “blue dots” on the detailed seat map for each session). You’ll want to shop around, look in several different browser tabs, use multiple computer windows/screens, etc. to find the best prices and seats. Keep in mind that resale tickets are often subject to price fluctuations over time and the availability of standard tickets may be limited.

Note that you will need a cable subscription to watch the matches on ESPN/ESPN2. You can get around this by buying a yearly pass to ESPN+ (the streaming service that comes with your sports package). The app curates live events and you can watch up to 4 simultaneous matches at once. The only catch is that you can’t stream Arthur Ashe matches, which are preempted by ESPN.

The world of sports is a fast-paced environment that can be overwhelming for fans and athletes alike. Athletes, teams, and leagues must create a compelling narrative and deliver the right content to maintain fan interest, increase viewership and engagement, and drive revenue opportunities. Social media is a powerful tool for empowering athletes to connect with their followers, share stories, and create authentic connections.

Athletes can also use social media to promote their brands and grow their audiences. In a recent study, Geurin-Eagleman and Burch found that social media allows athletes to build a personal brand that extends beyond their athletic achievements. This brand-building strategy can lead to increased endorsement opportunities and career success for athletes.

Moreover, social media has become a vital source of information for sports fans. Even if they are not watching a game, most fans are scrolling through their social media feeds to keep up with the latest news on their favorite players or team. This is a key reason why it is so important for sports organizations to have a robust social media strategy in place.

Athletes can use social media to provide their fans with exclusive, behind-the-scenes content, from training routines to locker room banter. This intimate connection humanizes athletes and helps foster a deeper emotional bond with their fans. This content also increases the likelihood of an athlete being perceived as role model-worthy. Moreover, it can draw in new audiences—many of whom aren’t traditional sports fans—and boost overall viewership and engagement for teams and leagues.

Whether it’s fan engagement, athlete monitoring, VR training or the rise of women’s sports, these technologies have transformed the sporting landscape. They also pose challenges for organizations looking to leverage these emerging technologies and deliver on their long-promised impacts. The key to success will be to reassure fans about how their data is used, understand the needs of their audience before deploying technology, and offer a full range of in-stadium and out-of-stadium experiences.

The emergence of wearables, performance analysis and AI tools continue to be game-changers for teams and athletes at all levels. For example, for semi-professional football clubs, enhanced access to advanced technology such as Catapult Vector devices and high-level video analysis capabilities is transformative, enabling them to train players, mitigate the risks of injury and develop strategies akin to elite teams.

As artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms continue to advance, they can now be applied to break down complex sports data sets and provide actionable insights for coaches and athletes. This allows them to fine-tune player mechanics and improve strategy in ways that would have been impossible a decade ago. Examples include analyzing swing mechanics, measuring the velocity of a baseball pitch or the defensive positioning of players on a field.

Augmented reality (AR) continues to revolutionise the sports experience for both fans and athletes, allowing them to see virtual overlays of sports stats or betting odds on top of real-time footage from their seats in stadiums. This can improve the experience for fans and enhance monetization opportunities for sports organizations.

In the age of social media, athletes and sports leagues are increasingly reliant on these platforms to connect with fans in real time and build their brands. But, sometimes, what happens off the field of play makes more waves than on it. These viral sports moments go beyond mere entertainment, transcending their sport and generating cultural conversation.

Whether they’re funny, interesting or both, these moments grab attention and are shared far and wide. It’s no wonder that 2024 has been a remarkable year for viral sports moments. From Luke Littler’s eloquent darts tribute to fallen service members to the Cam Newton saga and more, these micro-moments are bringing people together in ways they wouldn’t have before.

The “Butt Fumble” has long stood as one of the most infamous sports moments in history. Replayed on sports broadcasts and endlessly dissected by commentators, the moment is a constant reminder of the perils of bad judgment under pressure.

The NBA and NASCAR have both been major players in the world of viral sports moments this year. NBA star Steph Curry’s post about honoring a fallen soldier drew over 25 million views on the league’s Facebook page, while a touching video from NASCAR for Memorial Day received over 4.32% engagement. The Olympics have also seen their fair share of viral sports moments, with Pommel Horse Guy winning a bronze medal and going on “Dancing with the Stars,” Ilona Maher rumbling over Aussies, and more.

The 2026 Asian Games will take place in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City from September 19 to October 4. They are the next big event for all of Japan after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and will provide a platform to further deepen exchange across Asia.

In a bid to ensure that the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are as successful as possible, GL events has signed a basic partnership agreement as the official transport supplier for the event. As the company already has a presence in Aichi through the management of the Aichi Sky Expo convention and exhibition centre, this new collaboration demonstrates GL events’ passion for major projects, as well as its ambition to support territories that host these events.

Despite a rumour that Aichi may withdraw from hosting the Games, the city government has made it clear that it will continue to push ahead with the bidding process. The Olympic Council of Asia is expected to choose the 2026 venue at its General Assembly in Danang, Vietnam on September 25.

As part of its preparations for the event, Aichi has outlined the key transport infrastructure it plans to use to get people around and deliver its vision of ‘Innovative Games for a Connected World’. This includes the construction of a new transportation hub for the Games, as well as a network of high-speed railway lines connecting Aichi and Nagoya to Tokyo and other major cities in Japan.

In the seven decades since its creation, Champions League has forged a rich tapestry of legends. It has consecrated Europe’s best clubs while immortalizing those that defied logic or broke hearts. From the first title won by Real Madrid in 1956 to last season’s final against Liverpool, it has been a tournament of unforgettable matches and epic comebacks.

The competition’s format has changed with each new era. It now begins with a group stage of 32 teams who are divided into eight groups of four. A randomized draw assigns the clubs to their respective groups, with seeding used to ensure competitive balance. Each team plays the others in their group twice, home and away, with three points awarded for a win and one point for a tie. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the knockout phase. The third-placed team enters the Europa League.

UEFA has recently introduced the concept of home priority, which gives each club that finished in positions 1-4 in their group at least two of their return matches for the rounds of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals. The idea is to reward teams that fought hard in the group phase and played well against their opponents, although many have been unhappy with the nuances of this system. For example, last year Arsenal were upset that a draw placed them at home to Paris Saint-Germain for the second leg of their semifinal when they could have received the advantage of playing first and then playing the team who knocked them out.