In Miami, Manny Navarro reports MLB "is looking into allegations" tying Marlins P Jarred Cosart to gambling. Cosart "deleted his official Twitter account" on Tuesday night "after screenshots of purported direct messages from Cosart to a gambling expert were leaked by a third party." MLB Chief Communications Officer Pat Courtney yesterday confirmed the commissioner’s office "was investigating the matter." Navarro notes it is "unclear whether the allegations involving Cosart revolve around baseball or sports-betting on another sport" (MIAMI HERALD, 3/26).
FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB: In Boston, Adam Kurkjian notes although UFC President Dana White felt like fighter Brock Lesnar "had a chance of coming back to the UFC, he was aware of the fact that Lesnar was using that chip to leverage more money" from the WWE. White: "Yeah, the door was open and if he didn’t get the right deal that he wanted over there I knew he’d come fight here. ... He’s too old to come back and fight here again. You know what I mean? And there’s no doubt about it, Brock’s a smart guy and Brock kept the UFC door open to get the deal that he wanted" (BOSTON HERALD, 3/26).
DOUBLE FAULT? SI.com's Jon Wertheim wrote as a "matter of economic justice, it’s very hard to defend equal prize money" for men's and women's tennis players because the WTA "is simply not equal to the ATP" when it comes to revenue. The persistent question that "has yet to be answered: when my standalone product is worth demonstrably less than yours, do we deserve to be paid the same when we are combined." Some promoters "have taken a hard line." But it is a "well-kept secret" that the WTA "pays some events the equivalent of a refund for 'economic shortcomings.'" Wertheim: "I think equal prize money is the best course" (SI.com, 3/25).
