The Overwatch League franchise owned by the Wilpon-led Sterling.VC will be known as the N.Y. Excelsior and will adopt a blue, black and white color scheme. The franchise will also fashion itself by abbreviation, NYXL, which “encapsulates New York at its most powerful: the city of more people, more fans, more creativity, more drive, more passion, and more soul,” a team statement reads. Excelsior is a Latin phrase meaning “ever upward,” and is also the New York state motto (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).
WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING: In San Jose, Cam Inman wrote 49ers GM John Lynch "sounded embarrassed" when asked about a recent survey the 49ers sent to fans asking how important it was for the team to win. Lynch said that the survey "didn’t come from his desk." He said, "There’s a lot of layers to this organization. I don’t know where that came from. I’m not a big believer in surveys myself. You put out good work and people will come. You build it and people come. Yes, winning is everything to us. It’s everything to me" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 10/28).
CONTRARY TO REPORTS: In Liverpool, James Pearce reported EPL club Liverpool Chair Tom Werner disputed speculation that Fenway Sports Group "recently rejected" an offer of $1.97B for the club (LIVERPOOL ECHO, 10/26). In Abu Dhabi, Mustafa Alrawi, in the original report, cited sources as saying that FSG killed the sale "at the eleventh hour," believing that the economic outlook for the club was such that FSG could realize a "better price in the future." Sources said that FSG "pulled the plug last month" because with global TV rights expected to rapidly increase over the next two cycles, the group believed that the club was being "undervalued" (THE NATIONAL, 10/26).
