In K.C., Terez Paylor noted Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt "reinforced his hope Saturday that his team’s trip to play a regular-season game Nov. 1 in London will satisfy a Super Bowl requirement." The team plays the Lions at Wembley Stadium, and Hunt "made it clear that the Chiefs hope to get retroactive credit, of sorts, for fulfilling that requirement if they indeed win a future bid to hold a Super Bowl." Hunt: “The way the rule works is if you want to bid for a Super Bowl, you have to be willing to give up a home game if you’re the winner of the Super Bowl bid -- that was voted on in the fall. Coincidentally at the time, we made the decision to play a game next year in London. And I’ve mentioned to the league that when we get around to bidding on the Super Bowl, we certainly will include in the bid that we’ve been to London already" (K.C. STAR, 5/3).
MISSING SOME ILLINOISE: FS1’s Peter Schrager noted Chicago "was a great host city" for the NFL Draft, but said it "just didn't feel the same way" as it does when held in N.Y. Schrager said, "It didn't have that same energy and same buzz. When you cheer and clap for every pick, that’s not the NFL Draft. We want to hear the fans booing them." He speculated that the NFL likely will "rotate that to a new city" (“America’s Pregame,” FS1, 5/4).
LET'S GO TO THE VIDEOTAPE: In L.A., Mike DiGiovanna noted Angels manager Mike Scioscia over the weekend made a "suggestion that makes sense: Baseball should augment the group of on-field umpires who rotate through instant-replay headquarters in New York with independent arbiters who are not umpires." Scioscia said, "I think you need guys in New York who are just replay officials who have an understanding (of the game); then you build continuity." He added, "Right now, they rotate through, so there’s a different standard every night to what is going to overturn a call. You need a little more continuity in that regard" (LATIMES.com, 5/2).
BARGAINING CHIP: USA TODAY's Paul White notes MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark after the '16 season will "enter his first negotiations" for a CBA as the union's leader. Clark said, "We won't know what bargaining looks like until we get into bargaining. How we navigate the challenges is going to lead us to a deal or it is not. We've been able to navigate them against the backdrop of the (sport's economic) growth. We've been able to find where that fair and equitable balance has been" (USA TODAY, 5/5).
