Tag: cover story

Century to Savor By John Conroy For three weeks in June, soccer fans can thrill to the talents of Lionel Messi, Chicharito, Clint Dempsey and other stars of the “beautiful game” during the Copa América Centenario, an international tournament that some believe has the potential to rival the 1994 FIFA World Cup hosted in the […]

A Season of Promise By John Conroy For Opening Day 2016, the Kansas City Royals have taken the catchphrase of the legendary Ernie Banks—“Let’s play two!”—and supersized it. “What’s unique about this year is we’re actually going to have two Opening Days,” said Don Costante, senior director of event presentation and production for the Royals. […]

Raising the Bar By John Conroy Despite marquee events, world-class athletes and a star turn every four years at the Olympic Summer Games, track and field in the United States has struggled to find ways to compete for attention against more mainstream sports. Recently, though, the sport has seen major developments—among them, significant international events […]

Refueling Interest By Greg Echlin In a nod to long-held traditions, the largest U.S.-based sanctioning bodies in auto racing—IndyCar and NASCAR—are heading back to the brickyard and the beach, so to speak, this season to celebrate significant milestones for two of the biggest events on the motorsports calendar: the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. […]

Then and Now By John Conroy As Keith Bruce sees it, the organizing team behind San Francisco’s first Super Bowl in 31 years has rewritten the playbook for hosting the event. “Our tag line is: ‘We’re not just hosting a Super Bowl. We’re redefining it.’ We’re redefining it in a number of ways here in […]

Golden Years By Greg Echlin Some experts contend that the NBA needs its glamour teams like the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks to go deep into the playoffs in order to sustain high interest in the league and boost television ratings. The presence of either team, the theory holds, is a boon not […]

Outdoor Thrills By John Conroy Eight years after its first Winter Classic set the standard for open-air drama on ice, the National Hockey League will bring the New Year’s Day event back to the Boston area in 2016 and showcase its coveted Coors Light Stadium Series in two new cities—Denver and Minneapolis. Billed as a […]

Packing Them In By Greg Echlin The 2014 college football season ended with a memorable festival in the Dallas–Fort Worth area revolving around the College Football Playoff national championship game in January. The events were so popular that—as any uninvited party guest would feel—others now feel inclined to be included. And so, as another season […]

By Vanessa Hughes From the Grand Slams to the Olympics and from the U.S. Open Series to World Tennis Day, there are more options to play and watch tennis than ever before and an impressive number of developments that will continue to keep the sport in the spotlight over the next several years. As a […]