📣 Y! Sports AM: Our next newsletter

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📣 OUR NEXT NEWSLETTER: SPORTS BUSINESS

I am thrilled to announce that we are officially expanding the Yahoo Sports AM universe. Our next newsletter: Sports Business.

A new destination: Our soon-to-launch newsletter will be the flagship product for our Sports Business Hub (available now) — a partnership between Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance, with coverage powered by industry-leading partners.

Launch partners:

• Sportico
• Sports Business Journal
• Awful Announcing
• Front Office Sports
• Barrett Media
• Sports Business Radio
• JohnWallStreet
• The 4th Quarter

One-stop shop: All coverage in the hub is available for free — no subscriptions required — unlocking in-depth sports business coverage for the more than 100 million fans and investors in the U.S. who visit Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance each month, respectively.

Meet our new hire: Our Sports Business newsletter will be led by Dylan Dittrich, a former Wall Street investment professional and the author of Sneakonomic Growth. Dylan has impressed me for years with his sports business knowledge and analysis, and I can't wait to show you what we've already started cooking up.

What to expect: While Yahoo Sports AM covers primarily on-field dynamics, our Sports Business vertical will bring that same approach to off-field dynamics, which have never been more important than they are today. From the front office to the boardroom to the stock market, we'll have it all. And yes, there will be trivia.

Want early access? Send an email to kendall.baker@yahooinc.com with the subject line, "I'm in." The first 500 people will get early access to our Sports Business newsletter, and we'll hook up some lucky winners with Yahoo Sports swag.

🏀🏒 PLAYOFFS: 4 TEAMS ADVANCE

(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Five NBA and NHL teams had a chance to advance to the second round on Thursday. The Knicks, Timberwolves, Wild and Ducks all got the job done; the Celtics still have some work to do.

Atlanta — The Knicks administered a generational beatdown of the Hawks, winning 140-89 in a laugher. New York's 47-point halftime lead (83-36!) set an NBA playoff record, and at one point, they were leading by 61 points (101-40!).

Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports: "The box score will tell you that Game 6 of the Hawks-Knicks playoff series ended after 48 minutes of game play. The box score lies. This game was over in four minutes and 10 seconds, the exact length of time the Hawks could run with the Knicks."

Jaden McDaniels celebrates during the victory. (David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Minneapolis — The short-handed Timberwolves finished off the Nuggets with a 110-98 victory behind Jaden McDaniels (32 points, 10 rebounds) and Terrence Shannon Jr. (24 points). Next up: Wemby and the Spurs in Round 2.

Minnesota's golden era: The Timberwolves, seeking their third straight trip to the conference finals, now have more playoff wins in the last three seasons (22) than they had in the previous 34 combined (21).

(Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

St. Paul — The Wild beat the Stars, 5-2, to advance to the second round for the first time since 2015 and snap Dallas' streak of three straight conference finals appearances. Next up is a date with the top-seeded Avalanche.

Sports town: For the first time ever, Minnesota has an NBA and NHL team in the second round in the same year. Wolves and Wild fans were celebrating just 10 miles apart last night in the Twin Cities.

(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Anaheim — The Ducks closed out the Oilers with a 5-2 victory, marking the end of an era. For the first time since 2023, Edmonton will not represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

What they're saying: "We were an average team all year," said a dejected Connor McDavid after the loss. "An average team with high expectations, you're going to be disappointed. We just never found it."

(Elsa/Getty Images)

Philadelphia — There's no quit in the 76ers, who kept their season alive with a 106-93 win over the Celtics behind 30 points from Tyrese Maxey (30 points) and a near triple-double from Joel Embiid (19-10-8). Game 7 is tomorrow night in Boston.

Comeback kids: Only 13 teams have successfully overcome a 3-1 series deficit in NBA playoff history, and none since 2020. Can Philly make it 14?

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST

The field heads towards the first turn during last year's Derby. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

🐎 Kentucky Derby

The 152nd Run for the Roses is on Saturday evening at Churchill Downs (6:57pm ET, NBC), where 20 horses will race for a $5 million purse in the nation's longest continuously held sporting event.

Family affair: Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott seeks his second straight Derby victory with Chief Wallabee (12-1) after winning with Sovereignty last year. One man standing in his way? His son, Riley, making his Derby debut with longshots Albus (51-1) and Incredibolt (37-1). The Motts are the first father and son trainers with horses in the same Derby since 1964.

🏎️ Miami Grand Prix

Sunday's Miami Grand Prix (4pm, Apple) will be Formula 1's first race since March, and just its fourth of the season, following the long and unexpected break caused by the cancellation of April's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Where it stands: Mercedes has opened the season on a hot streak, with George Russell winning in Australia and overall leader Kimi Antonelli winning in China and Japan. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sit behind them, followed by McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

🏀 NBA Playoffs

The second round will be set by Sunday night following a trio of Game 6s tonight, one Game 7 tomorrow and as many as three more Game 7s on Sunday.

• Friday: Pistons (2-3) at Magic (7pm, Prime); Cavaliers (3-2) at Raptors (7:30, Prime); Lakers (3-2) at Rockets (Fri. 9:30pm, Prime)
• Saturday: 76ers (3-3) at Celtics (7:30pm, NBC)
• Sunday: Game 7s, if necessary, in Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles.

Could the Lakers blow this? If you scratched the surface on L.A.'s early 3-0 lead over Houston, it didn't look quite as commanding as it seemed, writes Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine. And now with two straight losses behind a sputtering offense, LeBron James and Co. are in danger of becoming the first NBA team ever to lose a best-of-seven series after leading 3-0.

🏒 NHL Playoffs

The second round could be set as early as tonight, with three Game 6s on tap.

• Friday: Lightning (2-3) at Canadiens (7pm, ESPN2); Sabres (3-2) at Bruins (7:30pm, ESPN); Golden Knights (3-2) at Mammoth (10pm, ESPN)
• Saturday: Flyers at Hurricanes (8pm, ABC) … Round 2.
• Sunday: Game 7, if necessary, in Tampa, Buffalo and Las Vegas.

Canada's last chance: Just three Canadian teams reached the playoffs, and now that the Senators and Oilers have both been eliminated, the Canadiens, up 3-2 on Tampa, are the country's last hope of ending its 33-year Stanley Cup drought.

🎾 Madrid Open

The Masters 1000 event comes to an end this weekend, with the men's semifinals today, the women's final tomorrow and the men's final on Sunday.

Men: No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 21 Arthur Fils (Fri. 10am); No. 2 Alexander Zverev vs. Alexander Blockx (Fri. 2pm) … Sinner is two victories away from becoming the first man to win five consecutive ATP 1000-level titles.

Women: No. 9 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 26 Marta Kostyuk (Sat. 11am) … Andreeva, 19, is the first teenager to reach three career WTA 1000-level finals.

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB: Reds at Pirates (Fri. 6:40pm, Apple); Royals at Mariners (Fri. 9:45pm, Apple); Blue Jays at Twins (Sun. 12:35pm, Peacock); Rangers at Tigers (Sun. 7:20pm, Peacock)
• ⛳️ Golf: Cadillac Championship (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS); Riviera Maya Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/Paramount+) … Stacked fields in Miami and Mexico.
• ⚽️ Women's Champions League: Lyon (1-2) vs. Arsenal (Sat. 9am, CBSSN); Barcelona (1-1) at Bayern (Sun. 10:30am, Paramount+) … Semifinals.
• ⚽️ MLS: Inter Miami vs. Orlando City (Sat. 7:15pm, Apple/FS1) … The Florida Derby comes to the newly-opened Nu Stadium for the first time.
• ⚽️ NWSL: Boston Legacy vs. Denver Summit (Sun. 3pm, CBSSN) … The league's two newest expansion teams face off for the first time.
• 🏁 NASCAR: Texas Motor Speedway (Sun. 3:30pm, FS1) … Can young Carson Hocevar follow up his inaugural victory — and unique celebration — with a second straight win?
• 🏒 PWHL: Minnesota at Montréal (Sat. 2pm, Prime); Ottawa (down 1-0) at Boston (Sat. 7pm, YouTube) … Best-of-five semifinals.
• 🏈 IFL: Green Bay Blizzard at Fishers Freight (Sat. 5pm, Yahoo Sports TV); Arizona Rattlers at Vegas Knight Hawks (Sun. 7:30pm, Yahoo Sports TV) … First place is on the line in both conferences.
• 🍌 Banana Ball: Savannah Bananas vs. Texas Tailgaters (Sat. 8pm, ESPN2) … Over 100,000 fans are expected at Texas A&M's Kyle Field.

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

📚 GOOD READS

(Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)

⛳️ Joel Beall: LIV Golf is dying. The damage is permanent (Golf Digest)

The most lasting damage may be the hardest to quantify, which is the goodwill of the audience.

Golf as a participation sport was growing before LIV, lifted by a pandemic-era surge that had introduced millions of new players to the game and returned millions of lapsed ones to it. Rounds played hit a 40-year high. Equipment sales broke records. Junior participation climbed. The sport had momentum it had not felt in a generation.

It then spent the next five years asking that audience to care about a labor dispute between multi-millionaires and a sovereign wealth fund.

(Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

🐎 Dan Wolken: Mike Repole, the maverick owner of favorite Renegade, is here to take on the establishment

As Repole's profile has risen in horse racing, so has his frustration with the leadership of a sport he believes is either in denial about or has become accepting of its erosion in the American zeitgeist.

Yes, the Kentucky Derby continues to grow as an Instagrammable cultural tentpole on every fan's bucket list and a television property that draws roughly 20 million viewers annually.

But with wagering dollars declining, racetracks closing and a foal crop that has dropped from about 50,000 in the mid-1980s to fewer than 17,000, Repole's over-the-top brashness is in many ways the sport's only counterbalance to its fundamental lack of urgency in trying to stop the slide for the other 364 days a year.

Archbishop Stepinac head coach Patrick Massaroni on the sidelines. (Gregory Payan/AP Photo)

🏀 Jeff Eisenberg: Banned for playing in a tournament? The power struggle that's rocked New York high school basketball

On the morning of April 21, a high-ranking administrator in New York's Catholic High School Athletic Association sent a startling letter to the league's member schools.

Kevin J. Pigott announced that the league's executive committee unanimously recommended harsh sanctions against Archbishop Stepinac's ballyhooed boy's basketball program, including a postseason ban, a lengthy suspension for the head coach and the prohibition of out-of-state travel.

What were the salacious crimes that spurred this potential death-penalty-esque punishment? Stepinac had the audacity to participate in a basketball tournament.

⚾ MLB TRIVIA

(Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

Kyle Schwarber hit his 350th career home run on Thursday, becoming the ninth active player to reach the milestone.

Question: How many of the other eight players can you name?

Hint: AL East (3), NL West (3), AL West (1), NL East (1).

Answer at the bottom.

🏎️ YAHOO SPORTS x APPLE TV

(Apple)

This weekend's Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026 marks the debut of Yahoo Sports' partnership with Apple TV for F1 coverage.

Tune in: Today's practice (12pm ET) and tomorrow's qualifying (4pm) will both air for free on Yahoo Sports, while Sunday's race will stream on Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula 1.

Trivia answer: Giancarlo Stanton (456), Mike Trout (414), Aaron Judge (380), Paul Goldschmidt (373), Manny Machado (373), Freddie Freeman (370), Bryce Harper (369), Nolan Arenado (358)

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.