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Georgia Senator David Perdue Privately Pushed For A Tax Break For Rich Team Owners

By Robert Faturechi and Justin Elliott/ProPublica

Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) privately pushed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to give wealthy sports owners a lucrative tax break last year, according to a previously unreported letter obtained by ProPublica.
After the 2017 tax bill championed by President Donald Trump passed, Mnuchin and the Treasury had to write rules on how the legislation would work in practice. Of the hundreds of pages of new regulations the agency developed, Perdue wrote about his concern with one extremely narrow rule: The owners of professional sports teams were being excluded from a valuable tax break being granted to many other businesses that are structured so that the companies don’t pay taxes but the owners do.
“I hope you will reconsider,” Perdue wrote in the 2019 letter.

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Posted on November 22, 2020

New Mexico Basketball Teams Flee To Texas COVID Hotspots

By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff/The Texas Tribune

Facing restrictive policies prohibiting team sports, the University of New Mexico’s basketball teams have fled their home state, seeking refuge in Lubbock and Amarillo – two of the hardest-hit coronavirus hot spots in Texas.
UNM is relocating both the women’s and men’s teams, hoping to take advantage of laxer COVID-19 restrictions in the Lone Star State.

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Posted on November 22, 2020

Formula One’s Dirty Saudi Deal

By Human Rights Watch

The Formula One Group’s plans to take its flagship Grand Prix race to Saudi Arabia should be conditioned on freeing imprisoned women’s driving advocates and dropping the charges against them.
Formula One has made human rights commitments, and should explain how the company’s operations will improve human rights in Saudi Arabia. Formula One leaders did not address pervasive Saudi human rights abuses in announcing their partnership last week.

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Posted on November 10, 2020

SportsMonday: Concessions

By Jim Coffman

By the time the Bears (who have now scored seven points total in nine third quarters this season – an unbelievable record of ineptitude) blew another post-halftime drive on Sunday, lowlighted by two straight fourth-down false-start penalties, it was clear they were on their way to another game in which, for the majority of the 60 minutes, they were the lesser team.
Let me write a little disclaimer right here: This is a football column that has some political stuff at the end. I was a Biden supporter in this year’s election. If you want to bail out here, everyone understands.

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Posted on November 9, 2020

TrackNotes: Keeneland’s Climax

By Thomas Chambers

Ladies, land and just a little journalism are the lingering impressions after the 36th Breeders’ Cup World Championships – and, for all intents and purposes, the 2020 Thoroughbred horse racing season – climaxed Saturday.
In no particular order:

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Posted on November 8, 2020

TrackNotes: Environmental Contamination On Fantasy Island

By Thomas Chambers

American Thoroughbred horse racing does its Tarzan yell this weekend as beautiful Keeneland Race Course hosts the 36th annual Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
The racing heart beats steady today and tomorrow, so it would be premature to perform the autopsy on the 2020 racing season. At this point, while Breeders’ Cup glory is a real goal, don’t discount the dollar signs owners and breeders see in horses who win and then hit the big parlay in the breeding shed. Some of the horses, like Tiz the Law, already have it made. Others can sink or swim.
Another, much bigger prize than Manager of the Year will ever be, is an Eclipse Award. That also translates into real money on the stud fees.

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Posted on November 6, 2020

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