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All times EDT

TOP STORIES

FBN--ON FOOTBALL-SLEEPER TEAMS

Some of the 18 NFL teams that missed the playoffs last year have reason to hope for much greater success this season. Since 2019, seven teams have reached a conference championship game after failing to make the playoffs the previous season. Four of those seven teams won six or fewer games the year before advancing to the NFL’s Final Four. By Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi. UPCOMING: 830 words, photos at 6 a.m.

FBN--NFL BRAZIL-NO GREEN

SAO PAULO — Brazilian soccer club Corinthians, the team turning over its stadium for the first NFL game ever to be played in South America, dislikes anything green so much that its executives tried to paint the field black about a decade ago. On Friday, however, NeoQuimica Arena will be awash with green when the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles play the second game of the NFL season in Sao Paulo. By Mauricio Savarese. SENT: 870 words, photos.

TEN--US OPEN

NEW YORK — No. 1 Jannik Sinner meets Jack Draper at the U.S. Open on Friday afternoon, before Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe play at night in the first all-American Grand Slam men’s semifinal in 19 years. By Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos. Sinner-Draper starts at about 3 p.m. EDT; Fritz-Tiafoe starts at about 7 p.m. EDT.

— TEN--US Open Guide

US--NCAA-COMPENSATING ATHLETES

A federal judge on Thursday probed the terms of a proposed $2.78 billion settlement of antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and major conferences and revealed a potential snag in the deal, questioning whether payments to college athletes from booster-funded organizations should be restricted. The hearing was the first step of a lengthy court process that could lead to college athletes getting a cut of the billions in television revenue that flows to their schools. By College Sports Writer Ralph D. Russo. SENT: 910 words, photos.

SOC--ENGLAND-MANAGER

MANCHESTER, England —A new era for England’s soccer team begins on Saturday. Interim head coach Lee Carsley takes charge of his first game for the national team against Ireland after Gareth Southgate stepped down following the European Championship. Officially Carsley — who stepped up from coaching the under 21s — will take up the role for the upcoming Nations League games against Ireland and Finland, but could remain in position for longer if the search for Southgate’s permanent successor extends beyond October. By James Robson. UPCOMING: 600 words, photos by 0800 GMT (4 a.m. EDT).

OLY--PARALYMPICS-US DIVERSITY

Gold-medal-winning high jumper Roderick Townsend and U.S. flag bearer and sitting volleyball star Nicky Nieves took different routes to the Paris Paralympics. But they agree that, now they’re here, they’d like to see more people of color in USA jerseys. By Avery Hill. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 8 a.m.

NOTABLE

HKN--GAUDREAU BROTHERS

The funeral for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau has been scheduled for Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in suburban Philadelphia. The Gaudreau brothers died last week when they were struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver while riding their bicycles in their home state of New Jersey. By Stephen Whyno. SENT: 650 words, photos.

HKO--US HOCKEY HALL OF FAME

Olympic champion Brianna Decker, former NHL players Kevin Stevens and Matt Cullen, late Chicago Blackhawks founder Frederic McLaughlin and the 2002 Paralympic gold medal-winning sled hockey team are being inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. By AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno. SENT: 530 words, photos.

TEN--MATCH FIXING-SANCTIONS

Five more tennis players linked to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium have been banned from the sport, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Thursday. The charges stem from matches in 2017 and 2018 and “relate to contriving the outcome of matches, facilitating betting, accepting money in exchange for not giving best efforts, and failure to report corrupt approaches,” the ITIA said in a statement. SENT: 190 words.

US-NEW ORLEANS SCHOOL DONATION-BARKLEY

NEW ORLEANS — NBA legend Charles Barkley has made the first of 10 promised donations to a New Orleans school where two of its students made mathematical history in 2023. St. Mary’s Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in the eastern part of the city, received Barkley’s $100,000 gift last Friday. SENT: 290 words.

US-RELIGIOUS SCHOOL-TRANSGENDER PLAYER

A Vermont Christian school that is barred from participating in the state sports league after it withdrew its high school girls basketball team from a playoff game because a transgender student was playing on the opposing team has taken its case to a federal appeals court. By Lisa Rathke. SENT: 460 words.

OLY-SWM-AUSTRALIA-COACH FIRED

SYDNEY — Swimming Australia has fired coach Michael Palfrey over comments made at the Paris Olympics where he said he hoped a South Korean athlete would beat Australian swimmers. Palfrey told South Korean television he hoped South Korea’s Kim Woo-min would win the men’s 400-meter freestyle in Paris, an event that featured Australians Sam Short and Elijah Winnington. SENT: 230 words, photos.

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Friday's EDT Time Schedule

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

N.Y. Yankees at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m.

Colorado at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

Washington at Pittsburgh, 6:40 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 7:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Boston, 7:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 7:10 p.m.

Toronto at Atlanta, 7:20 p.m.

L.A. Angels at Texas, 8:05 p.m.

Arizona at Houston, 8:10 p.m.

Minnesota at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m.

Seattle at St. Louis, 8:15 p.m.

Detroit at Oakland, 9:40 p.m.

San Francisco at San Diego, 9:40 p.m.

Cleveland at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Green Bay vs. Philadelphia at Sao Paulo, 8:15 p.m.

WNBA

Dallas at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.

Las Vegas at Connecticut, 7:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Indiana, 7:30 p.m.

Los Angeles at Chicago, 9:30 p.m.

NWSL

Seattle at Angel City, 10 p.m.

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