Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday 5/15/20
15 May 2020 Sports
Team shareholders received a letter Thursday from Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy detailing the team’s COVID-19 responses and preparedness in case the pandemic affects the upcoming NFL season. He said the team is in good enough shape financially to cover losses. Murphy also said the team has made it a priority to help those in our community impacted by COVID-19 and also extended the deadline for season ticketholders to pay for their tickets to June 1st. He also said the team will soon send out Packers facemasks to all of our season ticketholders.
-0- The 50th Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Inc. Induction Banquet will be postponed until April 17, 2021, due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Tom Konop, President of the
Packers Hall of Fame Inc., announced today.
“With the utmost consideration for the safety of all of our guests, our Executive
Committee met and voted unanimously to support the postponement of the Banquet until next year,” said Konop. “Charles and Al are in total agreement with our decision and they are looking forward to their big night next April.”
The Induction Banquet will feature Charles Woodson and Al Harris as the newest
inductees into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Also being honored is Bud Selig
as the Bob Harlan Leadership Award recipient and the late Zeke Bratkowski as the
Bart and Cherry Starr Recognition Award recipient. A new Media Award has been
established by Packers Hall of Fame Inc. and the first recipient will be Bud Lea,
for whom the award will be named in the future. Regarding the special recognition as the Most Memorable Moment in Packers history, LeRoy Butler and Robert Brooks will be accepting on behalf of the world-renowned Lambeau Leap.
Those who have purchased tickets for the event have been notified of the date
change, and their tickets will apply to next year. A limited number of tickets are
still available for the April 17, 2021, Banquet, which begins with a cash bar at 4
p.m. with dinner and program to follow at 5:30 p.m., are still available. To
purchase tickets, contact Sam Kluck at 920/965-6984 or
samk@packershalloffame.com<mailto:samk@packershalloffame.com>
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The Green Bay Packers will open the preseason at home for the fourth year in a row. The NFL set the Packers’ preseason schedule with the first two games are afternoon home games and the last two are on the road at night. The Packers open the season hosting the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, August 15, at noon. This will be the Bishop’s Charities game. The following Saturday, August 22nd, the Packer host the Cleveland Browns for a gold package game, the Midwest Shrine game, at 3 p.m. On Saturday, August 29nd, the Packers start their road trip at the New York Giants for a game at 7 p.m. The preseason wraps up with a visit to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, September 3, at 7 p.m. The Packers have faced the Chiefs in the preseason finale nine of the last 10 years, including the last three years in a row. All of the games will be carried on the Packers TV network.
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The NFL has extended its virtual offseason workouts through the end of May, a person familiar with the move tells The Associated Press. NFL teams normally would be holding Organized Team Activities (OTAs) during May, followed by June minicamps. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, such activities have been done remotely.
Coaching and training staffs have worked with the players by conducting classroom instruction and on-field activities through digital applications instead of at team facilities, which have been closed since late March. Those virtual meetings can occur for four hours per day, four days per week.
Teams can send up to $1,500 to each player to purchase equipment.
All 32 teams must submit plans for reopening their facilities to the league by Friday, though no dates for such reopenings are set. Offseason workouts (OTAs and minicamps) must end by June 26, a week or so later than usual. That, of course, could change depending on developments with the pandemic.
According to a memo to teams, the league will inform them promptly about how to proceed with on-field activities “in the event club facilities reopen at some point in June.” The league said it would work with medical advisers to establish protocols for reopening facilities.
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Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns says he hopes a potential return of Major League Baseball from a pandemic-imposed hiatus could “provide a diversion” and be “part of the solution to what everyone is going through. Stearns emphasized it would need to be done “in a safe and responsible manner.” He also said the Brewers are working with other companies and local firefighters to help provide 1,000 meals to workers at Milwaukee-area hospitals. Stearns spoke after food was given to employees at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center.
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The NBA is now one-third of the way back, at least in terms of voluntary workouts. With Miami re-opening its doors Wednesday, 10 of the league’s 30 teams have gone forward with on-court individual workouts — the first permitted sessions since the league ordered teams to close their training facilities as part of the coronavirus pandemic response about two months ago.
Besides the Heat, the other teams that have opened so far are Portland, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, Atlanta, Indiana, Sacramento, Toronto and Utah. More are expected in the coming days; among them, Orlando is close, and the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Saturday.
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When Aaron Judge was diagnosed with a fractured right rib this spring, the Yankees slugger spoke optimistically of being ready for the scheduled March 26 opener against the Orioles. General manager Brian Cashman said on Thursday that the team’s private estimates were less aggressive, believing behind closed doors that the summer months offered a more realistic timeline.
With baseball on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, Judge has been able to take advantage of extra weeks to rest than he might otherwise have allowed himself. As Judge continues to rehab regularly at the George M. Steinbrenner Field facility, Cashman said that he is optimistic the Yankees will have the 28-year-old outfielder available when action resumes.
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NASCAR is scheduled to make its return to racing on Sunday, May 17, at Darlington Raceway with a NASCAR Cup Series race that will serve as the first of seven races over an 11-day span at two different race tracks throughout May. The sanctioning body made the announcement on Thursday. Brad Keslowski won the pole in a random drawing.
The race at the historic South Carolina track will be held without fans in attendance and is slated to be NASCAR’s first on-track action in more than two months as the sport and world in general have been on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The May 17 race is a 400-miler, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. It also is the first of three races at the track, including a second Cup Series race held midweek under the lights three days later.
The May schedule also includes the crown jewel Coca-Cola 600 in its traditional Memorial Day Weekend home for the 60th consecutive season, plus midweek races in prime time.
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