Major League Baseball could be headed for a lockout, as labor negotiations between the league and its players association are progressing slowly.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that the Dec. 1 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement is not a hard deadline for agreeing to a new CBA.

“I can’t believe there’s a single fan in the world who doesn’t understand that an offseason lockout that moves the process forward is different than a labor dispute that costs games,” Manfred said on Thursday.

• A lockout would put a hold on all MLB transactions.
• The league is not required to initiate a lockout after the CBA expires but may choose to do so.

The MLB free-agent market has been robust thus far, particularly for starting pitchers. Justin Verlander and Noah Syndergaard — two aces coming off Tommy John surgery — signed one-year deals for $25 million and $21 million, respectively.

As many as 12 free agents are predicted to land contracts worth $100 million or more.

Should the two sides fail to reach an agreement before the season is set to start in March, MLB could face a shortened or even canceled season.

The league suffered around $3 billion in operational losses in 2020, due to a shortened season played mostly in empty stadiums.

Activision Blizzard is facing mounting pressure from its biggest partners in the gaming industry over allegations including sexual harassment and a toxic workplace scandal that now implicates its CEO.

The scandal gained new life on Tuesday with a Wall Street Journal report that CEO Bobby Kotick knew of sexual misconduct allegations for years.

Executives at both Sony and Microsoft have expressed dismay over the allegations and Activision’s handling of them.

“We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article,” Sony’s PlayStation chief Jim Ryan wrote to employees. “We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation.”

Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of Xbox, expressed similar sentiments, adding that the company is “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments.”

Activision Blizzard, maker of “Call of Duty,” “Diablo,” and “World of Warcraft,” is a key partner to both tech giants. The company brought in $2.1 billion in net revenues in the third quarter.

• Over 800 Activision Blizzard employees called for Kotick’s resignation.
• Shareholders representing less than 1% of the company’s shares also called for Kotick to step down.

Activision Blizzard’s stock is down nearly 30% since the start of the year.

Women’s Tennis Association CEO Steve Simon said the organization is willing to cease operations in China in response to the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai.

Peng, 35, disappeared shortly after she accused 75-year-old Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party, of sexual assault on a social media site. The post, recounting the pair’s decade-long affair, was quickly taken down.

“We’re definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it,” Simon said. “Because this is certainly, this is bigger than the business.”

• The WTA struck a 10-year deal starting in 2018 to host its year-end finals in China.
• Simon previously stated that the deal held a roughly $1 billion investment from China, assisting the organization in building popularity of women’s tennis including a new stadium and more prize money.
• The WTA is set to hold 10 tournaments in the country next year.

Over the weekend, China released photos and videos where Peng, who won doubles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014, appeared to be safe, though the WTA isn’t necessarily buying it.

“It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don’t alleviate or address the WTA’s concern about her wellbeing and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion,” a WTA spokesperson told Reuters.

The IOC announced Sunday that Peng held a 30-minute video call with three of its officials regarding her safety and wishes to remain private about the ordeal.

The Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee raised $694 million to support the Kingdom’s sports federations, Saudi minister of sport and committee president Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal announced.

As part of the nation’s Quality of Life program, the funding will focus on improving the Kingdom’s sports industry before it hosts the Asian Games in 2034.

The Kingdom jumped from 32 sports federations in 2015 to 91 this year. If a federation meets certain criteria, it will be eligible to receive financial support from the committee.

• The capital will help create an infrastructure to support the federations.
• It will contribute to the nation’s gross domestic product at an 0.8% increase.
• The funds will also aim to boost community involvement in sport to 40% by 2030.

Federations may receive capital for core funding like operating and salary costs, and others will receive financial rewards for exemplary results like winning Olympic medals.

Prince Abdulaziz also announced an Elite Athlete Development Program on Wednesday to improve athletes’ performance levels and create an athlete network, targeting 180 male and female athletes in its first year and adding another 300 by 2023.

The committee hopes the changes will help promote sports tourism in the Saudi Arabia.