The Sports Report: Dodgers are headed to DirecTV

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Just our luck, the Dodgers TV stalemate ends but there’s no season.

Spectrum announced Wednesday it reached an agreement to carry SportsNet LA, the Dodgers’ television home, on AT&T video platforms, including DirecTV, AT&T TV, U-Verse TV and AT&T Now in Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii, beginning immediately.

SportsNet LA started airing Wednesday on DirecTV Channel 690. U-Verse TV also has already picked up SportsNet LA, and AT&T and AT&T TV Now are scheduled to add the channel April 8.

The deal ends a seven-year stalemate between the two parties since the Dodgers agreed to a record 25-year, $8.35-billion television deal in January 2013 and granted Time Warner Cable exclusive marketing rights for the channel. SportsNet LA launched in 2014.

Charter Communications bought Time Warner four years ago, but had been unable to reach an agreement with DirecTV and other local providers. SportsNet LA had reached less than half of the Southern California market. That finally changed Wednesday.

“As anxious as we all are for the ongoing pandemic to end and for the 2020 season to begin, we now have even more reason to be excited because this agreement will make Dodger baseball games and programming available for our fans on Spectrum, AT&T TV, DIRECTV, U-verse TV, and AT&T TV NOW,” Dodgers president Stan Kasten said in a statement. “I want to thank AT&T and Spectrum Networks for coming together on this agreement. We are eager to get this season started once it is deemed safe to do so everywhere.”

Read more

Bill Plaschke: Dodgers TV blackout ends. But for Kershaw’s peak and Scully’s finale, you had to be there, L.A.

TENNIS

This year’s edition of Wimbledon has been canceled, officials of the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced Wednesday, adding yet another premier sports event to the list of those canceled around the world because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wimbledon, the oldest of the four tennis Grand Slam events, was last canceled for six years ending in 1945 because of World War II.

“It is the Committee of Management’s view that cancellation of The Championships is the best decision in the interests of public health, and that being able to provide certainty by taking this decision now, rather than in several weeks, is important for everyone involved in tennis and The Championships,” the All England Club said in a statement.

“Uppermost in our mind has been the health and safety of all of those who come together to make Wimbledon happen — the public in the UK and visitors from around the world, our players, guests, members, staff, volunteers, partners, contractors, and local residents — as well as our broader responsibility to society’s efforts to tackle this global challenge to our way of life.”

LAKERS

Having finished their home quarantine, the Lakers announced that none of their players have COVID-19 symptoms.

Two players tested positive two weeks ago after most of the team was administered tests while sitting in their cars in the parking lot of the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo. The Lakers did not disclose the names of those players, and they have not come forward. The team did say both players who tested positive displayed no symptoms.

BIGGEST L.A. SPORTS ICON

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, we will be having a 128-person tournament to decide who is the biggest icon in L.A. sports history. After receiving numerous emails from readers of this newsletter, and after consulting with my colleagues here in The Times sports department, here is the final list of 128 people, broken into four brackets of 32 each. They will be seeded into each bracket and, starting Monday, readers of this newsletter will be able to vote for each individual matchup until we are eventually left with one winner.

Before we get to the list, a couple of friendly reminders: You may not see someone you think is deserving to be on this list. I’m sorry about that. But like any good March Madness tournament, there is always someone (or team) left out that you think should be there. It’s part of the fun. I tried to cover as many sports as possible, within reason. And remember this most of all: This is supposed to be fun. If you find yourself getting angry that someone was left out, then take a deep breath. It’s going to be OK.

Now, without further ado, the brackets, with people listed in alphabetical order. Seeding will be announced when voting opens Monday.

The Basketball Bracket

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Lew Alcindor

Elgin Baylor

Kobe Bryant

Jerry Buss

Wilt Chamberlain

Cynthia Cooper

Michael Cooper

Derek Fisher

Pau Gasol

Hank Gathers

Gail Goodrich

Blake Griffin

Walt Hazzard

Chick Hearn

Phil Jackson

Magic Johnson

Marques Johnson

Ralph Lawler

Lisa Leslie

Ann Meyers

Harold Miner

Cheryl Miller

Reggie Miller

Shaquille O’Neal

Chris Paul

Pat Riley

Bill Walton

Jerry West

Paul Westphal

Jamaal/Keith Wilkes

John Wooden

James Worthy

The Baseball Bracket

Walter Alston

Garret Anderson

Gene Autry

Rod Carew

Willie Davis

Rod Dedeaux

Don Drysdale

Jim Fregosi

Kirk Gibson

Bobby Grich

Vladimir Guerrero

Orel Hershiser

“The Infield” (Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey)

Jaime Jarrin

Clayton Kershaw

Sandy Koufax

Tommy Lasorda

Fred Lynn

Mark McGwire

Don Newcombe

Walter O’Malley

Mike Piazza

Albert Pujols

Nolan Ryan

Tim Salmon

Mike Scioscia

Vin Scully

Tom Seaver

Don Sutton

Mike Trout

Fernando Valenzuela

Maury Wills

The Football Bracket

Troy Aikman

Marcus Allen

Jon Arnett

Gary Beban

Reggie Bush

Pete Carroll

Anthony Davis

Eric Dickerson

Terry Donahue

Aaron Donald

Tom Fears

“The Fearsome Foursome”

Tom Flores

Roman Gabriel

Mike Garrett

Pat Haden

Elroy Hirsch

Bo Jackson

Dick “Night Train” Lane

Matt Leinart

Howie Long

John McKay

Carson Palmer

Jim Plunkett

Troy Polamalu

John Robinson

Red Sanders

Jackie Slater

Jack Snow

Kenny Washington

Charles White

Jack Youngblood

The Wild-Card bracket

Arthur Ashe

Bob Baffert

David Beckham

Rob Blake

Oscar De La Hoya

Marcel Dionne

Landon Donovan

Dick Enberg

John Force

Ryan Getzlaf

Wayne Gretzky

Florence Griffith-Joyner

Jim Healy

Rafer Johnson

Jackee Joyner-Kersee

Billie Jean King

Karch Kiraly

Anze Kopitar

Michelle Kwan

Bob Miller

Jim Murray

Jonathan Quick

John Ramsey

Jackie Robinson

Luc Robitaille

Pete Sampras

Teemu Selanne

Bill Shoemaker

Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos

Rogie Vachon

Serena/Venus Williams

Tiger Woods

BORN ON THIS DAY

1896: Golfer Johnny Golden (d. 1936)

1907: Baseball player Luke Appling (d. 1991)

1915: Baseball umpire Al Barlick (d. 1995)

1924: Baseball player Bobby Ávila (d. 2004)

1924: Boxer Wallace Smith (d. 1973)

1926: Race car driver/owner Jack Brabham (d. 2014)

1927: Boxer Carmen Basilio (d. 2012)

1945: Former Dodger Don Sutton

1945: Former Dodger Reggie Smith

1951: Golfer Ayako Okamoto

1959: Swimmer Brian Goodell

1960: Sprinter Linford Christie

1966: Hockey player Andrei Kovalev

1966: Football player Bill Romanowski

1971: Tennis player Todd Woodbridge

1980: Soccer player Carlos Salcido

1980: Auto racer/owner Ricky Hendrick (d. 2004)

1982: Skier/football player Jeremy Bloom

DIED ON THIS DAY

1972: Former Dodger Gil Hodges, 57

1979: Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom, 72

AND FINALLY

Luke Appling, 75, homers to lead off an old-timers’ game. Watch it here.