The Key for the week of August 4, 2025
That’s Bristol, Baby…
MLB’s big showcase on the Bristol Speedway track turned into, as one fan said, “the adult version of Fyre Festival.” In other words, a mess—a big, wet mess. The event did set a record of more than 90,000 fans in attendance, but that was before the rains came Saturday night. The weather delayed the start, then ultimately forced the game to be suspended before the first inning was finished. No surprise, 90,000 fans didn’t stick around for the Sunday afternoon resumption. In between, there were stories of concessions running out of food, merch tents closing early because they ran out of swag, and general misery because of the rain. And oh by the way, the Reds lost not only the game, 4-2 to the Braves, they lost the Sunday day off that would have come in handy before their big series this week with the Cubs. And, they lost the ability to rest their bullpen since they only got one inning, 18 pitches, from starter Chase Burns. Will MLB do a stunt game again? Of course. But it might be wise not to ask the Reds to repeat.
The Caitlin Clark Effect..
Has now drifted into the cost of a WNBA franchise. When Golden State bought into the WNBA with an expansion team in 2023, the price was $25 million. When this latest round of expansion teams, Cleveland, Philly and Detroit, joined the W, the price had jumped to $250 million. Now, a minority owner of the Boston Celtics wants to buy the Connecticut Sun and move the team to Boston for the price of $325 million, a WNBA record. Nothing’s been approved yet, and even if it is, the Sun will stay at Mohegan Sun Casino for the 2026 season. The Sun originally was the Orlando Miracle before the Mohegan Tribe purchased the franchise and moved it to women’s basketball-crazy Connecticut. But this past season the Sun lost all five starters and Coach Stephanie White to either free agency, trades or new jobs while players have criticized the franchise for not having better training facilities. The prospective new owners have pledged $100 million for a new practice/training center to resolve that issue. The Sun, by the way, has played two games at TD Garden in Boston the last two seasons, both sellouts (including against Caitlin Clark’s Fever and the LA Sparks).
Are you ready for some Bengals football?
The first NFL preseason game of the year was last week in Canton, but the preseason (they don’t like it when you call it an ‘exhibition’ game) starts for the Bengals on Thursday when the Orange and Black play the Super Bowl champion Eagles. The team promises the starters will play more this preseason, trying to avoid the usual slow start that puts the Bengals in a hole each and every season of the Zac Taylor era. And we’re still waiting for Trey Hendrickson to ink a new deal—reports say the two sides are stuck on guaranteed money as Hendrickson enters the final year of his Bengals contract.
Ben’s Best Bet
The Cincinnati Open starts this week in its new, two-week format with an expanded field and an expanded footprint at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. On the men’s side Jannik Sinner is the defending champion and enters the tournament as the favorite, with Carlos Alcaraz the second favorite to win. Sinner is looking for his fifth Masters 1000 title on hardcourt, while Alcaraz has won four of his last five meetings with Sinner (the only loss, the Wimbledon final this year). Ben says this could be the harbinger of another epic matchup between these two at the US Open, but in Cincinnati, it would be worth taking a chance on Alcaraz taking the title in Cincinnati.