NFL OKs Brady’s stake in Raiders

Tom Brady has another new role in the NFL: owner. The seven-time Super Bowl champion purchased a minority stake in the Raiders, a deal approved by NFL team owners on Tuesday at the league’s annual fall meeting. Brady, who played 23 seasons with the Patriots and Buccaneers, takes 5% control of the Raiders. The 47-year-old Brady can’t come of out retirement and play football again unless he sells his stake in the team. The deal was initially agreed upon in May 2023, but it took owners 17 months to give their approval over concerns Brady was receiving too much of a discount from Raiders majority owner Mark Davis. Brady’s new job as a broadcaster with Fox also was an issue because it could represent a conflict of interest. The NFL placed restrictions on Brady before the season to limit his access. He isn’t permitted to attend production meetings in person or virtually and may not have access to team facilities or players and coaching personnel. Still, Brady may broadcast Raiders games. He also owns a minority stake in the WNBA’s Aces, who are owned by Davis.

Bowman DQ a lifeline for Logano

Joey Logano hoped he’d done enough to advance in NASCAR’s playoffs with an eighth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But when the Team Penske driver left the track Sunday night, he was four points below the cutline and eliminated from any shot at winning a third Cup Series title. Then came the phone calls: inspection was taking a long time and there could be a problem with one of the playoff cars. All Logano, above, could do was wait and wonder if there truly was something amiss with Alex Bowman’s car and if it was egregious enough to push Logano into the round of eight. Sure enough, Bowman’s car was found to be underweight and he was disqualified. The penalty dropped Bowman in the standings, and as soon as Hendrick Motorsports declined Monday night to appeal, Logano was back in title contention. The next race is Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the 34-year-old Logano is a three-time race winner. Should he emerge as the title winner at Phoenix Raceway in November, Logano will be the only active three-time Cup Series champion in NASCAR.

South Carolina women start at No. 1

South Carolina is starting the season where it finished off last year — ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 women’s college basketball poll. The Gamecocks received 27 of the 30 first-place votes in the preseason rankings from a national media panel Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from the national championship team that went undefeated last year, capping off the historic season over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game. UConn is No. 2, USC is No. 3 and Texas and UCLA round out the top five. South Carolina has been No. 1 in the preseason poll four of the last five years. Last season, they started sixth in the preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year. “We knew we’d have a target on our backs this season ... and this ranking just confirms that,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, above, told the AP. “We appreciate the recognition, but I know our coaching staff and our team are more focused on what we see in the gym every day. And that’s every player working extremely hard to get better individually and as a team.” UConn received two first-place votes. —AP