Dick's Sporting Goods has been one of the big success stories in the brick-and-mortar retail ***** e.
At a time when many rivals have been shrinking their physical store counts, the sporting goods giant has leaned into stores, creating new experiential concepts and generally rethinking its retail strategy.
The chain has selectively built House of Sport locations that offer running tracks, batting cages, golf simulators, and other interactive options.
"House of Sport locations now seeing 5-6 times the number of visits per location compared to the rest of the chain. For reference, the average ***** 's Sporting Goods store is roughly 50K square feet square feet compared to 100K-120K square feet for House of Sport, indicating that House of Sport is also outperforming on a visit per square foot basis," according to 2024 data from Placer.ai.
That's a win, and the overall company delivered a nearly 5% comparable store sales gain in the second quarter. Chairman Edward Stack celebrated that success during the chain's second-quarter earnings call.

#square

F1 drivers check out the new Madring circuit ahead of the Spanish GP, as they discuss the dangers, difficulties in overtaking and getting a lap done, and talk about the La Monumental corner.
Jeddah? Macau? Monaco? Baku? Zandvoort? The new Madring circuit has been compared to a lot of other tracks on the F1 calendar due to its nature and layout. The drivers are bracing for a hard and tough outing in this weekend's Spanish GP. The narrow and high-speed combination never works well for everyone, with the Saudi Arabian GP a prime example in recent times.
Of course, the F1 drivers eventually find a way through to get things right. But still, ahead of the start, they have mixed emotions, with most agreeing that it will be dangerous. Even though some feel it will not be as dangerous as Jeddah already is, the majority agree that defending will be much easier and overtaking much harder, as seen in Monaco.
Even getting a lap right in qualifying will be a challenge, which the F1 drivers accept. Almost everyone has had a run in the simulator, but they are waiting for the real feel, as the speed and power can only be ascertained once someone is really on track. One of its major attractions is the long, banked La Monumental, which, of course, everyone is looking to try in the real car.
Here's a list of F1 drivers speaking about the dangers:

#drivers #monaco #even #circuit

A teenager with type 1 diabetes is hoping to inspire others with the condition as he moves from simulator racing to real cars, his father has said.
Zachary Houghton, from Redhill in Surrey, completed his first Formula Ford race at the end of August, driving a racing car on a circuit for the first time.
The 17-year-old told BBC Radio Surrey: "I reckon I'll be able to get back in the car again - it will just be [about] finding the funding because motorsport isn't cheap."
His father, Scott Houghton, said his son wanted "to be an advocate and an inspiration" to those with the condition.
"Zachary would love his journey to show other young people living with type 1 diabetes that the condition doesn't have to stop them chasing the things they want to achieve," he said.

#condition #diabetes #first #redhill

Marine pilots moving from the newly retired Harrier to the F-35 must unlearn old instincts.
The F-35 eases much of the physical work of flying, but gives pilots far more data to manage.
Former Harrier pilots say breaking those patterns takes repeated simulator training and practice.
The first time a former Marine Harrier pilot brings an F-35 fighter jet in to land on the deck of an amphibious warship, skills honed by hundreds of hours in the old jet might work against them in the new Lightning II.
The AV-8B Harrier, the Marine Corps' short take-off and vertical-landing fighter, saw its pilots carefully manage three different controls — one to control direction, an engine throttle, and a nozzle lever that directed engine thrust, allowing the aircraft to hover.

#harrier #pilots #former #fighter

Evaluating Woody Marks through a fantasy football lens requires a realistic ******* sment of a player whose team has already shown us exactly how they feel about his standalone role. Selected as a fourth-round pick last year, Marks struggled with efficiency, posting a sluggish 3.6 yards per carry. While he did manage to catch three touchdowns, and that is certainly not nothing in PPR formats, the broader context of the offseason is incredibly telling. If the Houston Texans were genuinely impressed with what they saw from Marks, they would not have aggressively brought in David Montgomery to take over the backfield.
This is an offense starved for upside outside of Nico Collins, who drafted perimeter help last year and explicitly added to their backfield this summer as they continue to try to support what might be the best defense in the NFL.
The Texans are clearly gearing up to make a playoff run, and their offseason moves suggest that Marks is not going to be a featured part of it, at least in an optimal world.
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The good news for Marks is that this offensive line should be noticeably better than it was a year ago, which should theoretically help boost some of his disappointing efficiency numbers if he is actually given a chance.

#last #efficiency #backfield

Rachaad White doesn't fit the typical skill set that would qualify him for a "high floor" sort of list, but if you take a step back, his role is crystal clear and only carries upside.
At this point, we've learned to not bank on White as a between the tackles runner. He's not efficient and that ship seems to have sailed. The Commanders brought him in to leverage his pass catching prowess (89.1% career catch rate, 7.1 yards per catch) in an offense that has creative dreams and a limited RB1.
Jacory Corksey-Merritt's advanced profile is basically the bizzaro version of White: he was second best in 5+ yard carry rate but continued to be a non-factor in the pass game.
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In White, we get a specialist who COULD be asked to expand his touch type. I don't think Washington wants to ask him to carry the mail on any sort of consistent basis, though there is a path where it could happen based on need.

#sort #catch #carry #jacory

Dallas Goedert is entering his ninth season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, at 31 years old, he is coming off the best fantasy year of his career. With A.J. Brown gone and a rookie tight end in the building, should fantasy managers be drafting Goedert in 2026?
I expected to be out on Goedert this season.
The reason is that his 2025 breakout was almost entirely a mirage. Goedert averaged 12.3 fantasy points per game, and that figure was inflated by an absurd 11 touchdowns. Nothing else about his profile actually changed.
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His targets and yards landed right in his usual range. His yards per reception was a career-low 9.9. He simply happened to find the end zone six more times than he ever had before. For context on how extreme that was, you would have to add up his previous four seasons combined to exceed last year's touchdown total.

#goedert #Career #yards #dallas

Colston Loveland arrived in Chicago as a first-round pick and finished his rookie season as the TE15 in points per game. That number sits well below where the fantasy community is now drafting him. His price has climbed to the 4/5 turn this summer. Should fantasy managers pay up for Loveland in 2026?
The surface stats do not tell the full story here, and the gap between the two is enormous.
Loveland spent the first half of his rookie season inexplicably trapped behind Cole Kmet. It was not until Week 16 that he consistently played more than 80% of the snaps. Unsurprisingly, that is right around when he started to break out.
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His final line reads as unremarkable. Loveland finished as the TE15 in fantasy points per game at 10.3, which is your quintessential replacement-level tight end. That is the number people will see when they look him up.

#first

Noted golf architect Tom Fazio, whose courses have a weighty presence on various Golfweek's Best course rankings lists, has signed on for something new. He will join forces with CityGolf USA to design eight indoor golf courses, starting with a new Nashville facility that will open in the winter of 2026 and that combines simulator golf with real greens and surrounds built with artificial turf.
CityGolf USA will use simulators to take players from tee to green, at which point the simulator screen will be lifted to reveal a green complex with the artificial turf. If it all sounds familiar, it's similar to what the TGL indoor league has built at Palm Beach State College in Florida, where teams of top touring professionals such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy play televised matches.
The first CityGolf USA location will take up 174,000 square feet at City View Building 6 in Nashville. The business will include a high-end restaurant, a bar, event ******* es, driving range bays and a short-game practice area. Fazio will design the 18-hole course in concert with Fazio Design Technologies.
"A great golf course is always accompanied by a great environment," Fazio said in a media release announcing the partnership that was released Wednesday. "FDT and CityGolf USA are committed to providing a one-of-a-kind environment and entertainment venue that is unmatched. The ability to design and create unique golf courses for CityGolf USA has been seamless, and we look forward to people all over the United States having the opportunity to play them."
Gavin Fazio, Tom's son, is founder of Fazio Design Technologies and president of Fazio Design, the firm that focuses on actual course design.

#golf #nashville #indoor #simulator

A.J. Cavotta will cap a standout golf year with an autumn trip to Florida.
A teaching pro at Anders Mattson Golf in Saratoga Springs, Cavotta grabbed Northeastern New York's PGA berth into the 50th **** istant PGA Professional Championship, shooting a 3-under-par 139 over 36 holes Monday at Mohawk to win the section's **** istants Championship.
Cavotta, 24, the 2019 Times Union boys' golf Athlete of the Year from Saratoga Springs, was in a three-way tie with Nolan Crowley, who also works at Mattson's studio, and Nick Frankl of Albany. A bogey-free second round of 5-under 66 gave Cavotta a five-stroke victory over Crowley, the 2018 TU boys' golf Athlete of the Year who also played at Saratoga.
The victory punched Cavotta's ticket to Port St. Lucie, Fla., where the Wanamaker Course at the PGA Golf Club will play host to the national **** istants championship Nov. 12-15, and adds to a 2026 season in which he:
• earned $40,000 by winning the Next Golf Tour Championship, a worldwide circuit played on golf simulators (February)
• finished fourth in the Massachusetts Open, taking home $4,500 (June)
• captured the $2,000 top prize at the Donald Ross Classic at Glens Falls, his first major victory in the NENYPGA (June)
• placed second in the New York Open, losing in a playoff, at Bethpage Black, winning $11,000 (July)
• took sixth in the Canada Cup at Victoriaville, Quebec, worth $4,900 (August)
• was selected as the NENYPGA's **** istant Professional of the Year (August)
Scotia native Laura Diaz, now living in Winston-Salem, N.C., tied for seventh in the U.S. Senior Women's Open in Ann Arbor, Mich., 10 shots behind winner Maria McBride of Sweden. Diaz, 51, hit all 14 fairways in three of her four rounds. She tied for 15th last season in her first year of eligibility. … Samantha Schuffenecker has been named the new women's golf coach at Union.

#cavotta #open #professional

Liam Lawson was alerted about his Red Bull F1 chance as he arrived backed to United Kingdom from holidays, as he heads into the weekend with pressure but as much.
After his unceremonious departure from Red Bull in F1 2026 after completing just the two races, Lawson returns to the seat he vacated alongside Max Verstappen for this weekend in Dutch GP at Circuit Zandvoort. This is a second time he has been called-up in this way at this venue.
Few years back, he drafted in from Saturday at Racing Bulls for Danile Ricciardo, who injured his hand in practice. Co-incidently, he is replacing Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, who has injured his wrist in summer break. At least this time, Lawson has more days to prepare for the F1 weekend.
He got to know on Monday about the Red Bull F1 chance when he arrived back in the UK after his holidays. He managed one simulator session at Milton Keynes after all the seat fitting. But his preparation hasn't been any different, just that the eye to the details has been more.
The power unit is the same but it will be getting used to the chassis and car, especially in a F1 sprint weekend with just the one practice. There is pressure but not as much, with his future also on the line, considering the rumours around the promotion of Nikola Tsolov.

#pressure

MARKHAM, Ontario – Now that IndyCar drivers have gone on track following construction delays at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, teams and drivers are adjusting to their first practice session on the new street circuit. While drivers got some time to do simulator work for the 12-turn, 2.19-mile course in the weeks leading up to the event, racing on the real surface has some differences.
The biggest question coming into the weekend was how the tight, right-handed hairpin in Turn 5 would race. Marcus Armstrong said he and Meyer Shank Racing teammate Felix Rosenqvist thought there'd be a lot of grip at the top of the turn, which would make entering Turn 5 high and wide the ideal path. After one practice, Armstrong isn't so sure.
"I think I tried everything just to see what works," Armstrong said. "As the track evolves, it's probably going to change. Just like Long Beach, that really tight hairpin, it builds a lot of rubber. The line that you take at the start of the weekend can vary a lot towards the end of the weekend. I guess we're going to have to keep adapting to that grip. It's a very tricky corner. Zero grip. You're like sliding in, sliding mid-corner, and sliding out."
Team Penske's David Malukas felt the simulator was "spot on" except at the hairpin. Malukas didn't realize the elevation that takes place on the straightaway between Turns 4 and 5 until he did the track walk Friday. He's not confident that cars will be able to go two-wide into the turn, which leads into the longest straightaway on the track.
"If it is clean air running, I don't think it's big enough of a run," Malukas said. "You can maybe do a dive bomb, but you're going to go wide when the other guy does the normal corner, so I don't know."

#track #drivers #wide #going

Interested in CAE Inc? Here are five stocks we like better.
CAE maintained its fiscal 2027 outlook after first-quarter revenue rose 6.8% to CAD 1.2 billion and free cash flow improved to CAD 104 million, despite a 7.5% decline in adjusted segment operating income.
The company's transformation plan remains on track, targeting CAD 125 million–CAD 150 million in annual savings by fiscal 2030. CAE has spent CAD 133 million so far and plans to retire 25 commercial simulators while consolidating training centers.
Defense outperformed Civil: Defense revenue and adjusted operating income increased 8.3% and 9.1%, respectively, supported by contract activity and efficiencies, while Civil margins fell amid Middle East disruptions, transformation costs and lower simulator sales contributions.
The Ecosystem Edge: Joby's Competitive Advantage

#operating

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger have lowered the asking price of their Los Angeles mansion after struggling to find a buyer.
The couple initially put their Pacific Palisades home on the market for $32 million in September 2023. The 11,000 sq ft property, which has now been relisted for $20 million, features six bedroom suites, a full-size movie theater decorated with plush, velvet green sofas, a sauna, basketball court, an outdoor pool, a grand dining room decked with sky-high ceilings, and a **** ious kitchen complete with marble countertops. The home even includes a teakwood spa with hot and cold plunge pools and a steam room for a "complete wellness experience". The couple also installed a gold simulator at the property.
Chris and Katherine have resided in the luxurious abode since 2021 after the Marvel Cinematic Universe star purchased the land in 2018 for $15.6 million. Prior to moving in, the pair spent two years renovating the **** e. The property is located in the hills and boasts sweeping views of Santa Monica.
Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt lowered the price of their mansion (@ Getty Images for Disney)
The actor married Katherine in 2019, and the pair share three children – daughters, Lyla Maria and Eloise Christina, and son, Ford Fitzgerald. The Jurassic World star also shares a a son named Jack with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.

#pratt #schwarzenegger #couple

The later rounds are where you stop drafting for safety and start drafting for upside. The best late picks are cheap swings at a player whose role could climb. Rashid Shaheed is that swing this year.
Draft Shaheed with one of your last picks. PFN's Kyle Soppe calls him "the easiest click I'm making in the later rounds," and the reasons to like him run deeper than his 2025 box score lets on.
Do not judge him on the ugly line he posted after arriving in Seattle. Shaheed managed just 15 catches for 188 yards and no touchdowns following his midseason trade, and his snap and target counts cratered to roughly three looks a game. That is what happens when a receiver lands on a new team in November with no offseason to learn the system, not a sign that the talent slipped.
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Give him a defined role and the production shows up. Before the deal, Shaheed was averaging 11.6 points per game in New Orleans on a career-high 7.3 targets, ranking second on the Saints in targets behind only Chris Olave. Rewind to 2024, and he was a top-25 fantasy receiver through five weeks behind 17.5 yards per reception, before a knee injury ended his season. The role has been the variable, not the player.

#role #drafting #player

The Denver Broncos' new facility was built with the idea of bringing the entire organization under one roof. Broncos president Damani Leech believes the team has accomplished its goal. While addressing media members last Saturday, Leech spoke about the project at length.
"This building is just… It's amazing," Leech said. "It's amazing; every day I walk the building, I see different parts for the first time post-construction, and I think it's amazing. It's a testament to ownership, to Greg and Carrie (Penner), the investment they've made into football. Football first, but also our business to bring nearly 100 business staff into the building to create culture, to design a building with football in mind. The ******* es are really well thought of. Very intentional layout. The player path of travel was really, really important. I love coming to work every day, and I think everybody else does too."
The first floor is specifically tailored for the players, second floor is for football operations, and the top level is the business side of the franchise. Take a look at an inside video of the building courtesy of DNVR's Zac Stevens.
Leech spoke about the features of the building which make it special in his eyes, including a fun feature he "begged for."
"What I think is unique about this building is that it is distinctly Colorado," Leech said. "I think people walk the building and they feel like they understand that this is the Denver Broncos' training facility. We're here in Colorado, a lot of the natural wood. I love on the third floor, which we'll see, the elevated ceilings, the mass timber is a great place for me to come and work every day. I was begging for the golf simulator and I got it, so there's really nothing that we didn't get."

#building #Broncos

Delta Sigma Theta-branded car makes NASCAR debut appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
NASCAR has unveiled its first-ever Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.-branded show car, marking a historic collaboration between the motorsports organization and one of the nation's largest Black Greek-letter organizations.
According to Watch The Yard, the custom show car made its debut during the 2026 Delta Sigma Theta South Atlantic Regional Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The vehicle was designed by Camilla Wilkins-Bowens, a NASCAR NEXT intern and Louisiana State University student who was initiated into the Iota Theta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta in fall 2025, according to Watch The Yard.
The activation represented a first for NASCAR at a Divine Nine event. Throughout the conference, attendees had the opportunity to see the custom Delta Sigma Theta-themed show car up close while also participating in NASCAR racing simulators, creating an interactive experience for thousands of sorority members attending the regional conference.
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#first

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In 1997, with his company Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) mere weeks away from hitting insolvency, Jensen Huang ordered mass production of a graphics chip that had never physically existed — betting his company's last dollars on a design tested entirely inside a simulator.
The chip was the RIVA 128 and Huang called that decision, made when Nvidia had "about six months of cash left," as the defining moment that saved the company.
Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one
JP Morgan sees gold hitting $6,000/oz before 2027 — and a gold IRA lets you hold the physical metal while deferring the tax bill. Get your free guide from Priority Gold

NASCAR has announced plans for a public celebration of life service for the late two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.
Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the host of the memorial on Friday, Oct. 9 after that day's Craftsman Truck Series race. NASCAR says the celebration of life will be free to attend and more information is to come.
Busch ‒ the all-time winningest driver across NASCAR's top three national touring circuits with 234 combined victories ‒ died suddenly on May 21 at the age of 41 at the Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. The day before, he had become unresponsive and was coughing up blood at a racing simulator facility in Concord, North Carolina.
He was cremated at the Cavin-Cook Funeral Home in Mooresville, North Carolina. A private memorial service was held on June 2. Hours later, Busch's 11-year-old son Brexton was in his racecar, running practice laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are running it back.
According to a report from Josh Carpenter in the Sports Business Journal — and later announced by Versant — both stars are confirmed to return for a second Optum Golf Channel Games, with the event moving to Wednesday, Dec. 16 on Golf Channel and USA Sports. Scheffler and McIlroy are, for now, the only two names locked in. The eight-man field that filled out the inaugural event, Ryder Cup captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald among them, along with Shane Lowry, Haotong Li, Luke Clanton and Sam Burns, hasn’t been rebuilt yet, at least not publicly.
The inaugural Golf Channel Games aired live from Trump National Golf Club Jupiter last December, with Scheffler and McIlroy each drafting four-man teams for a night of made-for-TV skills challenges: a timed driving competition, a 14-club closest-to-the-pin format, a four-man relay, and a head-to-head captain’s challenge between the two captains.
As Awful Announcing covered when the event was first announced, the format was built for entertainment rather than high stakes, drawing more comparisons to the pair’s Happy Gilmore 2 cameos and to TGL than to the Ryder Cup. The night ended on a tape-measure playoff, with an inch separating Scheffler’s team from McIlroy’s after a 47-yard chip-off. AA’s original coverage framed the event as part of a wider trend of golf leaning into entertainment outside the weekly Tour calendar, alongside the sport’s growth on YouTube and the first successful year of TGL, which McIlroy co-founded and Scheffler did not join.
Versant officially completed its spinoff from Comcast and NBC Sports in January 2026, and Golf Channel has continued to build out its golf portfolio since, with Golf Channel EVP Tom Knapp telling Front Office Sports that the split gives the network more freedom to experiment. Versant has extended its DP World Tour rights through 2030, signed McIlroy to a deal through 2038 that includes a stake in a new content studio called Firethorn Productions, and, days before Carpenter’s report, agreed to acquire golf simulator company Full Swing for $530 million.

Carlos Sainz pulled into parc fermé at Silverstone having crossed the line 12th, more than four seconds behind race winner Charles Leclerc, with his teammate Alexander Albon not even making the finish. It was not a good Sunday. What followed in the media pen was worse.
Speaking to reporters after the British Grand Prix, Sainz didn't reach for diplomatic language.
"Patience doesn't run out, but I'm disgusted and worried," he said via Marca. "Honestly, I'm worried. It's the first time I've clearly seen that the car isn't being developed.
"Each time it's getting closer to the weight… and the gap is increasing. There's no aerodynamic improvement and it's starting to worry us.
"I'm going to the factory, I'm going to the simulator, and I'm going to have meetings with the team. We'll keep working to improve the situation, even though it's clear we're carrying this bad situation with us."

Max Verstappen didn’t sound worried when he talked about this weekend’s 2026 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. When asked about the circuit last weekend in Austria, he sounded amused, in the way you laugh when something’s about to go wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it.
The four-time champion ran simulator laps at Red Bull’s factory ahead of the British Grand Prix and came away convinced the circuit will be the toughest energy management test of the 2026 season. Speaking after his runner-up finish in Austria, Verstappen said he “just started laughing” the first time he drove Silverstone in its 2026 form, adding that it felt like an entirely different track once the battery ran dry mid-lap.
“Silverstone, I love the track, but I did a few laps on the simulator, I just started laughing,” Verstappen quipped. “It felt like a different track, to be honest. You barely have battery around the lap.”
The problem, according to Verstappen, comes down to layout. Circuits like the Red Bull Ring pair long straights with heavy braking zones, which lets the battery recharge before the next burst of acceleration. Silverstone doesn’t offer that same rhythm. Its straights are followed by fast, sweeping corners rather than hard stops, so there’s little opportunity to top off the electrical system before the car needs it again. Verstappen put it bluntly: you have long straights, but you hit a quick corner instead of a braking zone, and by the next straight there’s nothing left to spend.
Also Read:: Ferrari Eyeing Silverstone Redemption After Hamilton Admits Austrian GP Was a ‘Reality Check’