Forbes: Pirates rank 26th in valuation

Forbes has released its annual valuations for each MLB team, and it should come as no surprise the Pirates rank near the bottom.

Bob Nutting’s team is slotted in at 26th, ahead of only the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins. Forbes has Pittsburgh’s franchise valued at $1.35 billion. The Nutting family purchased the team in 1992 for $92 million.

Forbes lists the team as bringing in $326 million in revenue with an operating income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $47 million.

Revenue and operating income are for the 2023 season and are the net of revenue sharing and stadium debt servicing.

According to Forbes, 46% of the valuation ($621 million) comes from MLB’s revenue shared among all teams; 32.8% ($443 million) is attributable to Pittsburgh’s market size; 11.6% ($157 million) is attributable to the team’s stadium, PNC Park, on the North Shore; and 9.6% ($130 million) is attributable to the club’s brand.

The team’s player expenses totaled $141 million, per Forbes, with $57 million in gate receipts.

Forbes estimates the Pirates’ “revenue per fan” at $74.

Forbes lists the average PNC Park ticket price as $27.

More baseball

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed left-hander Jalen Beeks to a $1.25 million, one-year deal and selected the contract of veteran righty Shelby Miller as they worked to solidify their bullpen before opening day.

Beeks, 31, split time with the Colorado Rockies and Pirates last season, throwing in 71 games with a 4.50 ERA. He was released by Houston from a minor league contract this week after appearing in three spring training games.

• Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said newly acquired free agent Alex Bregman will play third base this season, with incumbent Rafael Devers moving to designated hitter.

• Cincinnati Reds outfielder Austin Hays was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain.

Pro football

The NFL competition committee is recommending making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns.

The competition committee released several potential rule changes for 2025, including an expansion of instant replay that will be considered next week at the league meetings. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners.

Teams submitted several proposals last week that also could be voted on at the league meetings, including banning the “tush push” and changing playoff seeding rules.

• The Tennessee Titans now have a second journeyman quarterback on the roster, signing Tim Boyle to join Brandon Allen and Will Levis on the roster. The Titans also announced the signing of wide receiver James Proche.

Colleges

Georgia wide receiver Nitro Tuggle was driving 107 mph before he was stopped and arrested by police on March 19, according to an Athens-Clarke County Police Department incident report.

Tuggle was clocked driving 42 mph over the speed limit on the Georgia State Route 10 Loop outside Athens. He was driving a 2021 Dodge Charger and his girlfriend was in the car, according to the report.

• There will be more than one Pitino in the Big East next season.

Xavier hired Richard Pitino, the son of St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, as its basketball coach on Tuesday night. The school had an opening after Sean Miller left to accept the Texas job on Monday. Richard Pitino takes over the Xavier program after four years at New Mexico, where he led the Lobos to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.

• VCU has hired Bryant’s Phil Martelli Jr. as its new men’s basketball coach. The Rams hiring, comes less than a week after Ryan Odom left to take over at Virginia.

• Longtime CBS Sports college football analyst Gary Danielson will retire after the 2025 season.

• Duke’s Maliq Brown, out since the ACC tournament with a shoulder injury, is a “maybe” for the Blue Devils’ Sweet 16 game against Arizona.

• The Saint Vincent women’s bowling team will head to Rochester, N.Y, to take on Marian in the opening round of the NCAA women’s bowling tournament per the release of the bracket.

The Bearcats and Marian will compete in a single elimination mega match on April 3 at 9 a.m. with the winner advancing to the regional round (double-elimination mega match) on April 4.

The Bearcats went 49-17. Saint Vincent won its first-ever Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time as well with the AMCC’s automatic bid.

• At the Division II NCAA women’s basketball tournament at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, Grand Valley State and Cal State Dominguez Hills both won semifinals to set up the title game. The final starts at 7 p.m. Friday.

Pro basketball

The Charlotte Hornets held a groundbreaking ceremony for their new 160,000-square foot downtown training and performance facility.

The Novant Health Performance Center project, which is estimated to cost more than $150 million, includes space for practice, training and recovery, administrative offices, retail, orthopedic and sports medicine care. The facility is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2026-27 season.

It is located across the street from the Spectrum Center, where the Hornets play their home games.

• Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving had surgery on the torn ACL in his left knee, starting a process of recovery that’s likely to continue into next season.

Tennis

Teenager Alexandra Eala pulled off another upset at the Miami Open when she knocked off five-time Grand Slam champion and second-seeded Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

Eala, a 19-year-old left-hander who received a wild card into the WTA 1000 event, is the only Filipino player on the professional tennis tour and entered ranked 140th. She reached her first WTA semifinals after beating her third major champion, this time in 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Along the way, she defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is ranked No. 5. That was Eala’s first win against a top-10 player.

Then Eala won on a walkover in the fourth round against Paula Badosa, giving her added rest.

Eala advances to Thursday’s semifinals, where she will face either Jessica Pegula of the U.S..

Wild Things

Washington signed Sammy Infante, a Nationals farmhand and second-round selection in the 2020 draft, to a deal for the 2025 season. Infante, 23, most recently played for the Nationals’ single-A affiliate before his 2024 release from the Nationals organization.