Curbstone idle for two weeks

In observance of the holidays, the Curbstone Coaches will not be meeting for the next two Mondays.

They will reconvene on Jan. 5, when they will honor the Warren JFK Boys Golf team who are the division III Ohio State Champions.

Hoffmann Family to buy Penguins

PITTSBURGH — A family-owned, Chicago-based investment company has reached a “definitive agreement” to purchase a controlling interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins from Fenway Sports Group.

The Penguins announced Friday that Hoffmann Family of Companies and FSG have come to terms on a sale that would signal Hoffmann’s initial foray into major professional sports. Any purchase would need to be approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors, though that is often merely a formality.

The financial details of the agreement were not released, though the Penguins were valued at around $1.7 billion recently by Forbes.

The sale, if completed, would end FSG’s brief run as stewards of the five-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise. FSG, which owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and Liverpool of the Premier League, agreed to purchase the Penguins from Ron Burkle and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux in late 2021.

The terms of that sale were not announced, though the team was valued at around $845 million by Sportico at that time.

The Hoffmann Family, a private equity enterprise of more than 125 global brands that counts the ECHL’s Florida Everblades among the many entities it runs, will pay considerably more than that to become the team’s third owner in a half-decade.

The Penguins said FSG will remain a minority shareholder for a period of time to continue its support in key business areas, including sponsorship sales and regional sports network management, as part of a phased transition.

The sale comes with the Penguins in a bit of a transitional period as the era defined by stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang nears its end. The trio — who are playing their 20th season as teammates — have guided the club to three Stanley Cups (2009, 2016 and 2017), though Pittsburgh has not reached the playoffs since 2022 and hasn’t won a postseason series since 2018.

The Penguins are in the midst of an overhaul orchestrated by general manager Kyle Dubas. They parted ways with two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan last spring and are off to a better-than-expected start under first-year coach Dan Muse, though they are currently riding a seven-game losing streak.

Attendance has dipped since the club’s 633-game sellout streak ended in October 2021. The Penguins are currently playing to about 88% capacity this season at PPG Paints Arena, the third-lowest percentage in the league.

What’s unclear is where Lemieux might fit in. The franchise icon’s role during FSG’s tenure was nebulous, though he has been around more frequently of late as Crosby neared Lemieux’s franchise points record.

Crosby has 1,722 career points entering Saturday night’s game in Montreal, one shy of Lemieux’s total of 1,723.

Lemieux, who led the team to a pair of Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992, remains beloved in Pittsburgh, where a statue of him sits outside one of the gates at PPG Paints Arena, which was built during his tenure as one of the club’s majority owners.

NBA tweaks injury reporting rules

The NBA reminded its teams on Friday that it wants to control which types of bets are offered on its games, an indicator that it will continue negotiating with sportsbooks and regulatory agencies to make that happen.

The moves come about two months after the arrests of Miami guard Terry Rozier and Portland coach Chauncey Billups on separate gambling-related charges, and the league acknowledged that what was announced Friday was to “further promote understanding of and adherence to the league’s betting rules.”

In a memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, the league detailed a list of changes — some minor, some not-so-minor — that it will implement as part of its policies regarding injury reporting, the issue of “tanking,” safety measures for players and coaches, and more.

Among the changes:

— Except on the second day of back-to-back games, teams will be required to resubmit injury reports on game days. For games that tip off at 5 p.m. or earlier, the additional report would come between 8-10 a.m.; otherwise, the additional report would come between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The league said the move would “further promote transparency regarding players’ game participation status, and thereby diminish the value of confidential information that could be ‘tipped’ ” to bettors or others.

Rozier is accused of disclosing to friends that he would be leaving a game early when he was with the Charlotte Hornets in March 2023, prompting bettors to make successful “under” wagers on his prop bet values for that night.

— The league said more “training touchpoints” would be made throughout the season to educate all league and team personnel on betting rules. The NBA also plans to have new “compliance measures (for) individuals who are not employed by a team and may have access to confidential team information.”

— The league will update its Fan Code of Conduct “to better protect NBA players, coaches, and other team personnel from harassment or threats by sports bettors.” Players and coaches have long said that fans, courtside and otherwise, often voice displeasure when they make unsuccessful wagers. The league said it’ll make more moves to protect its coaches and players, including advocating for “stronger anti-harassment protections in federal or state laws and regulations.”

— Tanking remains a major concern, and the NBA is again reviewing potential policy changes. None were announced Friday.

— The league will do more, it said, to better utilize artificial intelligence and other tools to protect the game from unusual betting activity. It also will continue pushing for changes on the so-called “prop bets,” which the NBA hopes will reduce the risk of having player performances manipulated.