If you are having a bad day, just remember that you could always be a beer in the state of Wisconsin.
To say the Milwaukee Brewers had a good time at their World Series parade on Friday would be an understatement. Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick made one of the boldest declarations of the year at the rally.
"I’m going to have a beer for every single person here, I’m having 100,000 beers! Let’s go!" Frelick screamed into the microphone.
It’s been an incredible 24 hours for the 26-year-old, as he performed the Lambeau Leap when the Brewers brought the Commissioner’s Trophy onto the field during the Green Bay Packers game Thursday night. During his speech Friday, he made sure to let the raucous crowd know that captain Christian Yelich couldn't tackle him like a football player, either.
During Frelick’s speech, he said his best friends are all on the team and that they hang out with each other around the clock off the field. The Brewers displayed the power of friendship when they convinced the event organizers to bring hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach onstage to deliver a speech.
Now, to say Vogelbach may have had a few beers might also be an understatement. The Brewers players didn't just want Vogelbach to give a speech; they wanted him to sing karaoke.
Vogelbach, who surely won’t be on "American Idol" or "The Voice" anytime soon, then began singing a couple of verses from Fountains of Wayne’s hit. Despite Vogelbach’s less-than-ideal singing voice, the crowd and players were jubilant, dancing and singing along with the hitting coach.
Safe to say, the vibes were incredibly high in Milwaukee.
It is almost certainly over for Troy Aikman and Joe Buck as ESPN’s lead NFL broadcast team.
Reports that the ongoing drama is part of a leverage strategy now appear increasingly implausible. No one with knowledge of the situation expects Aikman to remain with ESPN beyond the end of this season.
In fact, there is more industry discussion about whether Aikman and Buck can work together through ESPN’s Super Bowl broadcast in February than about whether Aikman will re-sign with the network.
According to sources in and around ESPN, the prevailing expectation is that Aikman will leave, and the network will sign Greg Olsen to replace him in March.
Several outlets have reported on a confrontation between Buck and Aikman earlier this month before a Monday Night Football match up. Buck reportedly confronted Aikman for ignoring him, while Aikman accused Buck of sabotaging his contract negotiations by signing his own deal first.
Although the confrontation generated attention, it did not drive ESPN’s decision. The network decided this summer to move on from Aikman after re-signing Buck to a six-year, $108 million extension without offering Aikman a new contract.
It remains somewhat unclear why ESPN chose not to negotiate with Aikman, beyond his growing tensions with Buck in recent years. The best explanation is that ESPN viewed their relationship as irreparable and Buck as the more valuable asset.
If forced to choose, ESPN’s preference for Buck over Aikman is understandable.
For one, Buck and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro share an interest in ESPN potentially acquiring the World Series after the 2029 season. If ESPN secures the event, sources say Pitaro wants Buck to call it, as he did for years at Fox.
ESPN also has more options to replace Aikman than it would have to replace Buck. The pool of potential replacements for the color analyst role extends beyond Olsen. In theory, Drew Brees, Jason Kelce, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Dan Orlovsky are also suitable options.
Further, Hall of Fame players and coaches retire every year, and many show interest in broadcasting. Several networks have already expressed interest in Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford if they eventually move into television.
No such farm system exists for elite play-by-play announcers. On paper, the gap between Buck and the rest of the field remains significant. Granted, Dave Pasch, who calls college football and NBA games, has impressed on ESPN’s NFL International broadcasts this season.
So, we understand why ESPN would choose Buck over Aikman. The point of contention is that the network could mend the fences and retain them both.
Even 25 years later, Buck and Aikman are still often recognized as the best duo in sports broadcasting. Whether Buck and Olsen, assuming Olsen is the replacement, can develop comparable chemistry is a question mark.
After years of disappointing rotations, ESPN finally established a top-level booth in Buck and Aikman. Breaking them up feels like an unnecessary risk.
We understand that relationships are difficult, especially work relationships that span more than two decades. But at $18 million to $20 million per year each, ESPN should have been able to make the partnership work if it believed they were still the best duo for the position.
Well, Miami Heat fans, you actually got a fixed-up Dwyane Wade statue before "Grand Theft Auto VI."
Just barely, and note that before "GTA VI" started taking over your arena, but still...
You may recall that two years ago, the Heat unveiled a statue honoring franchise legend Dwyane Wade. It quickly went viral, and not because it belongs in the Louvre.
At what point in human history did we stop making good statues? How did some dude with a chisel during the Renaissance make a perfect sculpture of a Greek god, but nailing the visage of an athlete — who we can all picture or you can physically look at a picture — is now hard?
We've seen it happen to Cristiano Ronaldo; Allen Iverson got one so small you could use it as a paperweight, and of course, there's Wade's.
By "enhancements," they mean it looks more like Wade than it used to, which it didn't feel like at all.
What an improvement, although, truthfully, a kid with a box of Crayolas (64-count, with the sharpener; the good one) could have made some improvements on that original one.
It's good they got that fixed, but it's not like everyone's mind is going to be wiped "Men in Black"-style so they forget the first abomination.
And, honestly, I think people are going to miss the original statue that was allegedly of Dwyane Wade.
Now, there's nothing remarkable, good or bad, about it, and I think in a few years, people will be clamoring for that statue that looks as if D-Wade stumbled into the "Backrooms."
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs said that his touchdown celebration was not intended to make light of his offseason arrest but was instead inspired by a gospel song.
After scoring his first touchdown of the game in the team's 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night, Jacobs put his hands behind his back in celebration. Thursday's game was Jacobs' second since coming off the commissioner's exempt list, which he had been on since August following a May altercation with his then-girlfriend, who said he threw her to the ground.
Jacobs pleaded no contest last month to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property. He insisted the celebration had nothing to do with his arrest as speculation spread on social media that the gesture referenced his off-field issues.
"They didn't even get the whole celebration. Um, s---, it was f------ one second that (the broadcast) just showed me," Jacobs told reporters after the game.
"But anyways, me and (wide receiver Savion Williams) came up with a celebration. They would have seen the whole celebration. Basically, last week we said the first celebration when I scored, I was going to thank God. That's what I did last week. The second was going to be break every chain. It's a gospel song. That was going to be the next celebration. It's just a correlation, but like I said, the media going to run with it. They going to make it that it wouldn't. But it is what it is."
After Jacobs scored his first touchdown last weekend in the team's loss to the Detroit Lions, he dropped to his knees and raised his arms. "Break Every Chain" is a gospel song written by Will Reagan in 2009 and popularized by a live recording by Tasha Cobbs Leonard in 2013.
Jacobs had not been allowed to play or practice while on the commissioner’s exempt list. He was removed from the list last week, allowing him to play again even though the NFL's investigation into his conduct remains ongoing.
In his two games since returning to the 5-3 Packers, Jacobs has rushed 32 times for 75 yards and a touchdown, averaging just 2.3 yards per carry. The three-time Pro Bowler has been more productive as a receiver, catching 11 passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns.
C’est officiel depuis cette nuit : la Confédération africaine de football (CAF) fait machine arrière et maintient la Coupe d'Afrique des nations (CAN) tous les deux ans. La compétition continentale continuera donc de se jouer tous les deux ans, et non tous les quatre ans. Une décision prise à l’unanimité par le comité exécutif. Une décision politique ? Quid de la future Ligue des nations africaine ?
The NBA has NBA Cup games today, and if you don't know what that means, no problem. I'll help you out.
Mostly, it means these games matter a bit more because if you win the NBA Cup, you win extra money. For some of the players, it means they basically double their salary - these are mostly role players and some rookies. However, the NBA Cup is also pretty cool because the teams actually seem to care about winning it. Tonight the Hornets take on the Wizards and I'm a bit baffled at the line on the game.
The Charlotte Hornets are not as terrible as you might think if you haven't followed the game recently. They don't have LaMelo Ball, but for this team, that might actually be a good thing. They are able to unleash Brandon Miller a bit more. Kon Knueppel showed that he might be the best rookie from last year (and certainly the best not named Cooper Flagg). The team has Naz Reid, Dennis Schröder, and a ton of role player/veterans that actually do make a difference.
So far, the team is 3-2 and has beaten the Nets, Heat, and Wizards. The Nets are a bad team. The Heat and Wizards games were in Charlotte. Their two losses were to Detroit and Atlanta, both playoff teams. I do expect Washington to be a playoff team. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Hornets find their way into the postseason, but most likely they will be a play-in team. The biggest issue for the Hornets right now is the health of their team. They are without Coby White, Knueppel, Grant Williams, and Schroder is a game-time decision.
The Washington Wizards are also better than you probably realize. The biggest challenge for this team is going to be how quickly they can gel. I'm going to first start by sharing the second unit for the squad. Bub Carrington/Tre Mann, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly/Justin Champagnie, Khris Middleton, and DeAndre Ayton. A team of Mann, Coulibaly, Champagnie, Middleton, and Ayton would likely win 20-30 games in a season. They are all reserves for a reason, but this is a very deep bench.
The starters got even better because they just added AJ Dybantsa, who will win Rookie of the Year. I watched him play for five minutes against the Cavs, and I placed a bet on it the next day. Dybantsa already looks polished, smarter, and more versatile than any other rookie out there. Again, all of this hinges on how well the team plays together. Also, if the team trades Anthony Davis, as is the discussion, it would hurt them, but they could get good value in return.
Tonight, though, the Wizards are at home, where they've gone just 1-1. They play a team they just lost to a few days ago. They are playing in an NBA Cup game, so the effort should be there. And their team is just better than the Hornets. I'm making a major move on this game, and I will take the Wizards on the moneyline at -118.
'Nightcaps' is a daily column that catches you up on the biggest sports, news and culture stories you may have missed while pretending to do work at your desk. It runs Monday-Friday on OutKick.com.
Happy Halloween Eve to all who celebrate! Big day. Big Friday. Big weekend in front of us.
Like I said earlier this week ... this is our last big push until the holiday season suffocates us starting Sunday morning. Everything will flip in the blink of an eye.
You'll go to bed with the Halloween theme song in your heads, and wake up to jingle bells. Whether you like it or not, it's coming. There is no stopping it.
I can already see Mariah Carey's stupid "All I Want for Christmas" social media post now. It's coming. There's nothing we can do about it. We're cornered.
That's a Sunday problem, though. For now, we respect the fall. We respect Halloween.
Let's roll.
Welcome to a Friday Nightcaps — the one where poor Billy Napier joined Mike Norvell in making some embarrassing history last night at James Madison.
What else? I've got Maggie Sajak looking like a million bucks for Halloween, Angel Reese giving us one more highlight reel before this WNBA season mercifully ends, and can we quit complaining about "injury protection" in sports gambling?
I'm admittedly at fault, too, but enough is enough already. You know what? Society went DECADES gambling on sports with no such thing as "injury protection," and it worked pretty well. And now every sports book is supposed to issue refunds if a player gets hurt?
Why?
Grab you your favorite Michael Myers mask (I'm partial to Rob Zombie's "Halloween" mask), and settle in for a Friday 'Cap!
Billy Napier's JMU tenure is going well!
I don't know how many "Halloween"buffs we have in class today, but those of you who have been around here long enough know it's my favorite movie franchise of all time.
I did the Mount Rushmore of Halloween movies a few weeks ago, so I won't rehash that today. BUT, I did find out this morning while doing the award-winning OutKick newsletter that the original "Halloween" mask from 1978 was ... a Captain Kirk mask?
Seriously:
The more you know ...
Anyway, I will be watching the original "Halloween" (1978) tomorrow night, as per usual. I save that one for Halloween night, like any sane person would do.
It's the only way to close out October. Sad. Winter is coming.
OK, let's get class started by checking in on someone who is very much looking forward to flipping the calendar ...
Billy Napier!
Angel Reese wasn't her best last night
Amazing stat.
James Madison joined Florida State last night as teams to lose back-to-back games as double-digit favorites. Incredible.
Do we have any Dukes fans in class today? I'd imagine so. I come from a James Madison family. My grandma went there way back when it was simply called "Madison." My dad went there. I toured the campus as a high school senior and loved it.
That town deserves way better than Billy Napier, and I'm speaking now as a Florida fan. I'm so sorry, JMU fans. We've been there before. I promise. We spent the last four years feeling exactly how you've felt the last two weeks.
What kind of play call was that on fourth down in overtime? Just awful. But, that's Billy Ball for you.
Embarrassing.
Speaking of ... let's check in with Angel Reese after yesterday's big Game 6 win!
Maggie, sports betting & election szn is almost over!
Lordy.
Look, it was a tough game for Angel Reese. No sugarcoating it. No hiding it. Just to show you how truly bad everyone else was, Reese somehow finished with a +/- of +10, which is stunning given she turned the ball over six times and made just 27% of her shots.
Feels like that shouldn't equate to positive play on the court, but what do I know?
Anyway, this will be my final non-Sophie Cunningham WNBA story for seven months. The season, mercifully, ends tomorrow night. It feels like it's dragged on FOREVER. It just won't end!
But at 8 p.m. tomorrow night — a COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY — we'll get a Game 7. Who's watching?!
Show of hands ...
Anyone?
Bueller?
Okeedokee! Moving on ...
Let's rapid-fire this Friday class into a big Halloween weekend, and start it off by celebrating the end of something else: Election season.
Four more days, folks. We're almost there.
That's one of the funnier pictures I've seen in a long time. Just amazing stuff. Well done to whoever took it.
Are you guys getting inundated with calls and texts right now? Lord knows I am. Hand to God, I got a text last night from James Talarico asking for money.
James Talarico! I live in Florida. These people are NUTS. They're just unrelenting. Freaking Byron Donalds texts me 14 times a day making sure I'm gonna vote.
Byron, you got my vote, pal. I promise. You're good. I'd prefer we just stick with DeSantis, but I realize that's not possible, so you're next in line.
For the love of God, please leave me alone. I'm begging you.
Next? Let's quickly check in with Christian Watson after last night's game in which he left in an ambulance, and then returned like nothing happened:
So, there's a big debate over on Elon's app right now about injury protection, which is a fairly new thing sports books have come up with over the past few years. Basically, they'll void straight bets and parlay lines if the player you bet on gets hurt and doesn't return to the game.
It sounds great on paper, right? Again, it's bailed me out a few times.
But now everyone is in an UPROAR because Watson looked to be voided last night, only for him to miraculously return to the game.
I think it's hogwash. About a month ago, I was complaining to my dad about a player getting injured and tanking one of my bets, and I mentioned injury protection.
"Huh?" he responded. "Why would the books refund you? You lost. Tough nuts."
He was right. The bellyaching over injury protection is insane to me. Frankly, I don't think any book should do it. I'm glad they do, but it seems like a lose-lose for them, no?
Hockey Canada is seeking clarity on Russia's potential return to the world junior hockey championship, which begins in less than two months in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Hockey Canada is seeking clarity on Russia's potential return to the world junior hockey championship, which begins in less than two months in Edmonton and Red Deer.
While the NFL Draft isn't until next April, that never stops general managers, scouts and even fans from opining on what their teams will do in the spring.
It's the main reason why mock drafts exist and are created nearly a year in advance, because everyone is dying to know who their favorite team is going to select with their first round pick.
Of course, because it's the most important position on the field, the quarterback draws the most amount of eyes when it comes to the first round of the draft, and the 2027 edition is no exception.
There are several draft-eligible signal callers who are generating plenty of buzz, but one expert thinks this might be the year to skip out on the position altogether if a team holds a top pick.
Brooks Austin has made a living studying college football film, so much so that he's earned the moniker "The Film Guy."
His YouTube channel, "The Film Guy Network," has over 135,000 subscribers, and he's recently parlayed that into a partnership with the college football media giant On3.
Suffice to say, Austin knows ball, so when I sat down with him to talk about the college game, and more specifically, the quarterback class for the 2027 NFL Draft, he gave a surprising assessment.
"Can I punt on the entire class," he asked, half jokingly.
As Austin points out, there are some solid quarterbacks in this class, but none are the "can't miss" prospects that would necessitate a top-five pick like in years past.
Most experts figured Oregon's Dante Moore would be the first QB off the board in '27, given he was already projected to go high last year before deciding to return to Eugene.
An injury might have derailed that for Moore, but as Austin points out, the injured Duck wasn't without some limitations of his own even before exiting for the season.
"Dante Moore is a really good football player," he explains. "But (he) gets stuck on reads and makes his mind up pre-snap, and that scares me. He's also a little up and down, like from a fundamental standpoint, from a mechanics standpoint, he just kinda gets away with a lot of it in college football."
Moore wasn't the only one giving Austin some pause.
Ole Miss's Trinidad Chambliss, one of the preseason Heisman favorites, has had a fine season statistically, but his build makes Austin nervous about him at the next level.
"I love him, but there are some physical questions about that one as well, like, is he gonna work at his stature when we get to the league?"
Other quarterbacks like Texas' Arch Manning and LSU's Sam Leavitt get mentioned as well, with Austin stating question marks about their decision making and turnover problems.
The prospect who Austin believes should go number one overall shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who watches football on Saturday.
"If I had the number one overall pick, I'd draft Jeremiah Smith," Austin admits. "And then next year I try to find a quarterback."
Austin explains that Smith, the Ohio State wide receiver, is a "guarantee" and one of the only truly generational prospects we've seen in the game since Andrew Luck in 2012.
"I would draft Smith, and I'd be like, 'I've got the best prospect and most known prospect that's come out of college football... since maybe like Andrew Luck,'" Austin claims. "I would just draft him if I was bad enough to be the number one overall pick."
The start of the NBA season has actually been a lot of fun. The teams have looked good; they are enjoyable, and the betting has gone very well for me. I have a major move tonight in the Hornets-Wizards game, and I'm looking to score more in another early-season matchup. We've already seen this one play out this season, but I have a lot of excitement for the game between the Lakers and Warriors that takes place tonight at Golden State.
The Lakers are now the Luka Lakers. There is no more LeBron, and the keys have been handed over to one of the top assets in the entire league. How has that worked out for Los Angeles through the early portion of the season? The team is 4-1, with the lone loss coming against a surprisingly good Portland team. To start the season, they've beaten the Warriors by 22, the Clippers by eight, the Jazz by nine, and the Clippers by 16. None of those three teams will be playoff contenders.
They now take on the Warriors for the second time in the early season as part of the NBA Cup Group Play. This is the third game in four nights for the Lakers, but not a back-to-back. Still, legs could be a bit tired. However, this is almost certainly a game that Luka circled on the calendar. On Opening Night, Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg was yapping at Luka for much of the game, and then doubled-down with comments about him in the media. Luka does not back down, and Luka does not forget.
In fairness to Lendeborg he was quite effective when guarding Luka directly. However, the Lakers crushed the Warriors and moved on. Now the Warriors get a chance to return the favor. It hasn't been a great season for Golden State so far with two wins and three losses. However, the Warriors did win back-to-back games on the road with very good performances against the Nuggets and the Timberwolves. Lendeborg was the leading scorer in the win over the Nuggets, and Stephen Curry went ballistic in Minnesota.
The Warriors are not really in a rebuild, but they are in something much worse. They don't seem to really understand what they are trying to do with the roster. They still have Steph playing at an elite level. However, the rest of the roster is filled out with guys who would be better at filling roles than filling holes. Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis are both on the wrong side of 30 and have injury issues. If they do come back and play well, maybe the Warriors can compete, but until then, the team will have to lean on Lendeborg.
Tonight will be a challenge for the Warriors, but I'm excited to see what they do against Luka. I think the Warriors will try to back Lendeborg and not let Luka kill them, but it probably doesn't matter. Luka is playing in an NBA Cup game, he is playing on ESPN at primetime, and he has extra trash talk motivation. I'm taking Luka over 34.5 points for tonight, and I'll do a Luka Ladder. One full unit on 35+ points, .5u on 40+ points .2u on 45+, .2u on 50+, and .1u on 60+.
Bo Bichette is staying in New York, hoping to one day become the King of Queens.
While no one can take that title away from Doug Heffernan, if Bichette helps lead the New York Mets to a World Series title, there will certainly be a debate. The Mets third baseman exercised his $42 million player option to remain with the team on Thursday, according to multiple reports.
Last season, Bichette signed a three-year, $126 million contract with the Mets that included player opt-outs after each season. The 28-year-old decided to remain with the Mets after an uneven season.
Bichette, who had been a shortstop with the Toronto Blue Jays, switched positions to become the Mets' third baseman. The beginning of the season was a struggle, as he started at third base but then moved back to shortstop after Francisco Lindor got hurt.
While he was juggling positions, Bichette got off to a dismal start at the plate. Through June 10, Bichette had a .227 batting average with five home runs, 32 RBI and a paltry .597 OPS.
After that, the two-time All-Star finally turned it on and looked like the hitter baseball fans had become accustomed to seeing. From June 11 through the end of the season, Bichette hit .285 with 13 home runs, 46 RBI and a .779 OPS. For the season, Bichette played in 152 games and hit .260 with 18 home runs, 76 RBI and a .702 OPS, which was well below his career OPS of .788.
After his rocky season, Bichette would have been unlikely to find a free-agent contract worth more than the $42 million he is set to earn in 2027. Regardless, his return is a good thing for the Mets, who will have some continuity on the left side of their infield with Bichette and Lindor.
That continuity is especially valuable because the team's right side of the infield is not nearly as certain. Marcus Semien struggled last year and will likely compete with Brett Baty and prospects for the second-base job, while first base remains wide open after the team struggled to replace Pete Alonso.
There are few activities in this world more relaxing than fishing.
I think we all can agree there is something very zen—like in grabbing a line, a pole, and some bait and just being one with nature for a morning.
One man thought he was going to have a nice, peaceful afternoon on the ocean in his kayak until his day of solo fishing was rudely interrupted by someone with some serious personal space issues.
And this wasn't a fellow fisherman or some drunk guy in his Boston Whaler.
Hell, it wasn't even a human being.
That's right, a massive great white shark buzzed some poor kayaker just trying to enjoy his day off, and the whole thing was caught on the fisherman's helmet camera.
Footage from the fisherman, David Slavich, shows him getting startled as the giant predator closed in.
"The shark came incredibly close, swimming alongside me just beneath the surface," Slavich told Storyful, adding that he was "absolutely amazed" by its size.
"There was a moment when it seemed like we were looking directly at each other, and I had the distinct feeling that it was just as curious about me as I was about it," Slavich said.
"I felt more awe and fascination than fear," he said. "It’s an experience I’ll never forget."
You don't even see the shark coming at first, but you can hear the terrified words trembling out of Slavich's mouth.
"Oh my God! Oh my God," he repeats as the great white makes its way into the frame of the video.
In a split-second decision that might have saved his life - or at the very least, a limb or two - Slavich reels his line in quickly to ensure the shark doesn't take the bait and pull him in with it.
As the monster with teeth glides past, we get a full view of its size, appearing to be about as big as Slavich's kayak.
Once the shark passes by harmlessly, Slavich utters a phrase I think we can all relate to in a situation like that.
"Okay, we're getting the f--- out of here," he exclaims.
The relentless battle between brands to produce the best super shoe continues, with Nike aiming to hit back after a successful year for Adidas and the shoe that helped produce the first sub-two hour marathoner
The relentless battle between brands to produce the best super shoe continues, with Nike aiming to hit back after a successful year for Adidas and the shoe that helped produce the first sub-two hour marathoner
The 2027 Dakar Rally will be held in Morocco following a prologue and first stage in Portugal, organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) said on Friday, five days after announcing that the event would not take place in Saudi Arabia due to security concerns.
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels reignited in July, with Houthis firing drones and rockets at Saudi airports, oil sites and shipping. Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes inside Yemen.
"The Algarve will host the prologue and the first special stage. Morocco, with the aim of exploring its territory in its entirety, from north to far south, will host 11 stages and a rest day in Agadir," ASO said in a statement.
The 49th Dakar Rally, initially scheduled to run from January 1 to January 15, will take place from January 9 to January 23, subject to approval by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.
"The relocated 49th edition of the Dakar will meet the sporting standards that have always made it the most demanding rally-raid event," Dakar director David Castera said.
"Despite the short timeframe we have had to work with, we have designed a true Dakar."
Dakar 2027 will cover a distance of 7,824 km, including 4,341 km of special stages, from Loule-Faro to Marrakech.
"We all worked to make sure this Dakar could take place. The fact that we’re doing it in two months doesn’t mean it will be a watered-down Dakar," Castera told reporters on Friday.
The Dakar Rally will return to Saudi Arabia, which has hosted the event since 2020, in 2028.
It will be held in Africa for the first time since 2007. The 2008 edition was cancelled the day before the start due to security concerns.
"I thought it was good for the Dakar to return a bit to its roots, that is, to start from Europe and head towards the African continent. We wanted a more international dimension, which is why we’re starting in Portugal," Castera added.
The event started in 1978 as a race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital Dakar in West Africa, and has long been regarded as the world's toughest motorsport challenge.
It was staged in South America between 2009 and 2019 after being moved from Africa due to security reasons.
Login
