PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Seattle's new NHL franchise intends to have its American Hockey League affiliate in Palm Springs as part of a new arena proposed for the city.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Oak View Group announced plans Wednesday to build a privately funded arena on tribal land in downtown Palm Springs with the intent of serving as the home ice for Seattle's affiliate. NHL Seattle and OVG have jointly submitted an application for an expansion AHL franchise, the 32nd for the league, which would begin play in the fall of 2021, at the same time Seattle's NHL franchise will begin play.

OVG is currently financing and leading the renovation of the arena at Seattle Center that will be home to the NHL franchise.

The new arena in Palm Springs will seat up to 10,000 fans and include an adjoining training facility. The groups hope to begin construction on the arena in February 2020.

Manchester City hope to complete the signing of Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri Hernandez by next week, sources close to ESPN FC have confirmed.

Bayern Munich had been making a strong push for the Spanish international right down to the wire, but several sources have confirmed to ESPN FC that Rodri, 23, has finally opted to accept the offer from City.

Once the agreement is official, he will become the most costly signing in the history of the club, currently managed by Pep Guardiola.

City will have to pay £63 million (€70m) of his release clause due to the fact that Atleti were unwilling to negotiate a reduction. When the transfer is complete it will set a new club record, breaking City's current transfer record of £60m, which they paid last summer to move Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City.

In April, ESPN FC reported that Rodri was Guardiola's top target for the summer window because the Catalan coach was in search of a defensive midfielder who could take the place long-term of Fernandinho, who turned 34 last month.

Guardiola has the services of multifaceted Ilkay Gundogan for that spot, but he wanted a specialist like Rodri, who has been hailed as Spain's successor to Sergio Busquets at the base of midfield and who was a key player for Barcelona during their golden era. Rodri left Villarreal just one year ago and was signed by Atletico for €20m.

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone had tried to convince his prospect to continue at the Wanda Metropolitano by offering him a bigger role. Sources say Rodri seriously considered Simeone's proposal, but last week made his wishes known to the club front office that he wanted a new challenge outside of LaLiga.

Last week, Atletico Madrid reached an agreement with rival Real Madrid over the transfer of midfielder Marcos Llorente, to replace Rodri.

Bayern made a last-minute push to convince Rodri to follow Lucas Hernandez to Germany, but ultimately Guardiola won the appeal. Manchester City are expected to pay the €70m to La Liga by next week to seal the deal.

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Scene on hai?

In other words, is it on? Is it happening? Is it really happening? You need not ask more. You need not say more. It has been a sort of secret greeting, the widest-known secret because the millions of Pakistan fans are in on it. Ever since Sri Lanka - Pakistan lite, as it has been proven time and again - beat England to slice open this World Cup and hand Pakistan, among others, a lifeline, this question has gained serious momentum.

This it is this awesome, all-consuming, enormous roll that Pakistan tend to get on when everything miraculously starts falling in place. Actually, let's just use a capital I to spell It, shall we? Just like Chris Jericho's "It", Pakistan's It has a life of its own, a meaning of its own. This It is a proper noun. This It is a one-word catchphrase.

And It is not just Pakistan's cricket. Unrelated events start conspiring to push them along. This is not even about the 1992 World Cup although it is a massive surprise there hasn't emerged a viral Twitter account called Banwey [Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi for 92]. The similarities are indeed eerie, but the Banwey thing started as a self-mocking parody because fans knew the team were a shambles coming into this World Cup.

WATCH on Hotstar (India only) - Full highlights of Pakistan's victory

While other serious contenders were preparing and planning for this World Cup at least two years in advance, Pakistan practically assembled a team two days before. Mohammad Amir, now the second-highest wicket-taker in this World Cup, was not even a part of the XV originally announced. Wahab Riaz was not even part of the provisional 30 names announced. He was not even at the training camps. In a gloriously Pakistani way, he was privately advised to not go a holiday that he wanted to go on. Because somebody in the camp didn't rule out this kind of a last-minute call-up happening. That is Pakistan.

Rationalists saw the desperate Pakistan team that was hoping for miracles rather than believing in themselves. They were hoping for wonders from Wahab, who should have been on a holiday, from Amir, who had hardly taken a wicket last year, from Shoaib Malik, who has a terrible record in England. Belief is an extremely important word in this story. That belief was not there at the start. They didn't even know what their combination should be. They were just hoping to turn up on the day and outdo meticulously planned teams.

And so the Banwey parody continued even as all hell broke loose with all familiar tropes. Customary TV-smashing has already happened. Small-time rabble rousers have gathered serious notoriety. Sarfaraz Ahmed has been harassed in a mall. Half-truths - if that - about players' unhealthy eating have been accepted as serious criticism by fans. A non-Pakistani Pakistan coach has rather insensitively spoken about feeling like committing suicide because of a loss at the World Cup. What else is left to do then? It.

Sri Lanka - the Pakistan of this tournament till we searched the real Pakistan - had no business beating tournament favourites England. But they did, thereby saving this tournament from 20-odd dead rubbers. Since then, especially in Birmingham with a big population of Pakistani origin, there has been this irrational belief among the fans. Belief that not only can Pakistan win their remaining four matches - including those against South Africa, the undefeated New Zealand and the rising Bangladesh - but also that through some cosmic power England can lose all their mojo.

Even within the team things started to fit in miraculously. Having refused to drop Malik all this while, they finally gave a chance to Haris Sohail almost as an afterthought in a defeated campaign. Haris drowned South Africa, a man Pakistan kept denying in matches when the tournament was wide open. This was a sign. Like Fakhar Zaman in the 2017 Champions Trophy replacing the suspended Sharjeel Khan, like Rumman Raees replacing the injured Wahab, like Faheem Ashraf being picked as a batting allrounder but giving them bonus wickets with the ball. Like Abdul Razzaq who replaced the injured Yasir Arafat in the World T20 of 2009 and removed Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill in his first spell.

It was a wild fantasy when Sri Lanka won on Friday, there was a little bit more conviction with this Sunday win. On Tuesday you couldn't sit in a Birmingham cab that didn't have radio commentary of the Lord's match on. As Australia piled on the runs, as their bowlers turned it on in the second innings, the question had found more urgency: "Kya lagta hai, scene on hai? [What do you think, is It on?]"

ALSO READ: Welcome to the age of Babar Azam

You could see it in bowling coach Azhar Mahmood's press conference where he just stopped short of calling New Zealand chokers. They are a team, he said, that has great record in league stages of every big tournament before losing in the semi-final or quarter-final before couching it under the law of averages. "Everybody has to have one bad day," he said with conviction that the bad day would be against them on Wednesday.

It can be difficult against a team that has such belief. Bazid Khan, former Pakistan cricketer and now a commentator, an astute observer of Pakistan and a known rationalist, explains it irrationally when you tell him every team goes with a belief they can win. "There's a difference between belief and yakeen," he says. Yakeen is basically a literal Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi translation of belief. But belief is belief, and yakeen is It.

When that yakeen of the team meets the yakeen of the loudest crowd you can encounter, and when you add bits of other accidents, it makes for a perfect storm that makes you actually want to sit up and ask, "Is It on?"

Pakistan are planning to bat first, but they lose the toss and get first use of the seaming ball. The best readers of pitches, New Zealand, have erred and have played only one spinner in arguably a match-losing error. Shaheen Shah Afridi finds the right length and the right amount of seam movement. Enough to miss the middle but not so much that he beats the edge. This is the biggest sign of It. This is a tournament where it has taken on average 14 false shots to draw one wicket in the first 10 overs. On Tuesday at Lord's, England drew 25 false shots in the first 10 overs for no Australian wicket. Here the first nine have brought four wickets.

One of those is a smashing diving, one-handed low catch from Sarfaraz, known so far only for yawning in this World Cup. There is not a soul yawning at Edgbaston. The atmosphere is wild. People are having the times of their lives. They are living every ball. They have forgiven all burgers and pizzas eaten or not eaten. When Azhar lightened the situation around the suicide comments of Arthur with part humour, part harsh truths, he told the fans and the media to give them also a reason to live. Afridi bowling full, the ball jagging just enough, taking the edges is reason enough to live.

Babar Azam - him taking a dipping catch from Alex Hales in the Champions Trophy 2017 was the first definite sign that It was on back then - is continuously sniffing during the press conference after scoring the century that has broken a mental block for him, a streak of pretty fifties not amounting to match-winning knocks, especially in chases. He has the flu, because of which he didn't train the day before. That, according to the batting coach Grant Flower, is the only thing he has done differently this time. And that has come by accident and not design. This is It. Many of these players - Babar and Afridi of course - were not even born in 1992, but they know 2017 and they know 2009.

Pakistan are definitely feeling It now. They now they have beaten the tournament favourites, and ended the unbeaten streak of New Zealand, which surely you have been reminded of many times. They know in all likelihood - Pakistan need to beat Afghanistan for that - that England will come to play India at Edgbaston, probably the slowest track of the tournament, one point behind Pakistan. They now know that even if England beat New Zealand, there is a chance they will end up level with New Zealand. In that case they will play the last game, knowing what to do to achieve the required net run rate. Belief if turning into yakeen fast.

There is probably a rational explanation for what is happening, but let's be rationalists for a day, shall we? Or a week. Let's just accept Pakistan. There's every chance this might not end the way other such rolls have ended, but right now it is not a question anymore. Scene on hai boss. It is on.

Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball for kicking dirt at an umpire's shoes Saturday during a game with the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.

Kapler came out in the fourth inning to argue with home-plate umpire Chris Guccione when center fielder Scott Kingery was called out on strikes. Kingery had swung and missed, but the ball hit Kingery on the hand. Guccione pointed at first-base umpire Mike Everitt, who ruled that Kingery had swung.

Kapler was tossed, kicked dirt on Guccione's shoes and left the field to a standing ovation. It was the first ejection of his managerial career.

It didn't take him long to get the second.

Kapler was ejected Tuesday night, tossed by crew chief Joe West in the sixth inning. West had issued a warning to both the Phillies and the New York Mets after Kingery was hit by a pitch following back-to-back homers by the Phillies. When Kapler left the dugout to question the call, West tossed him.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Shohei Ohtani threw off a mound on Wednesday -- in the final week of June, before the All-Star break, with still more than three months remaining in the regular season.

No, that does not mean he will return to pitch in 2019.

"No chance," Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus said with a smile, stating what has long been established, regardless of Ohtani's progression.

Ohtani did, however, tell Ausmus he felt "great" after throwing 40 pitches off the Angel Stadium bullpen mound at an estimated 50 percent intensity, 10 tosses of which involved a catcher squatting. It marked his first time throwing off a mound since undergoing Tommy John surgery at the start of October.

Ohtani has spent the past two months playing nearly every day as a designated hitter, carrying a .277/.339/.490 slash line with nine home runs and 31 RBIs through 42 games. Regardless of his prowess at the plate -- encapsulated by his cycle on June 13 -- the Angels fully intend to once again use Ohtani as a two-way player in 2020.

Angels pitching coach Doug White told Ausmus that Ohtani looked "very free and easy" throwing off a mound.

Centre Amber Reed will win her 50th cap when England begin their Women's Rugby Super Series title defence against the USA in San Diego on Friday.

Scrum-half Claudia Macdonald is set for her first start, while prop Chloe Edwards and hooker Clara Nielson will make their debuts from the bench.

The Red Roses, who won the tournament in 2017, also face Canada, France and New Zealand in California.

"We've had a good acclimatisation period," said coach Simon Middleton.

"We are happy that we managed to get the volume of rugby we had hoped under our belt going into this first game."

England lost to New Zealand in the 2017 World Cup final but have won 15 of their 16 Tests since, and completed the Grand Slam at the Six Nations earlier this year.

England starting XV: McKenna; Thompson, Scarratt, Reed, Smith; Harrison, Macdonald; Perry, Kerr, Bern, Aldcroft, Scott, Brown, Packer, Cleall.

Replacements: Nielson, Botterman, Edwards, O'Donnell, Beckett, Hunt, Wood, Williams.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Hattori Racing Enterprises officials announced Wednesday that the defending NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship organization will reenter the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

HRE’s Xfinity Series return will come on July 5 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

The team will field a Toyota Supra for the first time in company history and will compete in the Xfinity Series for the first time since 2015.

Austin Hill, who won the Gander Trucks opener at Daytona in his first start with the organization, will be behind the wheel with crew chief Scott Zipadelli calling the shots.

The team’s Xfinity Series return comes with support from longtime partner AISIN Group, Aisin AW, and ADVICS. United Rentals will also be on board the No. 61 Toyota Supra, expanding on their relationship with Hill and HRE in the Gander Trucks.

Hill and HRE will utilize No. 61, a twist on the organization’s trademark No. 16.

“We’re very excited to return to the Xfinity Series,” team owner Shige Hattori said. “The Toyota Supra is extremely important to our partners and very popular in Japan and we want to be part of the Supra program in NASCAR. It’s exciting for our team to compete in the Xfinity Series at Daytona, especially after winning there earlier this year. Austin has done a good job in the truck so far and this will be good to get him more experience.”

Hill echoed Hattori’s sentiments and is relishing the chance to compete in a Toyota Supra.

“You always want to move up the ladder, and I can’t wait to get in the car,” Hill said. “I honestly never thought I’d have this opportunity. All thanks goes to Shige and AISIN Group. They’ve been working on this for a while and it’s a big deal for all of us to put a program together to race the Supra. We have a great team here, and it’s going to make the transition a lot smoother working with Scott (Zipadelli) and entire truck series team.

“We set the bar pretty high for ourselves at Daytona, so hopefully we can have the same success as we did in February.”

MADISON, Ill. – World Wide Technology Raceway officials unveiled an expansion of that track’s road course on Wednesday.

This expansion, which was designed by Tony Cotman of NZR Consulting, expands the track from 1.6 miles to 2.0 miles in total distance.  In addition, the track enhancement creates a dynamic course configuration for the Formula Drift Series.

“This is a tremendous step to the next level for the future of road racing and drift events in the St. Louis region,” said WWTR Executive Vice President and General Manager Chris Blair. “The additional track length, as well as its unique configuration, will enable our venue to attract higher-level, spectator-driven road racing events. For the sport of drifting, our track now will host the series with the best grandstands, the largest suite structure, an expanded pit-and-paddock area and multiple configurations to provide the most entertaining events.”

The first event to be held on the new, expanded configuration will be the Formula Drift Series on August 9-10. The success of the series’ 2018 WWTR debut, which filled the infield paddock of the venue, was the motivation for the facility management and the sanctioning body to work together to invest in the future of the sport in the Midwest.

“Formula Drift is committed to WWTR and the St. Louis region for many years to come,” said Jim Liaw, President and Co-Founder of Formula Drift Holdings. “We are excited to be part of the new course configuration as it will provide fans with more seating, our partners with world class hospitality options, a bigger paddock for the teams, a dynamic festival area as well as a challenging competition course layout.

“The incorporation of the oval track banking, along with the other enhancements, will make this event the most highly-anticipated Black Magic Pro Championship and Link ECU Pro2 Championship events of the season.”

Upon completion of the August event, the track will begin working with existing and new road racing sanctioning groups on schedules and configurations.

WWTR will continue to offer events on the traditional 1.6-mile course, as well as the enhanced 2-mile configuration.

“This addition is already well-received by the local road racing community as well as the karting community,” continued Blair. “This will enable our Gateway Kartplex to expand for multiple Super Track configurations, provide motorcycle groups the opportunity to host novice and pro configurations and enables St. Louis and Metro East area to now host major international road racing events.

“It’s an exciting time to be a motorsports enthusiast in our area.”