BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — For the first time there is a budget cap in place for the Formula One teams. But of course, Formula One being Formula One, there are all sorts of loopholes and exemptions.

After plenty of bickering among the teams and negotiations among the teams, Formula One’s commercial owners Liberty Media and the FIA, the teams eventually agreed to an annual budget limit of $175 million.

Then along came the hardships of COVID-19. The teams were now more amenable to reducing the cap even further and in May they voted for a new figure of $145 million.

But not included in that are a number of big-ticket items, including driver salaries (that’s a “savings” of more than $40 million on Lewis Hamilton’s salary alone!), the cost of the power units, the salaries of the three highest-paid employees, marketing, PR, leasing costs, hospitality, factory maintenance and more.

Yet five teams already have budgets below the cap: Haas, Aston Martin, Williams, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri.

Alpine (formerly Renault) and McLaren are somewhere in the middle, so they will have to make some adjustments up or down with their budgets.

The big three — Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari — are spending more than $250 million annually, so they will need to make some cuts and adjustments. And they have found a legal loophole by working with their sister/junior teams.

Haas, for example, is setting up a facility on the Ferrari grounds at Maranello. Former Ferrari employees, including technical director Simone Resta, will work there, but they will be paid by Haas. Red Bull personnel can move to AlphaTauri and there will also be an exodus of Mercedes staff who will head to Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, on the financial front, many of the teams will receive reduced payouts in 2021 from the revenue that Liberty Media generates from the sport and business.

According to a report in the Financial Times, Formula One reported operating losses of $363 million in the first nine months of 2020.

That income — or lack of it in 2020 — is derived from a number of sources, including: what the TV networks pay for the rights to televise the races; on track advertising; luxury hospitality paddock club suites at the track; and what the circuits pay to host the races.

Most tracks rely at least partially on spectator ticket sales to help them pay anywhere from $20 million to more than $50 million to host a grand prix. But with most circuits having no — or just a few — fans at their races last year, Liberty had to waive those fees and let the tracks have the races for free. The tracks even asked Liberty to pay some of their operating costs.

More income was lost because there were no VIP hospitality suites at the tracks.

However, Liberty is not going to be as generous and as charitable this year. Outgoing Formula One CEO Chase Carey has warned that F-1 expects its partners to do their share this year. In other words, the tracks won’t get the races for free.

Carey has also sought to increase revenue by signing a deal with Amazon’s digital streaming services.

The money earned in 2020 will be paid out to the teams in 10 equal installments in 2021. The payouts are based on the teams’ results from last year, so first-place Mercedes will rake in a lot more than Williams, which finished last in the constructors’ championship.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes will be paid $126 million in prize money this year compared to the $177 million it earned in 2019 and was then paid in 2020.

However, the teams will have to spend plenty of money this year — first to develop their 2021 cars, which are based on the 2020 models, and second, to design their 2022 cars with the radical new technical rules.

Plus, there is no doubt =the pandemic will continue to affect Formula One’s income flow in 2021. For example, as of mid-January not a single one of the 23 tracks on the 2021 schedule of races was offering any tickets for sale to the fans.

But the financial stress on the teams will be eased some by the new budget cap introduced this year.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Sabres defenseman William Borgen will miss up to two months with a broken right forearm, further depleting Buffalo's injury-thinned blue line.

Borgen had the fracture surgically repaired Tuesday, the team announced hours before it completes a four-game road trip at New Jersey. The rookie was hurt during a 3-2 win at New Jersey on Saturday.

Borgen, 24, has no points in four games this season.

The news of Borgen's injury comes a day after the Sabres announced that veteran defenseman Jake McCabe will miss up to eight months after tearing two ligaments and damaging the meniscus in his right knee against the Devils.

Buffalo is already playing without top defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who remains out indefinitely while recovering from the aftereffects of testing positive for COVID-19 three weeks ago.

The Sabres are 1-5 in their past six games and coming off a 3-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Monday night.

The banged-up St. Louis Blues got more bad injury news Tuesday with word that defenseman Carl Gunnarsson won't play again this season and forward Ivan Barbashev is out at least six weeks.

Gunnarsson injured his right knee when he got tangled up with Kings forward Gabe Vilardi midway through a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles on Monday night. Barbashev had surgery on his left ankle Tuesday morning and will be reevaluated in early April.

St. Louis was already without top winger Vladimir Tarasenko, forwards Jaden Schwartz, Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak, and No. 1 defenseman Colton Parayko. The additional injuries to Gunnarsson and Barbashev will further test the Blues' depth.

"It's the situation that we're in," coach Craig Berube said after an optional practice. "We've just got to move forward and go play and win some games."

The Blues are a long way from their Stanley Cup celebration in June 2019 after letting captain Alex Pietrangelo leave in free agency, losing Alex Steen to retirement because of a back injury, and playing without Tarasenko all season after another operation on his left shoulder.

Then came Bozak's injury from a big hit, Thomas' broken hand, Schwartz's lower-body injury and Parayko's upper-body injury. Bozak is skating and seems the closest to returning; Berube didn't have any updates on Schwartz or Parayko.

"We've just got to keep grinding through this and keep working together," Berube said. "The biggest thing is just sticking together as a team, making sure we're doing that, and guys that are going in the lineup are getting an opportunity to play. We need everybody just to step up."

One of those players the Blues need to step up is forward Mackenzie MacEachern, who called losing Gunnarsson "a sad day for the team." On defense, there's more of an onus on young players Niko Mikkola and Jake Walman.

"Them and other guys that are in there right now," Berube said. "They don't have to come in and be special. We're asking them just to come in and do the job that they're asked to do."

St. Louis has lost two in a row but remains in second place in the West Division. Tarasenko is skating, and general manager Doug Armstrong has said he expects the 29-year-old Russian to be back well before the end of the regular season, which runs until early May.

Upon news that Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a car crash Tuesday in Los Angeles, Woods' fellow professional golfers and other athletes reacted on social media and elsewhere, many offering their thoughts and prayers to Woods and his family.

Here are some of those reactions:

ORLANDO, Fla. – The LPGA Tour’s first full-field event of the season begins Thursday at the Gainbridge LPGA, but it could be several more weeks before the tour’s longest hitter returns to action.

Bianca Pagdanganan, who as a rookie led the tour in driving distance in 2020, wasn’t able to Monday qualify for the Lake Nona event. While she’ll try again at next week’s LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala, the long-hitter isn’t slated to compete until the Lotte Championship in mid-April. It’s not because she doesn’t want to tee it up, but because of the playability rules for 2021.

The LPGA’s annual priority list is the guide the it uses to determine who gets into the field each week. LPGA commissioner Mike Whan announced last May that the tour would use the same priority list for the 2021 season as it had in 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Winners in 2020 could improve their position on the priority list with a victory, but everyone else, regardless of performance, would maintain their status heading into 2021.

“I try not to think about it as much since there’s only so much we can control, and how I feel towards certain things is one of the few that I can,” Pagdanganan told GolfChannel.com via email. “I’m just going to enjoy this year and the tournaments I’ll be playing.”

Pagdanganan made the most of her playing opportunities in 2020. She made her first start in July, competed in 10 events, recorded two top-10s and capped off the season at No. 60 on the money list. In an ordinary year, that top-80 finish on the money list would have earned her entry into nearly every event in 2021. Pagdanganan, however, won’t get to reap the rewards of a solid first season. Instead, she sits at No. 167 in Category 14, which is made up of the top-45 finishers at 2019 Q-Series. It’s the same position she held at the start of last season with a limited number of playing opportunities.

She was the 20^th alternate for the Gainbridge event.

“I don’t exactly know how I feel about having a second rookie season, but it’s nice to come into the year with more experience because of the events I was able to play in last year,” Pagdanganan said. “With that experience, I have a better idea as to where my game stands and [I’ll] use last year as a motivation to work harder and become a better player.”

Should the 23-year-old Filipino enjoy a season similar to the one she had in her first run as a rookie, she could reshuffle into a higher position on the priority list (after the Pure Silk Championship concludes on May 23) and increase her playing opportunities in the latter months of the 2021 season.

Pagdangnan finished T-9 in her major debut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to earn her biggest payday of the year, $83,765. She led the tour in driving distance at 283.07 yards.

LA Galaxy forward Efrain Alvarez has been selected by both the Mexican and United States under-23 national teams, as the two nations compete to have the 18-year-old represent them at the CONCACAF Men's Olympic qualifying tournament.

On Tuesday, CONCACAF announced the official preliminary rosters for all eight teams participating in the 2020 Olympic qualifying tournament, set to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico from March 18 to March 30. Though Alvarez appears on both the rosters for Mexico and the United States, the player will need to make a decision by March 8, the latest any country can submit their final 20-player roster.

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Alvarez, who was born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents, is eligible to represent both countries under FIFA's statutes for dual-nationals. In the past, he has played for the United States at the under-15 level before switching to participate with Mexico's under-15 and under-17 squads. With El Tri, Alvarez played in the 2019 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, scoring four goals and guiding Mexico to a second place finish.

2020 Concacaf Men's Olympic Qualifying preliminary rosters confirmed
Details: https://t.co/iqn0HFnxk0

Listas preliminares confirmadas para la Clasificatoria Olímpica Masculina de Concacaf 2020
Detalles: https://t.co/q4qmMUxJ2Y#CMOQ pic.twitter.com/nCc67i2iJd

— Concacaf (@Concacaf) February 23, 2021

However, Alvarez accepted a call into the United States men's national team last December, for a training camp that included fellow dual-national and LA Galaxy teammate Julian Araujo. Afterward, USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter gushed over Alvarez, praising his ability to play in multiple positions on offense.

"What I saw today in training is [that] he's a guy you want to be around the ball, a very creative player, has a good change of pace, very good in tight spaces," Berhalter said at the time.

Berhalter admitted that despite the invitation, Alvarez had not decided whether to pursue a one-time switch to join the United States and cement his international future. Under the new FIFA eligibility rules, players like Alvarez are able to change allegiances before the age of 21 if they have played less than three competitive matches at the senior level.

The tug of war for Alvarez is the latest in a longstanding struggle between both CONCACAF powerhouses over dual-national talent. Earlier this month, Santos Laguna star Santiago Munoz revealed he had been approached by the United States over a potential switch. Munoz was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up across the border in Ciudad Juarez. While Munoz was included in Mexico's preliminary list for the upcoming tournament, he was not selected by the United States this time around.

Mexico will face the United States in the final Group A match on March 24.

Bayern Munich put one foot in the Champions League quarterfinals with a commanding display in a 4-1 first-leg victory at Lazio on Tuesday.

First-half goals from Robert Lewandowski, Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sane put the defending champs on the front foot. Lazio pulled a goal back in the second period but only after a Francesco Acerbi own goal minutes before.

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Bayern were off and running after just nine minutes when Lewandowski pounced and scored after a mis-hit back pass from Lazio defender Mateo Musacchio, who was replaced after just 30 minutes.

England youth Musiala added a second in the 24th when he collected a pass from Leon Goretzka and fired home from the top top the box.

The goal made Musiala -- aged 17 years and 363 days -- Bayern's youngest Champions League goal scorer, the youngest to score for a German club in the competition, and the second-youngest ever to score in a UCL knockout game after Bojan Krkic in 2008.

Bayern piled on three minutes before the half with a swift counter-attacking move that saw Sane slot home Pepe Reina's desperate parry of a powerful Kingsley Coman shot on the left.

They were 4-0 up seconds after the restart thanks to Acerbi, who bumbled the ball into his own net after a fine Sane run and cross from the left.

Lazio kept pushing and found some joy seven minutes later after some patient dribbling and a nifty finish from Joaquin Correa at the edge of the box. But it was far too little, much too late for the Serie A side as they now have a mountain to climb in the second leg in Munich on March 17.

An outrageous overhead goal from Olivier Giroud handed Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in their Champions League round of 16 first leg in Bucharest on Tuesday night.

The result gives Thomas Tuchel's side the advantage of an away goal going into the second leg on March 17 as they seek a spot in the UCL quarterfinals.

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Chelsea had a good chance to open the scoring against the La Liga leaders just before 15 minutes, but Mason Mount's whipped in cross skipped past the goalmouth just out of the reach of Timo Werner.

Atleti hit Chelsea on the counter just before half-time with Angel Correa finding space behind the defence, but Luis Suarez couldn't deal with the short cross that came his way and the teams went to the break scoreless.

Giroud finally broke the deadlock before 70 minutes with a spectacular overhead strike that was initially ruled out for offsides, but after a video review was given when the ball was adjudged to have come off an Atletico player before it was hit into the back of the net.

Both Mount and Jorginho were shown yellow cards in the match and will be unavailable for Chelsea in the return leg due to card accumulation.

The match had been relocated to Bucharest after travel restrictions between the UK and Spain due to the coronavirus ruled out playing in Madrid.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Determined to make the CTECH World Doorslammer Nationals presented by JEGS the ultimate doorslammer event, the popular factory shootout class had to be included.

With COPO Camaros, Mustang Cobra Jets and Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Paks racing in Factory Shootout, it adds even more excitement to an action-packed weekend scheduled March 5-7 at Orlando Speed World Dragway. Ray Skillman Auto Group will be the official sponsor of the class with the winner taking $10,000.

“It’s one of the coolest classes out there, and people want to see these cars come to a big doorslammer event like this,” said Bill Skillman, owner of the Ray Skillman Auto Group and also a driver in the class. “We want to be there in Orlando, and we wanted to sponsor this class because it’s just going to be an exciting weekend. These cars were made to go fast and have a good time, and we want to support the racers in this class.

“These guys live to race and we find that really cool. It’s going to be a good time.”

The Factory Shootout class adds another thrilling aspect to the CTECH World Doorslammer Nationals presented by JEGS, which features Pro Stock and Pro Mod as the headliners.

“These cars are on the ragged edge, they’re fast and doing wheelies and I couldn’t be happier to have them in Orlando,” Drag Illustrated founder Wes Buck said. “There’s certain classes that need to be featured at an event called the World Doorslammer Nationals and I think Factory Shootout is one of them. It’s had tremendous interest and support from sponsors and racers, and everybody I’ve talked to is excited about this kind of racing.”

The class had a two-car exhibition at the inaugural CTECH World Doorslammer Nationals presented by JEGS a year ago, putting on a memorable show in Orlando. Now, they’ll have an even bigger spotlight and Skillman expects the class to shine in March.

“It’s a very small tire with a lot of horsepower, and they go fast and lift the wheels off the ground,” Skillman said. “You see the Mopars run the Camaros and Mustangs, and it makes for a really good, fun time. I think the fans love it. They want to see guys race heads-up and go down the track, and that’s what this class gives you.”

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Max Gutierrez was in the right place in the right time on the last lap during the season-opening ARCA Menards Series East race at New Smyrna Speedway February 8. When leader Taylor Gray and second-place Sammy Smith made contact going into turn three, the defending NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series champion capitalized, making it three wide. All three cars made contact and Gutierrez carried his momentum for his first victory in dramatic fashion.

“I can’t believe it,” Gutierrez said in victory lane. “I thought we were in a good place (third) on the last lap for the season championship. Then they started bumping for first and I decided to take it. I am very happy and proud of my team. That is a great way to start off this championship.”

Now, the driver who lives in Mexico and commutes to the United States to race, is hoping to make it two in a row Saturday when the series visits Five Flags Speedway. Gutierrez is driving the No. 30 Ford Fusion for the 2009 ARCA Menards Series championship-winning crew chief Mark Rette.

It will be the fourth time the ARCA Menards Series East has raced at the half-mile oval that is the host of the prestigious Snowball Derby every December. Current series team owner Ben Kennedy, who owns the No. 43 car driven by Daniel Dye, won in 2013 while Ben Rhodes, who recently won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, won in 2014. Two-time champion Sam Mayer put an exclamation point on his 2020 championship season with his fifth win of the season in last year’s race.