WHITE CITY, Ore. – After a lengthy period of dormancy since the fall of 2019, Southern Oregon Speedway is set to roar to life once more.

In March of this year, Travis Hoppes and local racing legend Dane Smith were chosen as the new promoters at the Jackson County racing facility. Hoppes is an avid supporter and sponsor of several race teams and events in the Western United States.

“I got several phone calls and messages asking what Hoppes Motorsports can do to save the track,” said Hoppes. “I thought about it for a little bit and started to talk with some people. Then one thing led to another, and I put together a board of people that could help me with this massive endeavor.”

Members of this newly established board include Dane Smith, who will fill the role of president. Jon DeBenedetti, another longtime driver, will be a board member along with R. Charles Snyder’s son, Travis Snyder, a local business owner of Precision Electric and Snyder Creek Development. Brian Bowman, owner of Gage It Construction and a local late model driver, Albert Gill and James Anderson will also be part of the board.

“The goal of putting the board together was to fill it with people that really wanted to help the track and not shut it down,” Hoppes said. “But also, I was seeking business owners or very business smart people to help. I wanted a board of members of likeminded individuals who knew what it takes to make a successful race facility for both drivers and fans.”

A number of changes have been made, including a new track logo, a resized track and a new configuration for the pit area. In addition, a new electronic scoring system has been installed to allow fans to follow along on MyRacePass. Races from the track will also be streamed live thanks to SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV.

“I’m so excited for this new season and brand-new chapter in the history of Southern Oregon Speedway,” said Hoppes. “We want to be a welcoming face to people that have been here for years and the new fans that have never been here before.”

The track is scheduled to host a test and tune session on May 26, with the track’s first race of the season slated for May 29. IMCA modifieds, IMCA Northern sportmods, late models and hornets will be in action on opening day.

CONCORD, N.C. – William Byron will honor the late Neil Bonnett with his throwback scheme when the NASCAR Cup Series visits Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Mother’s Day weekend.

Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE will feature the red, white and blue Valvoline colors that Bonnett sported more than 30 years ago. It will be the first time this year Valvoline has appeared on Byron’s Chevrolet.

“It means a lot, I think, to have Neil Bonnett’s scheme (with) all that he accomplished in the sport, and just to touch on the legacy of the sport, in general, is really cool,” Byron said. “I enjoy those things and I enjoy the throwback weekend. I think it’s a great racetrack to have it on and it’s really a throwback racetrack (with) the way we have to drive it. It’s a lot of fun.”

Bonnett was one of the top NASCAR Cup Series drivers in the 1980s. Bonnett paired with Valvoline in 1987 and was sponsored by the company for two seasons.

“What’s cool about Neil is that he won the 1981 Southern 500, which is obviously a huge race and has always been,” Byron said. “It would be awesome to win the Southern 500 this year and just try to have success, in general, at Darlington knowing that we go there in the playoffs.”

On Tuesday, Hendrick Motorsports announced Valvoline would run as a primary sponsorin 2021 and 2022 with Byron and teammate Kyle Larson. After the throwback race at Darlington in May, Larson will sport the scheme at Nashville Superspeedway, Daytona Int’l Speedway and for the playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Byron then will don the Valvoline colors for the playoff race at the Charlotte Roval in October.

“It’s great to have Valvoline on board,” Byron said. “Obviously, I’ve had contact with them in the past and done some stuff on iRacing, so it’s cool to have one of their paint schemes. I’ve always enjoyed the way their cars looked. They’ve been in racing for as long as I can remember. It’s going to be awesome to support them and have them on the car and, hopefully, we can get them the win.”

COMMERCE, Ga. – Ron Capps picked up the most recent Funny Car victory at Atlanta Dragway, doing so at the track in 2019.

The former world champion also hopes to be the final Funny Car winner in Atlanta.

This weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway marks the 40th and final race at Georgia’s House of Speed for the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, making it a celebration of the track’s renowned history. Capps has made his share of history in Atlanta, winning three times and going out with the final victory would mark another significant accomplishment for the standout driver.

“I guarantee if you ask any driver going into this last race, they all want to take that last trophy,” Capps said. “Everyone is chomping at the bit to get back to somewhat of a normal schedule and you put that together with the last race in Atlanta, and this is big. It’s always had a unique feel and as our sport has grown, the track has kept that old-school feel to it. There’s very few tracks on the circuit left like that, and it has a really cool nostalgic feel to it.”

The last racing action at Atlanta took place in 2019, where Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Capps (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines all picked up victories (Pro Stock Motorcycle). It is the third race of the season and Capps is eager to keep pushing forward in his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.

He qualified No. 1 in Gainesville and advanced to the final quad in Las Vegas, giving Capps a solid start to the new year. A fourth Funny Car win in Atlanta would put him only behind John Force for the most in track history, but Capps will also have to get by the likes of defending champ and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan, Robert Hight, Gainesville winner J.R. Todd, Las Vegas winner Bob Tasca III, Tim Wilkerson and Cruz Pedregon.

“I feel like both race we had a really good or great chance to win and anytime you can say that, you feel good about things,” said Capps, who has 66 career wins. “In Gainesville we had a great, consistent car and in Las Vegas we were consistent all day long. When you’re waking up Sunday morning feeling like you have a chance to win, it’s a really good feeling. Things have gone well.”

Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta has also enjoyed plenty of memorable Atlanta moments, winning three times at the track. The most exciting came in 2016 when he nipped Todd in a near dead-heat in the final round, winning by less than .001 second, or four-tenths of an inch. It was the closest final round in Top Fuel history, but after his usual strong start to the season in his 11,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster, Kalitta is ready to put together one final Atlanta memory.

A win would give him four at the track, tying him with Larry Dixon and Antron Brown for the most in Top Fuel history at Atlanta, and it would also hand the veteran standout his 50th career Top Fuel win. It would be a remarkable landmark moment to close out nitro racing in Atlanta, but Kalitta will have to beat the likes of Torrence, who won in Vegas, teammate Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican, Brittany Force, Leah Pruett and Gainesville winner Josh Hart to do it.

“Atlanta Dragway has a ton of history, and the fans have always been great and super supportive,” Kalitta said. “(Winning the final race) would be something very cool for me, for sure. My Mac Tools dragster has been running really well so we will be trying to make sure we are the last dragster down the track at the Southern Nationals.”

Pro Stock last raced at the track in 2018, while Greg Anderson has a shot to tie Warren Johnson for the most wins in Atlanta with five. Other top contenders include Vegas winner Erica Enders, who is after her first Atlanta victory, Troy Coughlin Jr., Deric Kramer and Mason McGaha.

Standouts in Pro Stock Motorcycle will look for a perfect send-off in Atlanta as well. Angelle Sampey has four career victories at the track, while the likes of Vegas winner Ryan Oehler, defending world champ Matt Smith, Jerry Savoie and Steve Johnson are looking for their first.

The race also includes competition in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, where future stars of the sport hone their skills. The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service will make its second appearance of the season. Jose Gonzalez won the opening race, while Mike Castellana won in Atlanta in 2019. Alsum Farms/Wisconsin Potatoes is the presenting Pro Mod sponsor in Atlanta.

The Southeast Nostalgia Pro Stock Ass’n will also be in action during the weekend at Atlanta Dragway. A number of classic Pro Stock cars will make runs throughout the weekend, and all the cars will be on display in a special pit display at the track. A total of six racers are scheduled to make a run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Atlanta Dragway will also host the Sealmaster Track Walk on Sunday before racing action begins.

Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds on Saturday, May 1 at 12:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. ET. Final eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 2.

Miroslav Frycer, who defected from Czechoslovakia and spent most of his eight seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has died. He was 61.

He died after an unspecified brief illness, the Czech league team Orli Znojmo said on its website Tuesday. Frycer had been the team's coach since 2018.

Frycer had overcome health problems in the past. He chronicled his recovery from a liver transplant in his autobiography, "My Wild Hockey Life."

Frycer, a forward, also played for Quebec, Detroit and Edmonton in the NHL. He represented Czechoslovakia at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

After defecting from communist Czechoslovakia he joined the Quebec Nordiques for the 1981-82 NHL season. He was traded to Toronto during his rookie campaign and went on to play six more seasons there. He represented the Maple Leafs at the 1985 All-Star Game.

His most productive offensive season came in 1985-86, when he had 32 goals and 43 assists in 73 games with Toronto.

The Maple Leafs lauded him on Twitter for a "life dedicated to the game" and his "seven seasons in the blue and white."

He remains among the team's career top 50-point scorers. Frycer had 147 goals and 183 assists in 330 NHL games. After his NHL career, he played two seasons in Germany and another in Italy.

One of the underlying themes of the PGA Tour’s new Player Impact Program is visibility – that is, how often a player is seen, whether that’s on social media, in commercials, or on the tournament broadcast. 

And during the natural course of a season, there are few better ways for a player to attract attention than by appearing during featured-group coverage of the PGA Tour Live telecasts, which (in the interest of full disclosure) are available via subscription through the NBC Sports Gold app and Amazon Prime Video.

Which got us to thinking: If the PIP began Jan. 1, which players have been featured most often on PGA Tour Live this year? After all, those are the players who would have been most visible and therefore best positioned to improve such metrics as their Nielsen Brand Exposure rating, Q rating, MVP Index rating and Meltwater Mentions. 

After poring over the broadcast schedules since PGA Tour Live coverage began in mid-January at The American Express – through the slated first two rounds of this week's Valspar Championship – we found, unscientifically, that 54 players were featured multiple times and 93 total players were shown during the featured-group coverage. That’s pretty solid distribution, considering they’re only through 14 events in the PGA Tour Live slate.   

THOSE WHO HAVE APPEARED MOST OFTEN OVERALL

12 appearances: Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler

11: Jon Rahm

10: Phil Mickelson

9: Jordan Spieth

8: Dustin Johnson

7: Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed

6: Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day, Adam Scott

5: Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, Matthew Wolff, Francesco Molinari, Paul Casey, Max Homa

4: Webb Simpson, Cameron Champ, Daniel Berger, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Kuchar, Keith Mitchell, Gary Woodland, Viktor Hovland

3: Bubba Watson, Billy Horschel, Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim, Ryan Palmer, Corey Conners, Jason Dufner, Charley Hoffman, Will Zalatoris, Tommy Fleetwood, Brandt Snedeker, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton

2: Justin Rose, Brendan Steele, Akshay Bhatia, CT Pan, Charles Howell III, Harris English, Keegan Bradley, Jason Kokrak, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann

THOSE WHO HAVE APPEARED MOST DURING EARLY-ROUND COVERAGE

(Note: The Tour sets the Rounds 1 and 2 schedules earlier in the week; below are from those listed among the featured groups. The Tour does, however, also show some action outside of its featured groups.)

7 appearances: Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm

6: Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas

5: Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau

4: Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Champ, Daniel Berger, Paul Casey, Gary Woodland, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland

3: Hideki Matsuyama, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Billy Horschel

2: Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Francesco Molinari, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Kuchar, Ryan Palmer, Corey Conners, Jason Kokrak, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton

1: Sebastian Munoz, Kevin Kisner, Andrew Landry, Kevin Na, Harris English, Lee Westwood, Keegan Bradley, Zach Johnson, Shane Lowry, Brandt Snedeker, Stewart Cink, Nick Taylor, Keith Mitchell, Branden Grace, Cam Smith, Sam Burns, Joel Dahmen, Will Zalatoris, Henrik Stenson, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick

THOSE WHO HAVE APPEARED MOST OFTEN DURING WEEKEND COVERAGE

(Note: The Tour sets the weekend schedules reacting to those who made the cut but aren’t near the top of the leaderboard.)

5 appearances: Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler

4: Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott

3: Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Jason Dufner, Francesco Molinari, Jason Day, Charley Hoffman, Keith Mitchell

2: Will Zalatoris, Brendan Steele, Akshay Bhatia, CT Pan, Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia, Scottie Scheffler, Brandt Snedeker, Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa, Charles Howell III, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar

1: Adam Hadwin, Rory Sabbatini, Kevin Stadler, Ryan Palmer, Sam Ryder, Corey Conners, Scott Stallings, Russell Knox, Mark Hubbard, Webb Simpson, Bo Van Pelt, Max Homa, Vince Whaley, Will Gordon, Jim Furyk, Ryan Moore, Matthew NeSmith, Nick Taylor, Nate Lashley, Matthew Wolff, Russell Henley, Tyler Duncan, Harris English, David Lipsky, Justin Thomas, Marc Leishman, Erik Van Rooyen, Emiliano Grillo, Robert MacIntyre, Victor Perez, Steve Stricker, Ben An, Paul Casey, Richy Werenski, Dylan Frittelli, Bryson DeChambeau, Martin Laird, Patrick Reed, Danny Willett, Tyrrell Hatton, Si Woo Kim, Cameron Davis, Ryan Armour, Pat Perez, Harry Higgs, Brice Garnett, Chase Koepka, Kevin Chappell, John Huh, Alex Noren, Charl Schwartzel, Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell, Sung Kang, Camilo Villegas, Kyle Stanley

So, what did we learn here?

• Not surprisingly, they love to show – and people love to watch (it is a paid service, after all) – McIlroy and Fowler, despite neither playing their best this year. McIlroy has slipped outside the top 10 in the world ranking for the first time since 2018, while Fowler, in the midst of a swing change, has failed to record a top-10 in 15 months and dropped all the way to No. 111 in the world. Same for soon-to-be 51-year-old Mickelson, who has rarely contended over the past year but remains a top draw. 

• Spieth is always good TV. 

• Early-round coverage selections are the most interesting – those are the guys that the Tour wants to showcase. Some picks were unsurprising while others were interesting, like one of the Tour’s quietest great players, Cantlay (six), appearing in one more early window than DeChambeau (five).

• Weekend-coverage numbers can be somewhat misleading: Keep in mind that those who are frequently in contention on the weekend, like Thomas (one), wouldn’t be showcased as often in PGA Tour Live coverage – he’d be featured prominently during the main telecast instead.

• It’s always fun to see the one-offs – the guys who ordinarily wouldn’t have been featured but landed a prime weekend tee time with a big name. Like Stadler, Whaley and Lipsky. 

• Long-hitting Champ and Wolff have combined for zero top-10s this year, but they’ve made nine total appearances so far.

Christian Pulisic has become the first United States men's international to score a goal in a Champions League semifinal, after netting in the first half of Chelsea's 1-1 first-leg draw with Real Madrid.

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The goal was also Pulisic's fifth in the Champions League, moving him ahead of DaMarcus Beasley on the all-time U.S. men's scoring list in European football's premier competition.

Christian Pulisic is the first U.S. International to score in a UCL Semifinal.

Pulisic (5) also breaks a tie with DaMarcus Beasley (4) for most UCL goals by U.S. Internationals. pic.twitter.com/hcpZ23FsCC

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 27, 2021

Pulisic found himself alone in the penalty area on 14 minutes and cut to his right, beating Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois and firing between two defenders to give Chelsea an early lead.

Karim Benzema scored to draw the hosts level later in the first half, leaving both teams with all to play for in next week's return leg at Stamford Bridge.

The 22-year-old Pulisic also scored in the knockout round in 2017 when he was still with Borussia Dortmund and is now the youngest player to score for Chelsea in the semifinals of the UCL or later, passing Ramires, who did it at 25 years old against Barcelona in 2012.

1 - Christian Pulisic ?? is the first American player in history to score against Real Madrid in all competitions and the first to score in a UEFA Champions League semi-final. Star pic.twitter.com/6POgjhbZSs

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 27, 2021

Adding to the list of firsts for Pulisic, he is also now the first U.S. international to score in any competition against Real Madrid.

Two U.S. women's team players have scored in the UEFA Women's Champions League semis or later already -- Carli Lloyd did it in 2017 while on loan with Manchester City and Alana Cook did it last weekend in Paris Saint-Germain's 1-1 draw with Barcelona.

Pulisic has battled injuries throughout his career and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel claimed earlier this month that he needed to learn to trust his body again after suffering nagging issues dating back to a hamstring problem sustained in last August's FA Cup Final defeat to Arsenal.

Tuchel's first game in charge took place on Jan. 27 against Wolves, but Pulisic did not start a Premier League game until March 13.

However, the 22-year-old has started six of Chelsea's last eight matches across all competitions and he said prior to the Madrid match: "I feel very confident in my body and my fitness level at the moment. I have played a string of games.

"I've never thought of myself as a player who is injury prone or anything. Obviously I had some time out in the past year and a bit. It is really just about taking care of my body and putting myself in the best position to be available for every single game. I feel good about that right now."

The death of football icon Diego Maradona late last year was a landmark moment for the whole of Argentina, and the entire soccer world mourned the loss of the former Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli forward. Maximiliano Bagnasco's experiences since that day show how much Maradona still means to his home nation, more than three decades after he led them to glory at the 1986 World Cup.

Maradona, who had been battling health issues, died on Nov. 25 of a heart attack aged 60 at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. News of his death devastated Bagnasco, a 39-year-old artist from the Argentine capital. As he reflected on what it all meant, Bagnasco began doing something he had done countless times: paint Maradona's likeness.

"I recorded the whole process, and when I finished, I wrote on there, 'Ciao, Diego. I also drew you on the day you left,'" Bagnasco told ESPN via phone.

The portrait, done in one sitting while Bagnasco's grief was still fresh, quickly went viral and catapulted his career into the spotlight.

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A post shared by Maximiliano Bagnasco (@maxibagnasco)

Within hours of him posting the video on Instagram, an Argentine TV show featured Bagnasco's work during an homage to Maradona. Soon afterward, viewers of the show from across Argentina, including soccer clubs, began reaching out to request his paintings.

"I've done paintings of Maradona all of my life," he said. "When I was a teenager I even did a drawing of him with his daughters and I approached his house, on the corner of Segurola and Habana, to present it to him as a gift."

Bagnasco never did learn what the Maradona family did with that picture, but there was much more where that came from. He won his first art contest as a nine-year-old, painting reproductions of works by Vincent van Gogh. By the time he decided to make art his profession at 17, he had produced more than a hundred works with Maradona as his muse -- despite not considering himself a fan of football.

"Diego looms largest in my country," Bagnasco said. "He is what represents us most, and he was an inspiration to me."

Bagnasco said his Instagram following has almost doubled since posting the portrait, with his reach passing from regional recognition to worldwide popularity.

Buenos Aires club Argentina Juniors, where Maradona came up through the youth ranks to make his professional debut, requested Bagnasco's services for a portrait of their great prodigy within a shrine dedicated to the late superstar. Soon after, Bagnasco fielded calls from media outlets in Venezuela, Italy and China. The artist admits that the experience left him in a state of disbelief.

"I was seeing my name in Portuguese, in Italian," Bagnasco said. "I never would have imagined that I would be asked to take part in a project in Qatar, or that I would be taking calls from Germany or China."

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Following his work on Argentinos Juniors' shrine, Bagnasco and his crew painted two more murals and even the floor of a swimming pool at a private residence - all while being bombarded with requests from all over the world.

"All of a sudden everybody wanted a Maradona mural in their house," he said. "We talked others into having it done."

Patio de los Lecheros, a popular Buenos Aires street food market, also commissioned Bagnasco for work honouring Maradona that also served charitable causes. The idea was to do 19 paintings and auction them off, Bagnasco said. "We did 18 at the studio and the last one there on site. I've had the press at my studio every day since I posted the first two."

For the mural at the food market, Bagnasco said he wanted to capture Maradona in different phases of his life: "I wanted to pick images that aren't common in murals. I've painted Diego about 30 times since he left, but I don't get bored because each one has a different look." Viewers can see Maradona's journey from a young and dashing No. 10 at the 1979 Youth World Championship to, years later, the global star with dyed-blond hair clearly enjoying retirement in Cuba.

Demand for Bagnasco's work has seen them shoot up in value. Naturally, he's looking to strike while the iron is hot to help him secure his future, a rare opportunity for most working artists. Paintings start at 70,000 Argentine pesos (about $750) but the price depends on the details, the client's requests and time devoted to the work.

"The prices in Argentina for paintings that take us a day-and-a-half are a bargain if you look at it from another country," Bagnasco said. "I'm trying to find a middle ground. Before Diego, I charged and worked differently. I've been looking for a way to increase my output, for techniques to work faster, to meet the demand.

"Other murals had gone viral because maybe they didn't resemble Diego and people made fun of them. But the quality of our work took people by surprise, because of how real they look. I always shoot for the same quality with all of my work."

While Bagnasco's short-term future involves fulfilling demand for his work from around the world, he keeps an eye on the ultimate goal for an artist who also happens to be a maradonista: painting him for posterity in Naples, the site of his greatest European club glories and where he now has a stadium renamed in his honour.

"A lot of Napoli fans wrote me," Bagnasco said. "For me, one of the best things that can happen is to paint Maradona in Naples. It would be a dream for an Argentine to paint him over there."

Conor McGregor is no longer the majority owner of the whiskey brand he founded, but the UFC star has added to his growing fortune.

Proximo Spirits, a company that owns Jose Cuervo and other alcohol brands, has acquired a majority stake in Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey in a deal worth up to $600 million, both sides told spirits trade publication Shanken News Daily on Tuesday.

Proximo previously held a 49% stake in the company. The $600 million will go to brand co-founders McGregor, his agent Audie Attar of Paradigm Sports Management and their partner Ken Austin, who told the publication that the sum includes the $250 million the team already earned in the brand's first two years in business with Proximo.

Proper No. Twelve was founded in 2018 and has been promoted vigorously by McGregor, the most popular star in UFC history. Proximo's new stake in the brand was not disclosed, nor was the length of the agreement.

Mike Keyes, Proximo's CEO, told Shanken News Daily that McGregor, Attar and Austin will retain an interest in the brand and maintain active roles.

"Proper Twelve is my baby for life!" McGregor said in a statement to his website, The Mac Life. "I'm only warming up the barrels here! What I have in store for you all will not only take Proper Twelve to the absolute pinnacle of Irish whiskey, but of all spirits!"

Keyes and Austin told Shanken News Daily that the new deal won't affect how Proper No. Twelve is marketed or its brand identity, with McGregor still leading the way. Another big push is expected for the Irish whiskey around McGregor's trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10 in Las Vegas.

Austin said McGregor wants Proper No. Twelve to be a "multimillion case brand," and he believes it will get there.

"Since introducing this brand with Conor and his partners just two and a half years ago, Proper No. Twelve has been the most exciting brand in the Irish whiskey category," Keyes said. "The brand continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, and this agreement reflects Proximo's commitment to expanding its presence in the whiskey category as a whole."

The NHL expects negotiations with the Canadian government regarding travel across the border could extend through the opening rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"It's going to be down to the wire," a source with knowledge of the talks told ESPN, indicating a decision on the border may not be made until the first week in June.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to begin in mid-May. The opening two rounds feature teams playing within their divisions. Sources told ESPN that the NHL does not currently expect to implement playoff bubbles for the first two rounds, as it did last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in June, travel gets complicated. Each division winner advances to make up the final four teams, which will be re-seeded based on regular-season record. That will include the champion of the all-Canadian North Division. Currently, U.S. teams would be prohibited from playing in Canada without mandatory quarantines that would be impossible within the postseason calendar, which will be formatted in the traditional 2-2-1-1-1 home game schedule.

Canada has a 14-day quarantine for anyone who enters the country, although it did cut it down to seven days for NHL players who were traded to a North Division team this season.

"If we can't travel in Canada, either as among the provinces or from the U.S. to Canada and back, we'll make whatever adjustments we have to do to get the playoffs completed. But obviously, as it has been, it's wildly unpredictable," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.

There are two scenarios being discussed regarding the North Division champion. The first is that negotiations with the Canadian government -- led by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly -- result in the country giving teams a special dispensation to travel back and forth across the border for their playoff series. The second is that the Canadian government does not allow that dispensation, and the North Division champion would be relocated to a U.S. city for the semifinal round and, should it advance, the Stanley Cup Final.

A source told ESPN the Canadian team's U.S. home will not be tied to the franchise's location in Canada. For example, there's been heavy speculation that the Toronto Maple Leafs would play their games in Buffalo, should they advance. Instead, the North Division champion's U.S. home would be based on the geographic location of the team's opponent in each round, to cut down on travel costs.

The NHL doesn't need much time to execute a plan on a U.S. site for a Canadian team in the U.S. Due to a lack of schedule inventory, several NHL arenas would be options for a Canadian team to set up shop. A source told ESPN that the NHL could turn around one of those U.S. sites for a Canadian team in around 10 days -- enabling them extra time to work with the Canadian government on the border issue, down to the aforementioned wire.

"Where we play is going to depend on COVID, obviously. We hope to keep everybody healthy. And it's going to depend on government regulations in terms of where we're going to be able to travel our players and our teams and where we can't," Bettman said.

Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto General Hospital who has consulted with the NHLPA, said Canada is "not messing around" on the border issue at the moment, as the nation is facing a third wave of COVID-19. Two months ago, Canada started implementing quarantine hotels for international flights landing in the nation, and this week it stopped accepting flights from India and Pakistan as they experienced another COVID wave.

From a sports perspective, the Toronto Blue Jays have played their home games in Dunedin, Florida, and are expected to play more of them at their minor league affiliate's park in Buffalo, with an eye toward returning to Rogers Centre later in 2021.

"I don't think the country will budge on border measures until we're in the clear. When there are widespread vaccinations, hospitals are decompressed and community rates of COVID-19 transmission are significantly lower than where they are now," Bogoch said. "However, these aren't everyday travelers. This is a professional sports league with extensive resources."

Bogoch believes the decision on the North Division champion traveling in and out of Canada is less about COVID-19 safety than it is about optics.

"It's not about player health. It's not about public safety. It would be about optics and ethics. You have the capability to have the American teams vaccinated. Everyone 16 and up in the U.S. is eligible for the vaccine right now. And these American teams have exquisite amounts of resources at their disposal: flying on private jets, safety protocols in place for teams," he said. "This does not pose a risk to the general public, let's be clear here. This does not pose a risk to the players or the ancillary personnel involved. This would be an ethics and optics issue."