SportsBeat KC

Well, that was quick. Two weeks after Missouri announced Jim Sterk was stepping down as athletic director, the university found a successor in Desiree Reed-Francois, who had spent the previous five years at UNLV. She’ll become the first woman to lead the Tigers’ athletic department. On today’s SportsBeat KC, Briar Napier, who has covered the Tigers for The Star, joins host Blair Kerkhoff to discus...

One out the door, another in for Sporting Kansas City. The Gianluca Busio transfer to Venezia FC in Italy became official, and so did the team’s signing of Jose Mauri, an Argentine-Italian midfielder. We talk about both on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, with Shaun Goodwin and Cora Hall. Also on the menu: Sporting KC has been on fire, a 4-1 triumph at LAFC as its latest conquest. D...

SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, returns to Chiefs training camp today and you’ll hear from the coordinators. Steve Spagnuolo offers up what he’s liked about the defense, giving his assessment of the young linebackers, and identifies a rookie free agent who is having a superb camp. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy spoke of the new faces along the offensive line and the running ba...

Every week brings a new set of story lines for the Big 12 since the news of Texas and Oklahoma’s impending departure to the SEC. Earlier this week the commissioners of the Big 12 and Pac-12 had a conversation about the future of their leagues and the possibility of some kind of alliance or merger. On today’s SportsBeat KC, three Big 12 beat writers Kellis Robinett, Gary Bedore and Drew Davison, wh...

So, the Royals plans for shortstop going forward have been changed. Adalberto Mondesi isn’t written in ink. General manager Dayton Moore said because of Mondesi’s history of injuries the Royals need to create depth at the position. What will the position look like in 2022? That was the leadoff topic on today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast with beat writer Lynn Worthy and columnis...

Patrick Mahomes had already joined such luminaries as LeBron James, James Harden and Venus and Serena Williams as sports stars who’ve bought into pro sports franchises. For Mahomes, that happened last year, when he purchased a stake in the Royals. But Mahomes didn’t stop with one team. Within the past week, he also bought into Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. Mahomes spoke about this l...

The Chiefs worked through the heat on the second day of full-squad training camp and are beginning to work out the kinks now, too. The defense seemed ahead of the offense this week, and defensive end Chris Jones moved well in his new position. You’ll hear from Jones in this episode of our daily SportsBeat KC podcast, including some of the changes he made during the offseason. Also, running back Cl...

The Tyrann Mathieu contract extension continues to be a story at Chiefs training camp. The Chiefs All-Pro safety discussed his position on the prospective deal after Wednesday’s practice and you’ll hear what he had to say on today’s SportsBeat KC. The show started as a SportsBeat Live with Chiefs beat writers Herbie Teope and Sam McDowell. They share their observations from practice, detailing pos...

The Big 12 is in a state of flux. Texas and Oklahoma have formally applied to the SEC. It’s only a matter of timing for those schools to be part of major college football’s first 16-team conference. What happens to the remaining Big 12 schools? On today’s SportsBeat KC, Kansas State beat writer Kellis Robinett (KC Star, Wichita Eagle) and TCU beat writer Drew Davison (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) joi...

Break up the Royals. Heck, maybe that happens with the trade deadline approaching. But what a run since the All-Star break. After dropping two of three from the Orioles, the Royals have put together a season-high six-game winning streak. They’ve done it with excellent starting pitching and power hitting from the likes of Jorge Soler and Salvador Perez. Also, with baseball’s trade deadline is appro...

The Chiefs are at Missouri Western for training camp and it feels right. The team conducted camp at Arrowhead Stadium last year because of the pandemic, but they’re back in St. Joseph for the 11th time in 12 years. Coaches, quarterbacks and first-year players arrived on Friday. The veterans reported on Monday and fans are allowed to attended at mid-week. On today’s SportsBeat KC, Andy Reid and Pat...

The college football festival that is SEC Media days wrapped up this week, and Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz was one of the stars of the show thanks to his sharp wit and sense of humor. You’ll hear Drinkwitz’s question and answer session with reporter in this episode of SportsBeat KC, The KC Star’s daily sports podcast.. Star columnist Vahe Gregorian was in Hoover, Ala., to cover the event...

Amy Rodriguez is no longer a member of KC NWSL. Johnny Russell wasn’t penalized in the box in Sporting KC’s draw with the San Jose Earthquakes. The US Women’s National Team didn’t win (or draw) it’s Olympic opener. All of this happened over about a 30-hour stretch and we break it all down on SportsBeat KC with soccer scribes Shaun Goodwin and Briar Napier. And the U.S. Men’s National Team third st...

Chiefs training camp begins Friday at Missouri Western in St. Joseph, and story lines abound. Who lines up on the right side of the offense line? How will the defensive end rotation work? Position battles, impact newcomers, it all begins when quarterbacks and first-year players report on Friday. The full squad arrives the following week. Today’s SportsBeat KC previews camp with beat writers Herbie...

On Tuesday, the Royals played at the Milwaukee Brewers. But a more interesting game happened in Papillion, Nebraska, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers. Suiting up for the Royals’ Class AAA team were top Royals prospects Bobby Witt Jr. and Nick Pratto, who were called up this week from Northwest Arkansas. Daniel Lynch was the Storm Chasers’ starter. In this episode of the daily SportsBeat KC podcast,...

When the 2020 Olympic Games were postponed until 2021, the hope was the COVID-19 pandemic would have been eradicated … or at least no longer be a major storyline. That is not the case. With competition beginning Tuesday and opening ceremonies scheduled for Friday, the Summer Games in Tokyo, a humongous city that‘s been reporting more than 1,000 new cases each day for the past week, are happening....

The U.S. Men’s National Team was more aggressive in Thursday night’s 6-1 Gold Cup victory over Martinique at Children’s Mercy Park. And the scoring was capped by a goal with local flavor: Sporting KC’s Gianluca Busio’s cross found the cleat of Nicholas Gioacchini, a Kansas City native. In this episode of The Star’s daily sports podcast, SportsBeat KC, Shaun Goodwin, Cora Hall and Briar Napier brea...

The Big 12 has completed a quarter century of competition. In those 25 years, four teams departed, two were added and eight original members have stuck it out. It hasn’t always been a one-for-all spirit but it has survived. On today’s SportsBeat KC, two columnists that have covered the conference since its inception answer the question: How well as the league served the schools they cover? Kirk Bo...

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he would have loved nothing better than to end the COVID-19 pandemic conversation and speak only to this football season. But the latest spike in numbers didn’t allow for that. So football and virus precautions were the primary topics on Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday. You’ll hear from Bowlsby on today’s SportsBeat KC, also from Kansas State beat writer Kellis...

The Royals went young and local with their first few selections in this week’s major league draft, which concluded Tuesday. KC’s first-round selection, left-handed pitcher Frank Mozzicato, was a surprise based on projections. But the Royals’ second and fourth overall picks, Blue Valley Southwest pitcher Ben Kudrna and Park Hill catcher Carter Jensen, are fairly well known around here. What does th...

During this period of international soccer action — Euro, Copa, Gold Cup and more — the biggest world event was a conversation topic in Kansas City on Monday. The city’s bid be a host site for the 2026 World Cup got a lead image as the KC2026 Bid Committee partnered with OUTFRONT Media to create a wallscape that measures 90 x 90 feel on the north-facing side of the building at 1627 Main Street. On...

Reaction to our list of the top 25 greatest games in Kansas City sports history has been strong. The story was posted on KansasCity.com last weekend and appeared in the Tuesday editions of The Star and many generally agreed with the choices and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. A common thought among those who disagreed was our omission of Chiefs regular season games. One was included: The Joe Mo...

Kansas City will feel like the nation’s soccer center over the next couple of weeks. Sporting Kansas City remains molten-hot, collecting a 2-0 victory at the Los Angeles Galaxy last weekend. KC NWSL didn’t just earn a 1-1 draw with FC Gotham, it did so in style with a goal by Mariana Larroquette that made ESPN’s top plays highlights for the day. Add to that the arrival of Gold Cup group play at Ch...

The Kansas Jayhawks didn’t add a new player to their basketball roster over the past week, they simply kept the ones who were eligible to return. And those players could push KU to a preseason No. 1 ranking. The latest to withdraw their names from the NBA Draft consideration are Ochai Agbaji and Arizona State transfer Remy Martin. Late last week, Jalen Wilson made the same decision. The conclusion...

Catching up with the Royals means breaking down the latest news. Andrew Benintendi is back, or at least he was for one game. Brad Keller and Mike Minor pitched well the previous two games but the Royals lost them both. Salvador Perez is in the Home Run Derby, and Bobby Witt Jr. and Nick Pratto will be in the Futures Game. Looking ahead, what should the Royals objectives be now that the season has...