Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 10 Episode 84 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on Thursday morning 26 September 2024.
 
Happy birthday Vickie Swanson!
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the Blue continent, where it is a very comfortable 23 degrees Celsius at 5am this morning.
 
In Rugby Union: OILEI things are going from bad to worse for Interim Fiji Rugby Union Chairperson Peter Mazey – their High Performance Unit General Manager, BJ Mather has resigned after only one year in the role.
 
Thank goodness, the WXV3 Tests in Dubai on Saturday will be a welcome distraction.
 
In Rugby League: Known as a rugby league-mad nation, Papua New Guinea is seriously in the mix to be the NRL’s 19th team, as early as 2028, as revealed by NRL Chairman Peter V’Landys and CEO Andrew Abdo yesterday.
 
In Netball: The mighty Australian Diamonds claimed another series win over England with a 69-56 win in Bendigo last night.
 
After dropping game two in historic circumstances in Sydney, Australia bounced back and put the Roses to the sword with a statement win to claim the series 2-1.

In Sports Biz: Here’s even more proof of the amazing Caitlin Clark Effect.
 
Game 1 between Clark’s Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun, of the WNBA finals play-off, averaged 1.8 million viewers on ABC - making it the WNBA’s most-watched playoff game since the 2000 Finals, and the most-watched playoff game on ESPN platforms ever, despite airing directly against the NFL’s games.

That number more than doubles the 728,000 average viewership of the 2023 WNBA Finals.

While the Fever-Sun contest set a playoff viewership record, the three other WNBA playoffs that aired on ESPN, all averaged less than the 2023 playoffs:
·       The Atlanta Dream vs New York Liberty game drew 410,000 viewers,
·       The Phoenix Mercury vs Minnesota Lynx averaged 403,000 viewers,
·       The defending champion Las Vegas Aces vs the Seattle Storm, drew 461,000 viewers.
 
As they say in the good ol’ days – “the proof is in the pudding!”
 
In Combat Sports: Promoter Frank Warren has defended Saudi Arabia's involvement in boxing, after criticism surrounding the singing of the Saudi national anthem in the ring before the fight began.
 
Speaking at a news conference, Warren said Saudi support "enabled" Dubois-Joshua to happen. "Why is there criticism? A small minority complaining about the national anthem being played," Warren said.

"These type of events would not be made without financial input. It's for the love of boxing from His Excellency Alalshikh that has made that happen. Did you hear anyone moaning?"

And that’s a wrap!

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Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mas for all your love and support.
 
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