NFL great Tom Brady has been spotted by a Tampa Bay city employee working out in a local park, amid a state-wide shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new Buccaneers quarterback was called out by Tampa Major Jane Castor at her daily news briefing on Wednesday (NZ time).
"Our parks are closed down, so a lot of our parks staff, they patrol around just to make sure people aren't in there with contact sports and things," Castor said. "She went over to tell him that it was closed and it was Tom Brady."
The state of Florida is currently under stay-at-home orders, although recreational activity outdoors is permitted, as long as social distancing is followed - Brady is understood to have been using park workout equipment, which is against the rules.
"Sorry @TomBrady!" the City of Tampa tweeted. "Our @tampaparksrec team can't wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles - until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve."
Brady is set for his Tampa Bay NFL debut in September, if the season is permitted to start as scheduled.
The six-time Super Bowl champion departed the New England Patriots during the off-season, after 20-years with the franchise.
Newshub.
Tokyo Olympic reschedule costs cause angst
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has removed a comment from its website that referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when discussing the financial impact of postponing the Games.
The move came after objections from the Tokyo organising committee for the Olympics and Paralympics.
Last month, the IOC and the Japanese government agreed to postpone the 2020 Olympics, because of the global coronavirus outbreak.
The costs of rescheduling the Games and who will pay them have yet to be clarified by either the IOC or the Japanese Government.
But on Monday, the IOC published a Q&A on its website about the postponement and answered the question 'What will be the financial impact of postponing the Games?'
Part of the answer referred to Abe and has become the bone of contention between the Olympics organising partners.
"Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo agreed that Japan will continue to cover the costs it would have done under the terms of the existing agreement for 2020, and the IOC will continue to be responsible for its share of the costs," read the IOC's answer.
"For the IOC, it is already clear that this amounts to several hundred millions of dollars of additional costs."
On Tuesday, Tokyo Games spokesman Masa Takaya said it was "not appropriate for the PM's name to be quoted in this manner".
"What we are requesting to the IOC team is that the name of the Japanese Prime Minister should not be quoted, plus the IOC's website should not express beyond what was agreed between the IOC and Tokyo 2020," Takaya said.
Later on Tuesday, the IOC updated the Q&A section of its website and removed any mention of Abe.
"The IOC and the Japanese side, including the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, will continue to assess and discuss jointly the respective impacts caused by the postponement," read the updated statement.
Tokyo 2020 said that the breakdown of who would pay the additional costs was not discussed between Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach, when the two decided to postpone the Games.
Earlier, Kyodo news agency reported that Abe had agreed Japan would shoulder the cost, which Kyodo said amounted to about $3 billion ($A4.8b).
Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said Abe had not agreed to any additional costs.
Reuters
Australian sports facing Virgin revenue hit
Several major Australian sporting codes are facing multi-million-dollar revenue hits, after airline Virgin Australia entered voluntary administration.
Virgin holds lucrative sponsorship deals with the AFL, including three clubs, as well as being naming rights sponsor for the popular Supercars series, featuring Kiwi Scott McLaughlin.
The AFL deal is reportedly worth close to NZ$5 million per year, while the NZ$1.9million deal with the Supercars championship expires at the end of this season.
"We'll work through every one of those contracts as part of administration," Virgin chief executive Paul Scurrah said on Tuesday.
"The AFL is a very important partner of ours and we must have those partners on the other side.
"I know that we have a lot of sponsorships, as well, in other sports and we'll be looking at all of those as we go forward through the administration."
AFL commerical general manager Kylie Rogers said the league would continue to support Virgin through the process.
"The team at Virgin Australia have taken our clubs, players, officials and fans to all parts of the world, and we can't thank them enough for their continued dedication to our game.
"Virgin Australia's commitment to footy and directly to a number of our clubs have been valued from day one, they are an integral part of the footy family, with lifelong relationships built across the board.
"We want to ensure that Paul and all his team at Virgin Australia know they have our support, and our thoughts are with the whole team and their families, as the company works through the current situation."
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