MLB fans in Vegas get first look at A’s

The Oakland Athletics return to Las Vegas this weekend for exhibition games against Milwaukee, their first appearance since announcing the relocation to what the team envisions as its future home city. The games at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the franchise’s Triple-A Aviators, feature an A’s team planning a new regular-season ballpark on the Strip it hopes will open in 2028.

The Nevada Legislature enacted $380 million in funding for a $1.5 billion stadium and baseball owners unanimously approved the relocation in November. Close to a sellout crowd is expected in the 10,000 capacity ballpark for the Saturday afternoon game.

Leafs join the NHL trade deadline party

The Toronto Maple Leafs have joined the NHL trade party while a couple of Western Conference Stanley Cup contenders stayed active on the day before the deadline.

The Colorado Avalanche acquired a pair of versatile forwards from Central Division rivals, Brandon Duhaime from Minnesota for a third-round pick in 2026 and Yakov Trenin from Nashville for a 2025 third and defense prospect Jeremy Hanzel.

The Edmonton Oilers got defenseman Troy Stecher from Arizona for a fourth-rounder in 2027, and the Leafs received Joel Edmundson from Washington for a third-rounder in this year’s draft and a 2025 fifth.

NFL free agency re-signings expected

Another NFL free agency period is about to begin but buyers should beware that signing other teams’ veterans comes with plenty of risk. Some veterans will test the open market only to come back and re-sign with their old team. Every general manager in the league has a topflight player or two that he wants to keep from calling the moving trucks.

French union threatens Olympic strikes

A major French union is warning of possible strikes in the public sector, including at hospitals, during the Paris Olympics.

The general secretary of the CGT tells France Info media that the union will give notice of a possible strike in public services during the Games, which are held in July-August.

The social situation in France remains tense amid protests from teachers, police officers and farmers in recent weeks after huge demonstrations against the rise in retirement age last year.

First American woman solos, nonstop world sail

Cole Brauer became the first American woman to race nonstop around the world by herself when she arrived Thursday in A Coruña, Spain.

The 29-year-old is one of more than a dozen sailors competing in the Global Solo Challenge. Brauer was the youngest and only woman in the group that set sail in October from A Coruña.

The race took Brauer around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and past Australia. She also faced the unpredictable, treacherous and deadly Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.

The race took her 130 days to complete.

— Bulletin wire reports