Santa Clara County Sports Digest

The Oakland Ballers are an independent team, unaffiliated with Major League Baseball, and they hope to incorporate some of the Savannah Bananas’ silly spirit into what they’re doing.

For the first time in 14 years, the Milpitas High School Trojans have made it into the Central Coast Section soccer playoffs.

When and if California legalizes sports gambling, the policy should honor the laws established in partnership with tribes decades ago, says Assemblyman James Ramos.

The “pop, pop, pop” that’s become synonymous with Pickleball may soon be a racket of the past. That’s the goal promised by a new generation of equipment developed to lessen the overall acoustic burden of the sport.

A yearslong debate over whether the 49ers should be allowed a multimillion-dollar property tax break for Levi’s Stadium has come to a close.

With Super Bowl LX just a few years away from arriving at Levi’s Stadium and the FIFA World Cup quick on its heels, the Valley Transportation Agency has started planning the big events.

A new coalition that includes former mayors, philanthropists, athletes and volunteers is spearheading a $33-million campaign to revive a project to build Palo’s first city-owned gym.

Proposed California legislation that would ban tackle football for kids under 12 had gained momentum until Gov. Gavin Newsom made it clear he’d veto the bill.

As training for the summer Olympics is starting, Santa Clara’s International Swim Center is closed “until further notice”—until safety, health and equipment problems are resolved.

The Assembly has until the end of January to decide the fate of the youth tackle football bill, which would prevent kids under 12 from playing the sport to protect them from brain trauma.

Santa Clara Unified rang in 2024 with a gold star on their audit but with some unhappy youth sports groups as they passed new facility rental fees.

The Super Bowl is returning to the South Bay in 2026, and local movers and shakers hope to get the region more shine than it received last time around, when San Francisco drew the lion's share of the fans and revenue.

Mountain View Whisman's board voted to approve the city's proposal for a new joint use agreement, putting the ball back in the city's court to give the final sign-off to a deal that has been the cause of significant tension.

Sunnyvale is hoping to finalize some of its biggest projects next year, from supporting homeless residents to putting in new sports fields.

Despite an appeal by the Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, a judge has ruled that the $6 million assessment of the San Francisco 49ers’ property tax at Levi’s Stadium will stand.

The San Jose Earthquakes and South Bay officials are taking a big step in long-held plans to develop a public and private soccer field complex at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.

In 2022, Santa Clara Vanguard’s Cadets won the Drum Corps International Championship. However, simmering below the surface was a series of missteps that have forced Vanguard to cancel its 2023 season and have left the 2024 season up in the air.

A recent investigation by Voice of San Diego revealed that nonprofits that provide staff at local stadiums could be raising money without doing charity work, while also paying labor below minimum wage and under the table. Now, multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating.

Los Gatos took advantage of early miscues by the Wilcox Chargers to the tune of a shocking 28-7 lead after just one quarter.

Three years after the NFL's Raiders abandoned Oakland for Las Vegas, MLB's Oakland A's announced they're moving there too. The owners of the teams unanimously approved the MLB team’s move.

Melvin was born in Palo Alto and raised in Menlo Park and played baseball at Menlo-Atherton High School and University of California, Berkeley.

Milpitas’ Pickleball Pilot Program has been using half of the tennis courts at Hall Park, and a large community of Hall Park tennis players are now fighting to save their tennis courts from being permanently converted.

Events at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara have generated $2 billion in total economic impact for the region in the last decade, according to a report commissioned by the San Francisco 49ers.

The Santa Clara Parade of Champions is almost here, and the parade’s Grand Marshal will be two-time Olympic gold medalist and Santa Clara High School grad Donna de Varona.

Bike Palo Alto, a local bicycling event organized by volunteers, is back after a long pandemic hiatus. The two-hour fair will be held on Sunday, Oct. 1, from 1-3 p.m. at Fairmeadow Elementary School.

The $700 million price tag sets a $7 billion mark that would make the Warriors one of the world’s most valuable sports teams.

The Mountain View City Council voted to terminate an agreement for the joint operation of campus fields, while also giving the school board a one-time chance to accept terms to create a new agreement.

Santa Clara is being sued by Brian Doyle, its former city attorney, who claims officials fired him unlawfully as part of a hushed agreement with San Francisco 49ers owners.

In a sign of further fraying relations, the city is considering terminating a more than six-decade agreement with the Mountain View Whisman School District for the joint operation of campus fields.

A proposal to set up degree completion funds for California student athletes has met with stiff opposition from universities and the NCAA. College athletes could earn a share of the revenue they generate under the bill — as much as $25,000 for each year that they played their sport. But the bill’s author has delayed it until 2024 after opponents charged the fund would draw money away from less lucrative sports like gymnastics and swimming.

San Jose officials are making a renewed push to clear a path for a future professional baseball team in the city.

Harry Edwards, a towering figure in Bay Area sports history known for promoting athlete activism, has no plans to stop fighting against racism and injustice despite suffering from bone cancer. “I am very much aware of the severity of the situation I am in and the reality of the circumstance,” he said.