Boldin retires after 14 seasons to bridge racial divisions

American Anquan Boldin announced his retirement from the National Football League on Sunday, less than two weeks after signing with the Buffalo Bills.
The 36-year-old wide receiver played 14 seasons in the NFL, ranking ninth all-time in receptions (1,076) and 14th in receiving yards (13,779). He had 82 receiving touchdowns and won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in the 2012 season. Boldin’s retirement came as a surprise because on August 7 he signed a one-year contract with the Bills. “Football has afforded me a platform throughout my career to have a greater impact on my humanitarian work, and at this time I feel drawn to make the larger fight for human rights a priority,” Boldin said. “My life’s purpose is bigger than football.”
In 2004 he founded the Florida-based Anquan Boldin Foundation, which “is dedicated to expanding the educational and life opportunities of underprivileged children,” according to its website. Boldin began his career with the Arizona Cardinals as a 2003 second-round draft pick out of Florida State.
He played seven years with the Cardinals and appeared in the 2008 season Super Bowl, with Arizona losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He moved on to Baltimore in 2010 and spent three years there.

NFL and China’s Tencent
strike digital streaming deal
The US National Football League yesterday announced an agreement granting tech giant Tencent exclusive digital streaming rights for NFL games in China, as the world’s richest sports league by revenues expands its China presence.
Under the three-year agreement Shenzhen-based Tencent will stream live and on-demand NFL pre-season, regular-season and playoff games plus the Super Bowl and other content in China, they announced in a joint statement. Financial details were not disclosed.
The NFL’s uniquely American brand of gridiron football has traditionally lagged the US National Basketball Association (NBA) and European soccer leagues in drawing a Chinese following. But the NFL has pushed aggressively in recent years and reports growing interest as Chinese consumers armed with smartphones seek more diverse sources of mobile sport and entertainment.
The NFL said its digital live-streaming viewership in China grew 17% in 2016 to 37mn unique viewers while video-on-demand jumped 52% to 282mn views, under contracts with previous partners. “We are confident that this agreement will provide our growing number of Chinese fans with a better viewing experience and more opportunities for engagement with the NFL than ever before,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the statement. The deal allows the NFL to tap into Tencent’s growing digital ecosystem in China, which is headlined by its dominant WeChat messaging platform but includes online transactions, gaming, and other features.
The NFL remains hugely popular in the US market, generating $13bn in revenue in 2016 — the highest among domestic sports leagues worldwide — but is also looking abroad for growth. The NFL will stage four games in London in the coming season and a fifth in Mexico City.