Auto Racing
No show puts Pocono on the no-go list for IndyCar
The future of IndyCar at Pocono Raceway is in jeopardy because of a dramatic attendance drop expected for Sunday’s race.
IndyCar returned to Pocono last year after a 24-year absence for the first race of a three-year contract. Track chief executive officer and President Brandon Igdalsky said this week he planned to speak with IndyCar CEO Mark Miles and other series executives about possibly dumping the final year of the contract.
Igdalsky refused to divulge numbers but said ticket sales “were kind of scary” compared with last year. While the track does not disclose attendance figures, about 30,000 to 35,000 fans were estimated at last year’s race.
Igdalsky said he brought the series back because track research showed fans wanted the racing and would support IndyCar. He will not guarantee IndyCar will race at Pocono in 2015.
Pocono Raceway has had two NASCAR weekends on the schedule for decades. He blamed the fans – not a glut of racing in the mountains – for the possibility of IndyCar leaving the track.
There are a number of factors that could be involved, including an undesirable holiday weekend date. The IndyCar race is sandwiched between the June 8 and Aug. 3 Sprint Cup races. The race also added 100 miles this year and now is a 500-miler.
This isn’t the first time Pocono and open-wheel racing have reached a crossroads.
College Football
Green-Beckham catches on with the OU Sooners
NORMAN, Okla. – Oklahoma added Dorial Green-Beckham, the standout receiver who was dismissed by Missouri in April.
OU head coach Bob Stoops announced Thursday that Green-Beckham was added to the Sooners’ roster after signing a financial aid agreement Wednesday. He immediately can enroll in classes and begin team activities. He would be eligible to play beginning in 2015.
Green-Beckham caught 59 passes for 12 touchdowns as a sophomore last season at Missouri and was one of the top prospects in the nation when he signed with the Tigers. He was dismissed after being charged in October 2012 with marijuana possession in Columbia, Missouri, and later pleading guilty to trespassing.
Stoops said in a statement that Green-Beckham “understands the privilege and responsibilities of representing” OU football.
Golf
Couples withdraws from the U.S. Senior Open major
EDMOND, Okla. – Fred Couples withdrew from the U.S. Senior Open on Thursday because of a back injury, and Craig Stadler and Graham Marsh also pulled out of the event next week at Oak Tree National.
Couples, second in the 2010 tournament, was replaced by John Harris, the first alternate from the Byron, Minnesota, sectional qualifier.
Stadler also cited a back injury, and Marsh, the Australian who won the 1997 U.S. Senior, pulled out because of an undisclosed injury. Stadler was replaced by David Ishii, and Marsh’s spot went to Bruce Vaughan.
MLB
Athletics sign a new 10-year deal at the Coliseum
OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland Athletics finalized an agreement on a 10-year extension to play at the Coliseum through the 2024 season.
The deal was approved Thursday by the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The deal still needs to be formally approved by the Oakland City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors later this month.
The deal settles all outstanding issues between the two sides, including a dispute of past rent owed by the A’s. The A’s will spend more than $10 million on a new scoreboard, and the Coliseum Authority will pay for any structural improvements that will be in place by opening day 2015.
The rundown Coliseum has had multiple sewage problems in the last year and an outage affecting the outfield lights June 14.
Associated Press
