Auto Racing
NASCAR completes TV deal with Fox Sports and NBC
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR completed its television deal by furthering its existing relationship with Fox Sports.
Fox Sports on Thursday picked up the three remaining Sprint Cup Series races and the first 14 Nationwide Series races on the 2015 schedule.
Fox Sports also extended the contract by two years to run through 2024 so it would be the same length as the deal NBC Sports signed last week.
Fox Sports now has the first 16 races of the Cup schedule beginning in 2015 – nine will air on Fox Sports and seven on Fox Sports 1.
College Basketball
NCAA takes flexible approach to its tournament games
INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA announced changes Thursday to the way it will select teams for the men’s basketball tournament, adding flexibility in hopes of keeping teams properly seeded.
The selection committee voted last week to change the bracketing principles.
Previously, conference teams couldn’t meet until the regional final – unless a conference had nine teams in the field.
The move comes in the wake of realignment that has seen league numbers swell over the last few seasons and has made the old rules difficult to navigate.
The changes will not affect which teams get into the tourney. But they will allow conference teams that have played only once during the season – including league tournaments – to meet as early as the third round. Teams that have played twice will not face one another until the regional semifinals, and teams that have played three times cannot meet until the regional championship.
College Football
Back-to-back champ ’Bama the unanimous No. 1
Alabama is No. 1 in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll.
The Crimson Tide was an overwhelming choice, receiving 58 of 62 first-place votes. Ohio State was second and received three first-place votes. Oregon is No. 3, Stanford is fourth, Georgia is fifth, and No. 6 Texas A&M received the other first-place vote.
Half of the top 10 is from the Southeastern Conference, which has won the last seven national championships, including three in the last four years by Alabama.
South Carolina is No. 7, and Florida is No. 10. No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 Louisville rounded out the top 10.
Notre Dame, which lost the BCS title game 42-14 to Alabama last season, is No. 11.
MLB
Lidge officially retires with the Philadelphia Phillies
PHILADELPHIA – Brad Lidge, who was perfect as a closer during Philadelphia’s 2008 World Series championship season, formally retired as a member of the Phillies on Thursday.
Lidge hasn’t pitched in the majors since last June with the Washington Nationals. He spent four years with Philadelphia from 2008 to 2011, saving 100 games in that span.
The 36-year-old right hander, a Cherry Creek High School alumnus, was a two-time All-Star during 11 seasons with Houston, Philadelphia and Washington. He had 225 career saves and 18 more in the postseason.
Sports
Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame to induct inaugural class
CHICAGO – Dave Pallone, who was part of Chicago history when he umpired the first night game at Wrigley Field, is returning to Chicago to take part in another chapter of American sports history: his inclusion in the inaugural class of what organizers say is the first-of-its-kind National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.
On Friday night, Pallone will be honored in the first class of inductees that includes tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, and Jason Collins, who in April became the first active male professional athlete in a major team sport to publicly reveal he was gay.
Associated Press
