NFL
There was plenty to discuss at the NFL meetings
WASHINGTON – The 2018 Super Bowl could be headed back to a recent host city. Or to one that hasn’t staged the game in more than two decades.
New Orleans and Indianapolis – the sites of the last two Super Bowls – and Minneapolis are the three finalists to host the NFL championship game in ’18.
Those cities were selected from a pool of six at the owners’ meetings Tuesday. Should Lucas Oil Stadium get the game, it would be the first cold-weather stadium to host two Super Bowls.
New Orleans has hosted 10 Super Bowls, including last February’s game that was interrupted by a blackout.
Minneapolis last hosted the title game in January 1992. A $975-million stadium is going to be built in downtown Minneapolis, with the projected opening coming in 2016. The NFL often rewards a city for building a new stadium with a Super Bowl, as was done in recent years for Detroit, the Phoenix area, the Dallas area, and Indianapolis.
The 2018 Super Bowl will be awarded next May. The next four Super Bowls are in New Jersey, Arizona, Santa Clara, Calif., and Houston.
The NFL will play three regular-season games at London’s Wembley Stadium next year, hosted by the Jaguars, Falcons and Raiders. It will be the most games the league has played abroad in one year. This season was the first one with two games: Minnesota beat Pittsburgh 34-27 in September, and Jacksonville will host San Francisco on Oct. 27 as part of a four-year commitment to move a home game to Wembley.
Several owners said the subject of changing the Washington Redskins’ nickname was not discussed in any formal way during Tuesday’s sessions. Informally, however, it was a hot topic at the forum in the nation’s capital.
Also approved by the NFL:
$27 million in funding for improvements at FedEx Field. The money will be diverted from Washington’s contributions to revenue sharing.
$62.5 million in funding for the Cleveland Browns’ stadium.
An agreement between USA Football and three organizations that will endorse the Heads Up Football initiative that already has been approved by more than 2,800 youth football organizations.
A measure that allows the league to choose which team will be the focus of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” documentary-style show if no club volunteers. Exempt would be teams with new coaches, clubs that reached the playoffs in one of the previous two seasons, or those that appeared on “Hard Knocks” within the preceding 10 years.
Tennis
Isner and Stephens will pair for the U.S. at Hopman Cup
PERTH, Australia – Sloane Stephens will join former champion John Isner on the U.S. team for the 2014 Hopman Cup, the annual international mixed team tennis tournament.
The 20-year-old Stephens, who upset Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals to start 2013, has improved 26 places in the rankings to No. 12 this year.
Isner won the 2011 Hopman Cup with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and combined with Venus Williams for the 2013 edition.
This year’s Hopman Cup will take place Dec. 28 to Jan. 4.
Under the competition format, eight teams are split into two groups for matches including men’s and women’s singles and mixed doubles. The winners of each round-robin group advance to a final.
WNBA
Lynx on the verge of another Dream come true
MINNEAPOLIS – Seimone Augustus scored 20 points, and Lindsay Whalen had 14 points and five assists to push the Minnesota Lynx to the brink of their second title in three seasons with an 88-63 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Tuesday night.
Rebekkah Brunson had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Maya Moore chipped in 14 points and eight boards for the Lynx, who lead the best-of-five series 2-0.
Game 3 is Thursday in Georgia.
Associated Press
