COLLEGE SPORTS
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) The Atlantic Coast Conference has followed the NCAA’s lead and is removing all its athletic championships from North Carolina over a state law limiting protections for LGBT people.
The ACC Council of Presidents voted to relocate the league’s championships until North Carolina repeals the law. The decision includes 10 neutral-site championships this academic year, which means relocating the ACC football title game that was scheduled to be played in Charlotte in December.
No announcement was made on where the championship events will be held.
On Monday, the NCAA said it was relocating seven of its championships scheduled to be played in the state, including the men’s basketball first- and second-round matchups scheduled for next March in Greensboro, North Carolina.
WADA HACKINGS
MONTREAL (AP) – The World Anti-Doping Agency said that a group of Russian ”cyber-hackers” called Fancy Bears had leaked another batch of confidential athletes’ information from its database.
WADA said that similar to the leak that the agency announced on Tuesday, the group released confidential data of 25 athletes from eight countries ”into the public domain.”
It said the targeted athletes included 10 from the United States, five from Germany, five from Britain, and one each from Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Russia. It did not identify the athletes.
On Tuesday, confidential medical data of gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and other female U.S. Olympians was hacked and posted online.
They revealed records of ”Therapeutic Use Exemptions” (TUEs), which allow athletes to use otherwise-banned substances because of a verified medical need.
SOCCER
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Michel Platini reluctantly handed over the reins of power in European soccer to Aleksander Ceferin, a little-known Slovenian lawyer who won the UEFA presidential election by a landslide.
Ceferin will complete Platini’s four-year term through 2019 while the disgraced former France captain returns to his FIFA-imposed exile to continue serving a four-year ban over an improper payment.
Before Ceferin beat UEFA vice president Michael van Praag 42-13 in the secret ballot, Platini was given special dispensation by FIFA’s ethics judge to bid farewell to European soccer leaders. Platini assured UEFA delegates he has a ”clear conscience” over the legitimacy of the 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) he received from FIFA in 2011 that led to his downfall four years later.
After Platini was initially suspended last October by FIFA, a political vacuum opened up in European soccer that was capitalized on by the elite clubs to influence the future of the Champions League. Ceferin’s immediate challenge is to heal the rifts created by the secret deal, which he opposes, to increase guaranteed Champions League places for clubs from the powerful leagues of England, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
PRO FOOTBALL
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A new Twitter app is coming to Xbox One, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, where viewers will be able to watch NFL games on Thursday nights.
The short-messaging service secured the rights to stream 10 Thursday night games this year as it attempts to broaden its appeal. It’s hoping that live video of sports and other events will help stimulate more interest in its service.
It’s a crucial time for the faltering company that is trying to improve stagnating user growth, not to mention boost its appeal to advertisers.
The apps, which are free, will have all the live-streaming video available on Twitter. Besides the football games, this includes content from the NBA and Bloomberg News. It will also have other Twitter content, such as top tweets and Periscopes (video from Twitter’s live-streaming app).
Users won’t need a Twitter account or a pay-TV subscription to watch the content. But they will be exposed to advertising from Twitter – and ideally might be lured into signing up for an account.
NEW YORK (AP) – Not only are the Dallas Cowboys the most valuable team in the NFL, they are worth more than any franchise in sports.
Forbes’ NFL valuations show the Cowboys worth $4.2 billion, easily topping the league for the 10th straight year. Next closest are the New England Patriots at $3.4 billion.
Earlier this year, Forbes cited Jerry Jones’ team as the world’s most valuable franchise.
Dallas has $700 million in revenues and $300 million in operating income.
The average NFL team is worth $2.34 billion, a 19 percent increase over last year. That increase is primarily due to more rights fees for Thursday night games, the Rams’ relocation from St. Louis to Los Angeles, the Vikings moving into their new stadium in Minneapolis and the Atlanta Falcons nearing completion of their new stadium.
Stan Kroenke’s Rams made the biggest change in value, up 100 percent.
PRO HOCKEY
WASHINGTON (AP) – The NHL is revamping its concussion monitoring system for the upcoming season.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says the league will have four concussion spotters watching all games from a centralized location in either Toronto or New York, as well as spotters at each game to check for visible symptoms. Those spotters will have the authority to have players removed from games.
Previously, there had been team-affiliated concussion spotters in each arena and they could recommend but not require players be removed from a game.
Daly says the new concussion policy goes into effect for the eight-team World Cup of Hockey, which begins Saturday in Toronto, and that the NHL will release more details closer to the start of the regular season.
GYMNASTICS
HOLT, Mich. (AP) – A doctor accused of sexual abuse by two gymnasts has stopped working with athletes at a Michigan high school.
Scott Szpara, an official in the Holt district, says Larry Nassar’s status changed after Michigan State University reassigned him from clinical duties two weeks ago.
Nassar is on staff at MSU, and Holt has an agreement with the university for sports medicine services. Szpara says Nassar for years volunteered to help teams in Holt, his local school district.
Nassar isn’t charged with a crime. But a member of the 2000 U.S. women’s Olympic team has filed a lawsuit against him in California. Another gymnast recently filed a complaint with MSU police, alleging she was abused in 2000.
Nassar’s attorney denies the allegations. Nassar is a former doctor with USA Gymnastics. Szpara says there have been no complaints about him in the Holt district.
