Sports briefs
Cavs’ Nance: NBA needs a champion
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance thinks it’s important for the NBA to crown a champion in this pandemic-altered season.
Speaking on a Zoom conference call, Nance said he’s cautiously optimistic about the league resuming after pausing play for two months.
Although the Cavs won’t be competing for a title, Nance empathizes with players who may not get to finish what they started if the league winds up scrapping the season.
“We’re not in position to win a championship this year but if I was, if I was Giannis (Antetokounmpo), if I was LeBron (James), if I was Kawhi (Leonard), if I was on one of those championship caliber teams I’d be pretty upset about it, because it’s very rare in this league that a chance like this comes along and that’s taken a valuable year off someone’s career.”
Southern Hills to host 2030 PGA
Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., will host the 2030 PGA Championship.
The PGA of America made the announcement Tuesday in a news release.
Southern Hills was originally awarded a record fifth PGA Championship in June 2017, but the year had not been determined.
Southern Hills also will host the 2021 Senior PGA Championship. The course has hosted seven major championships, beginning with the 1958 U.S. Open. Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship there in 2007.
Derby preps set
Churchill Downs on Tuesday released a preliminary list of races that could be used as an extension of the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep schedule, pending agreement by the host tracks.
The 146th Derby was rescheduled for Sept. 5 from its traditional spot on the first Saturday in May because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Preakness and Belmont – the other legs of the Triple Crown – have yet to be rescheduled.
The lone prep race in May will be the $150,000 Matt Winn on May 23 at Churchill Downs.
Other preps have been added on a regional basis, and once the New York Racing Association finalizes its stakes schedule, more preps could be added to the series.
The schedule includes the Haskell and Pegasus at Monmouth Park in New Jersey; Indiana Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, Ellis Park Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Los Alamitos Derby and Shared Belief at Del Mar.
UConn signs deal with CBS Sports Net
UConn has agreed to a multi-year television deal that will put most of its home football games on CBS Sports Network, the school announced.
The university did not disclose the financial details of the deal between CBS and Learfield IMG College, which holds UConn’s athletics multimedia rights, but said it is worth seven figures over four years.
Under the contract, the network plans to televise four UConn home games in 2020 (Indiana, Liberty, Middle Tennessee and Army) and all home games from 2021-2023.
This will be the Huskies’ first season as a football independent after leaving the American Athletic Conference.
Most of UConn’s sports teams will be playing in the Big East, which signed a 12-year, $500 million media deal with Fox in 2013.
UConn officials had expressed displeasure with the AAC last year when that conference and ESPN announced a new 12-year TV contract. That deal was designed to increase revenue for the league’s schools from about $2 million to $7 million a year, but it put many games on ESPN-plus, the company’s subscription digital platform.