Sports briefs
Penguins’ Bjugstad has spinal surgery
The Pittsburgh Penguins will head into whatever becomes of the NHL postseason without forward Nick Bjugstad.
The team announced Wednesday that Bjugstad underwent spinal surgery to repair a herniated disk. General manager Jim Rutherford said the surgery was necessary after Bjugstad had a “setback” while recovering from a lower-body injury suffered just before the NHL went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The surgery ends a star-crossed season for Bjugstad, who appeared in just 13 games in his first full year with the Penguins. He missed more than three months after having surgery to repair a core muscle in November. The 27-year-old Bjugstad finished with just one goal and one assist, his worst season since making 11 appearances as a 20-year old for Florida in 2012-13.
While Bjugstad is out, All-Star forward Jake Guentzel figures to be back whenever hockey resumes. Guentzel underwent shoulder surgery on Dec. 31 after taking a hard crash into the boards immediately after scoring his 20th goal of the season.
AD sees football with 30,000 fans
Iowa State athletic director Jaime Pollard is telling Cyclones fans that football home games will be played at no more than 50% capacity at Jack Trice Stadium, pending a change in state and local health guidelines. That means no more than 30,000 fans.
Pollard made the announcement in a letter posted to the ISU athletics website.
About 22,000 season tickets have been renewed, leaving about 8,000 seats to be filled. Fans not renewing their season tickets and making their Cyclone Club donation by June 12 won’t be allowed to attend games unless guidelines change and capacity can exceed 50%. Single-game tickets sales are unlikely unless capacity is increased.
Season ticket holders who don’t renew for 2020 will continue to have first rights on their same seats for 2021. Season ticket holders who renew but later decide they aren’t comfortable attending games because of fear of coronavirus infection can request a refund or defer the purchase of their season tickets to the 2021 season.
Pollard wrote that ISU will take measures to mitigate the risk to fans and announce them later.
“After consulting with campus officials, we have concluded there is no reasonable way to guarantee that no one will contract the COVID-19 virus,” Pollard said. “Trying to adhere to a standard of absolute protection is simply not reasonable. We would either be held accountable for being far too restrictive or, more likely, not restrictive enough.”
Fights back in Vegas
Mixed martial arts and boxing are back in business in Nevada.
The Nevada Athletic Commission unanimously agreed during a teleconference Wednesday to allow two UFC events and two Top Rank boxing shows in Las Vegas over the next two weeks.
The decision ends the moratorium on combat sports that has been in place in Nevada since March 14.
The UFC immediately confirmed its plans to stage a show without fans in attendance Saturday night at the UFC Apex arena on its expansive corporate complex in Las Vegas, followed by the UFC 250 pay-per-view show at the same place June 6.
Top Rank is expected to hold boxing shows at the MGM Grand on June 9 and June 11.