Sports briefs
In the NHL
The Vegas Golden Knights sent home starting goalie Robin Lehner to further evaluate a lower-body injury.
Coach Pete DeBoer didn’t provide details on the injury except to say it’s not related to the upper-body injury which led to Lehner missing five games late last month.
In the NFL
In a sign the Buffalo Bills are closing in on a stadium deal, the team hired Populous architectural firm to draw up designs for its proposed new facility, a person familiar with discussions confirmed to the Associated Press on Thursday.
The move comes as the team is in negotiations with the state and county to reach an agreement that would commit hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to build a stadium across from the Bills’ existing facility in Buffalo’s suburb of Orchard Park. A study estimated the proposed open-air, 60,000-plus seat stadium would cost $1.354 billion.
- The Tennessee Titans have gone from trying to modernize Nissan Stadium to working on plans for a new stadium right next door after renovation costs more than doubled to $1.2 billion.
In college basketball
Bruce Weber resigned as the basketball coach at Kansas State on Thursday, one day after the struggling Wildcats lost to West Virginia in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament to cap a third straight losing season.
He didn’t walk away quietly.
First, the long-time coach criticized the NCAA over its handling of the FBI probe into college basketball corruption. Then, Weber struck out at Kansas State fans who used social media to berate him and his program. And finally, he professed his desire to continue coaching, asking for “some (athletic director) out there who would appreciate a coach that graduates players, wins championships, supports the university and embraces the community.”