COLLEGES
Eight players signed National Letters of Intent to join the University of Maine men’s hockey team, the school announced on Tuesday.
Those players, who will join the team in the future are: Goalie Victor Ostman of Danderyd, Sweden; defenseman Kabore Dunn of Mill Bay, British Columbia; forward Brad Morrissey of Tignish, Price Edward Island; center Lynden Green of Westfield, New Brunswick; forward Donovan Houle-Villeneuve of Montreal; forward Zach Aughe of Clarkson, Michigan; goaltender Connor Androlewicz of St. Louis; and forward Tristan Poissant of Quebec.
BASKETBALL
The WNBA draft drew its second-highest television audience.
The draft, held virtually last Friday because the coronavirus, averaged 387,000 viewers on ESPN, up 123% from last year’s draft. It was also up 33% from the last time it aired on the network in 2011.
Only the 2004 draft had more viewers.
Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu was the first pick in a draft that made a huge impact across WNBA and NBA social media handles, generating 6.5 million views – up 165% from last year – and 1.3 million minutes watched. That was up 237% from last year.
In addition, the WNBA Instagram handle had its highest year-over-year growth, generating more than 3.8 million video views on draft day.
TRACK AND FIELD
OBIT: Neil Black, a British track and field official who worked closely with many of the country’s best athletes over the past three decades, including Mo Farah, has died. He was 60.
Black died suddenly over the weekend, British Athletics said Tuesday without disclosing any details.
Black was performance director of British Athletics from 2012 until last year, when he stepped down after coming under pressure because of the organization’s handling of a controversy involving Alberto Salazar, who was banned for four years for doping violations. Black stood by Salazar and the coach’s work as a consultant to the British team after a BBC investigation of the tainted Nike Oregon Project run by Salazar.
Since last year, Black has been working with Farah – whose Olympic gold medals came under the coaching of Salazar – and other athletes and coaches as an advisor.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Los Angeles Chargers are going back to their past as they prepare to move into their new home at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers unveiled their new uniforms Tuesday, which include numbers on the helmet and gold pants. The Chargers had numbers on their white helmets for their first 14 seasons (1960-73) before going to a navy blue helmet without numerals in 1974. The franchise returned to white helmets in 2007.
The Chargers wore gold pants from 1966-84 before replacing them with white. Los Angeles will have the choice of wearing either gold or white pants with its powder blue home jersey or white road jersey.
The team also unveiled two color rush jerseys in royal blue and navy.
SOCCER
JURISPRUDENCE: The first trial held in Switzerland’s five-year investigation of corruption in soccer moved closer Tuesday to ending without a judgment amid problems running a court during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Swiss federal criminal court said it extended a suspension of the prosecution – of three German organizers of the 2006 World Cup and a former FIFA secretary general from Switzerland – until next Monday.
On that same date, a statute of limitations will expire on fraud allegations linked to a 6.7 million euro ($7.6 million) payment 15 years ago that implicated German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer.
The court said judges will decide after Monday how to proceed with the case.
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