HARNESS RACING

Scarborough Downs will suspend its live racing after Friday due to a lack of revenue as a result of restrictions on spectators that were implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The track was able to run a 17-day schedule that began on June 3 after receiving special permission from the Maine Department of Economic Development, which included a stipulation that no spectators would be present during live racing. The track has exhausted the funding it received from the federal Payroll Protection Plan and Maine Harness Racing Commission grants.

The track is exploring other revenue-generating plans, including simulcasting, and hopes to resume live racing on Sept. 5.

COLLEGES

STANFORD: Stanford announced that it is dropping 11 sports amid financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Advertisement

The school will discontinue men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling after the 2020-21 academic year. Stanford also is eliminating 20 support staff positions.

Numerous schools have cut athletic programs in recent weeks as the pandemic shut down campuses. Stanford is believed to be the first Power Five school to eliminate any sports programs.

Stanford projected a deficit of more than $25 million in the 2021 fiscal year and a shortfall of nearly $70 million over the next three years due to the pandemic. The school estimated the cost of sustaining the 11 sports permanently would exceed $200 million.

The contracts of coaches in the 11 sports will be honored, as will the scholarships for the more than 240 athletes affected. All support staff who have been let go will get severance pay.

WISCONSIN: Wisconsin says seven of its athletes have tested positive for the coronavirus since the school started testing them a month ago.

Wisconsin isolates individuals who test positive, and the athletic department’s infection response team monitors their recoveries.

Advertisement

School officials aren’t specifying which sports are affected by the positive tests.

GOLF

PGA: Three players who have tested positive for the coronavirus but are no longer symptomatic will play together at the Workday Charity Open, the PGA Tour announced in the latest revision of its COVID-19 policies.

Nick Watney – the first tour player to test positive – will play alongside Dylan Frittelli and Denny McCarthy during the first two rounds at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, the tour said.

All three players continue to test positive for the virus but have met the Centers for Disease Control criteria for returning to work, the tour said. Players in those circumstances will either be grouped together or play as singles. They will also have no access to indoor facilities at the tournament site.

SOCCER

Advertisement

PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah stepped up his bid to win the Golden Boot for a third straight season by scoring twice for the champions in their 3-1 win over host Brighton.

Salah moved onto 19 goals and is three behind the league’s top scorer, Leicester striker Jamie Vardy.

FA CUP: Tottenham defender Eric Dier was given a four-match ban for climbing into the stands to confront a fan after his team’s loss in the FA Cup in March.

BASKETBALL

NBA: Patty Mills will play in the NBA restart, and the San Antonio guard said that the reason why he’s decided to participate is so he can give just over $1 million of his salary to causes in his native Australia devoted to fighting racism.

The exact amount, Mills said, for the Spurs’ eight remaining regular-season, or seeding, games will be $1,017,818.54. He will split that money between three causes – Black Lives Matter Australia, another group that deals with the problem of Blacks dying when in custody, and to the newly formed We Got You campaign that he helped organize to address the issues of racism within Australian sport.

Advertisement

AUTO RACING

NASCAR: NASCAR will move its August road course race from Watkins Glen in upstate New York because of state health restrictions, and the event will shift instead to the road course at Daytona International Speedway.

The race on Aug. 16 was necessary to move from Watkins Glen because NASCAR cannot meet New York’s quarantine requirements for out-of-state visitors.

• Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has twice tested negative for the coronavirus and will race Sunday at Kentucky Speedway.

Johnson missed the first race of his Cup career when he tested positive last Friday. He was tested after his wife received a positive result.

Hendrick Motorsports said Johnson tested negative on Monday and Tuesday and will return to the No. 48 Chevrolet at Kentucky. NASCAR confirmed Johnson has been cleared to return.

 

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.