MLB prepared to end Bally deals

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league is prepared for whatever happens with Diamond Sports Group after the financially troubled parent company of 19 Bally Sports regional networks skipped about $140 million in interest payments due Wednesday.

If Diamond Sports Group doesn't pay its MLB teams, Manfred said the clubs will terminate their contracts with the company.

The missed payments started a 30-day grace period that could be the prelude to a bankruptcy filing, possibly leading to changes in how televised games are made available to viewers.

“The company intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing discussions with creditors and other key stakeholders regarding potential strategic alternatives and deleveraging transactions to best position Diamond Sports Group for the future,” Diamond said in a statement.

Diamond is a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., and its regional networks broadcast games of 14 Major League Baseball, 16 NBA and 12 NHL teams.

Manfred said Diamond has told MLB it intends to pay its baseball teams, but he called it an “unfolding story” that could change.

“We are prepared no matter what happens with respect to Diamond to make sure the games are available to fans in their local markets,” he said. “We think it will be both linear in the traditional cable bundle and digitally on our own platforms, but that remains to be seen.”

Diamond said as of Sept. 30 it had debt of $8.674 billion. It has nearly $1 billion in rights payments, mostly to baseball teams, due in the first quarter this year.

• Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg did not report with other pitchers to spring training in West Palm Beach, Fla., after a recent setback in his comeback from a 2021 operation to correct thoracic outlet syndrome.

• Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black agreed to a one-year contract extension that goes through the 2024 season. Black is 417-453 with Colorado since he was hired before the 2017 season.

• Right-hander Frankie Montas needs shoulder surgery and will miss most or all of the New York Yankees' season.

Ethiopian sets world mark in indoor 3,000

Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma broke a 25-year-old indoor world record in the 3,000 meters at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pasde-Calais. Girma, who won the silver medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics, covered the distance in 7 minutes, 23.81 seconds at the World Athletics event. The previous record of 7:24.90 was set by Kenya's Daniel Komen in Budapest in 1998.

Shiffrin, coach split suddenly at worlds

American skiing standout Mikaela Shiffrin had an unexpected split with her longtime coach, Mike Day, during the middle of the world championships after informing him that she planned to take a new direction with her staff at the end of the season.

“Mikaela wants to do something different going forward. She wants a new challenge. And she informed Mike and Mike decided to go home,” U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml said. “It's a shock for me that he took off.”

Day was with Shiffrin when she won the silver medal in super-G last week and then accompanied the skier for a few days of offsite training in Orcieres before returning to Meribel, France, with her this week.

Shiffrin was due to race again in her favored events of giant slalom today and slalom on Saturday.

“After working with Mike Day for seven seasons, I've decided to move forward with new leadership on my team for the next phase of my career,” Shiffrin said in a statement. “I want to thank Mike and acknowledge all of his work and dedication over the last several years.”

Shiffrin is also in the middle of a record-breaking season on the World Cup circuit, having eclipsed Lindsey Vonn's record of 82 World Cup wins among women and moved within one victory of Ingemar Stenmark's overall mark of 86 wins.

Day worked with Shiffrin for 65 of her 85 World Cup wins, having coached her since July 2016.

No. 1 Alabama falls to No. 10 Tennessee

Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi each scored 15 points and No. 10 Tennessee took down newly minted No. 1 Alabama 6859 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Playing its first game as the top-ranked team since the 2002-03 season, the Crimson Tide (22-4, 12-1 SEC) led just once in the early going and committed 19 turnovers.

The Voluneers (20-6, 9-5) ended a two-game skid.

NO. 11 MARQUETTE 69, NO. 16 XAVIER 68 >> Olivier-Maxence Prosper tipped in a putback with 1.6 seconds left and host Marquette (21-6, 13-3) edged the Musketeers (197, 11-4) to extend its slim Big East lead to 11/2 games.

NORTHWESTERN 64, NO. 14 INDIANA 62 >> Boo Buie scored the tiebreaking basket with 2 seconds remaining and the Wildcats (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) followed up their first win over a topranked team (Purdue) by beating the visiting Hoosiers (18-8, 9-6).

NO. 7 VIRGINIA 61, LOUISVILLE 58 >> Armaan Franklin and Kihei Clark each scored 14 points and the Cavaliers (20-4, 12-3 Atlantic Coast) outlasted the host Cardinals (3-23, 1-14).

NO. 19 IOWA STATE 70, NO. 22 TCU 59 >> Aljaz Kunc had career highs of 22 points and five 3-pointers in his first start in nearly two months, and the host Cyclones (178, 8-5 Big 12) never trailed against the Horned Frogs (17-9, 6-7).

IN BIG WEST GAMES ... UC IRVINE 70. UC SANTA BARBARA 59 >> DJ Davis scored 25 points to lead the Anteaters (18-8, 11-3) over the Gauchos (20-5, 11-3) in a clash for the conference lead.

UC RIVERSIDE 88, LONG BEACH STATE 76 >> Flynn Cameron scored 24 points off the bench to lead the host Highlanders (17-10) over the Beach (15-12).

Bowman earns his third Daytona pole

Alex Bowman won his third career Daytona 500 pole and will be joined by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson on the front row for NASCAR's season opener.

Bowman, who missed five races late last season because of a concussion, is on the Daytona 500 front row for the the sixth straight time, and Hendrick has produced a pole winner in eight of the last nine years.

Jimmie Johnson, 47, made a triumphant return to NASCAR from a twoyear dalliance in IndyCar and qualified for the Daytona 500, a tremendous start for the the seven-time champion as he heads into his first Cup race since 2020.

Saints hire coaches

The New Orleans Saints hired Joe Woods as defensive coordinator and Todd Grantham as defensive line coach. Saints coach Dennis Allen also added secondary coach Marcus Robertson, tight ends coach Clancy Barone and assistant offensive line coach Kevin Carberry.

Woods spent the past three seasons as the Cleveland Browns' defensive coordinator.