Steelers, Roethlisberger agree to new deal for 2021 season
Ben Roethlisberger is returning for an 18th season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is taking a pay cut to do it.
The team and the twotime Super Bowl winner announced on Thursday they have agreed on a new contract that assures the 39-year-old will be back in 2021.
Financial details were not immediately available, though the Steelers made no secret of the need for Roethlisberger to take a pay cut to ease some of the burden of his NFL-high $41.25-million salary-cap hit scheduled for 2021.
NFL Network, citing anonymous sources, said Roethlisberger’s new deal will essentially pay him $14 million this season and adds four voidable years to spread out the dead money.
Roethlisberger passed for 3,803 yards with 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 15 games in 2020 after missing almost all of 2019 with a right elbow injury.
Golf MCILROY,
DECHAMBEAU
PUT ON A SHOW AT BAY HILL » Rory McIlroy ran off five straight birdies at Bay Hill and took the early lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational
with a 6-under 66.
Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 67.
Of the 60 players who teed off in the morning, only six broke 70.
WOODS DOESN’T REMEMBER DRIVING » Tiger Woods told responding deputies to his single-vehicle crash last week that he did not know how the accident happened and didn’t remember driving, USA Today reported.
USA Today cited a copy of the search warrant affidavit
that was used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to obtain the black box in the SUV Woods was driving.
Woods underwent surgery to treat multiple injuries to his right lower leg, including the insertion of a rod into the tibia.
Soccer
LIVERPOOL IN CRISIS AFTER LOSS TO CHELSEA » Liverpool’s woeful home form is developing into a full-blown
crisis after Chelsea’s 1-0 victory inflicted a fifth straight league loss at Anfield on the Premier League champions — the worst run in the club’s 128-year history.
Mason Mount’s 42ndminute goal lifted Chelsea back into the top four.
Chelsea’s previous win at Anfield, in 2014, effectively ended the title hopes of Brendan Rodgers’ side. This one was a blow to Liverpool’s chances of a top-four finish under Jurgen Klopp.
Ashten Prechtel had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 4 Stanford to a 9253 victory over USC in a Pac12 women’s quarterfinal on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Haley Jones and Hannah Jump each had 14 points, and Lacie Hull added 10 points for the top-seeded Cardinal (23-2, 19-2), who improved to 48-6 all-time in the Pac-12 Tournament and 18-1 in the quarterfinals. Stanford faces Oregon State today in the semifinals at the Mandalay Bay Event Center.
Alissa Pili led USC (11-12, 8-10) with nine points.
Stanford, which won its first regular-season conference title since 2014, also swept its regular-season series with USC by way of 80-60 and 86-59 routs, giving the Cardinal an average winning margin of 28.6 in the three games.
Stanford has now held 11 opponents to 53 points or fewer. The Cardinal ranked ninth in the nation in points allowed at 53.0 per game. BEAVERS KNOCK OUT NO. 19 DUCKS » Freshman Talia von Oelhoffen had 19 points and Oregon State advanced in the Pac-12 Tournament with a 71-64 quarterfinal victory over No. 19 Oregon. Aleah Goodman added 13 points and seven assists for the Beavers (12-6), who will face top-seed Stanford.
Men
BIG 12 CHAMP BAYLOR BEATS OKLAHOMA STATE » Jared Butler scored 22 points, and No. 3 Baylor, fresh off clinching its first Big 12 title on the road two days earlier, beat No. 17 Oklahoma State 81-70 in Waco, Texas, to end the Cowboys’ fivegame winning streak.
NO. 2 MICHIGAN WRAPS UP BIG TEN TITLE » Franz Wagner scored 19 points, Hunter Dickinson added 14, and No. 2 Michigan wrapped up the Big Ten title with a 69-50 victory over rival Michigan State in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines (19-2, 14-2) had a chance to clinch the championship based on winning percentage with a victory in any of their final three games. They were blown out by No. 4 Illinois on Tuesday, but they rebounded with a gritty effort two nights later. VILLANOVA LOSES GILLESPIE TO SEASON-ENDING KNEE INJURY » Villanova guard Collin Gillespie has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
In 20 games this season, he has averaged 14 points, 4.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds.