IN BRIEF NHL announces plan for potential 24-team playoff
The NHL unveiled the final details of its playoff format Thursday even as word came out that a ninth player tested positive for the coronavirus.
Every playoff series will be a best-ofseven format after the initial qualifying round and teams will be reseeded throughout if the league is able to return with its 24-team plan this summer.
The announcement came at nearly the same time the Penguins revealed one of their players had tested positive. The team said the player isn’t in Pittsburgh, isolated after experiencing symptoms and has recovered from COVID-19.
Of the nine players who tested positive, five are from the Senators, three from the Avalanche and one from the Penguins. The league is expected to test players daily if games resume. The NHL is still assessing health and safety protocols for what would be 24 teams playing in two hub cities.
“We still have a lot of things to figure out, namely the safety of the players,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said earlier this week. “We’ve got to make sure that our safety is at the top of that list. Because we’re a few months into this pandemic, we don’t know what the long term effects are going to be. A lot of questions to be answered.”
The NHL hasn’t announced the start of voluntary workouts or a firm timeline for training camps and the resumption of games. But the final details of the format answered one question: Players preferred re-seeding throughout a 24-team playoff as a means of fairness, though the league likes the brackets that have been in place since 2014.
The top four teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences will play separate round-robin tournaments to determine seeding.
Re-seeding each round puts more value on the seeding tournaments between the Bruins, Lightning, Capitals and Flyers in the East and Blues, Avalanche, Golden Knights and Stars in the West.
The remaining 16 teams will play best-of-five series to set the final 16.
Auto racing: NASCAR’s All-Star Race will be a midweek event on July 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina as part of a new revision to the schedule that runs through the first weekend of August. NASCAR already has rescheduled races through June 21 and the update released Thursday begins the next weekend at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. The track will host ARCA, the Truck Series, two Cup Series races on consecutive days, June 27-28, and the Xfinity Series. NASCAR will then move to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a July 4 weekend event combined with the IndyCar Series. Then it is on to Kentucky Speedway, the All-Star Race and then Texas Motor Speedway. Kansas Speedway will host the Cup Series for a Thursday night race July 23. New Hampshire will host the Cup Series on Aug. 2 in the final event announced in this latest revised schedule. NASCAR made no mention if spectators will be allowed at any of the events — Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kentucky and Pocono all said Thursday their events would not have fans, while Kansas said it is currently not expecting spectators.
Colleges: Florida State football coach Mike Norvell apologized after star DE Marvin Wilson accused the coach of lying about personally connecting with every player to discuss the police killing of George Floyd and ensuing protests against racial injustice. After a team meeting early Thursday involving players and coaches, Wilson, who called out his first-year coach the night before on Twitter, took to social media again to declare the matter settled . ... The NCAA set a new schedule for early entrants to the NBA draft to withdraw and return to school, announcing that it would give players until 10 days after the NBA scouting combine or Aug. 3, whichever comes earlier. The comes three weeks after the NCAA postponed its original deadline, which was scheduled to fall on Wednesday.
NFL: Coaches will be allowed to return beginning Friday to team facilities closed because of the coronavirus pandemic as the league continues preparation for training camps and its season. Commissioner Roger Goodell told the 32 clubs in a memo obtained by The AP that coaching staffs may work from team complexes starting Friday. Previously, only up to 75 people per day could be at the facilities, with coaches and players not seeking treatment for injuries barred. All coaches will count toward the maximum number of club employees in the facility, but that number will be increased to 100 — also subject to governmental regulations and implementation of health protocols developed by the NFL’s medical staff.
Soccer: Premier League club Tottenham will borrow $220 million using the Bank of England’s emergency pandemic loan scheme to cope with the absence of spectators and the cancellation of two NFL games it was to stage this year. The north London club revealed the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic as the Premier League advanced plans for the competition to end its 100-day shutdown in two weeks with games closed to supporters.