Morning Briefing
Mls sets new deadline, warns of possible lockout
Major League Soccer has extended its deadline for negotiating adjustments to the existing collective bargaining agreement until Feb. 4 and warned it is prepared to lock out players if a deal isn’t reached by then.
“Given the impact of COVID-19 on how clubs will need to operate during preseason, we must finalize an agreement in the coming days in order to provide teams and players adequate time to prepare for the opening of training camps,” the league said in a statement Friday.
The league set the new deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST, Feb. 4 after the Major League Soccer Players Association submitted a proposal just hours ahead of the original deadline. The union proposed extending the current collective bargaining agreement with the league through the 2026 season.
The league’s proposal includes paying players their full salaries in 2021 in exchange for an extension through the 2027 season.
Top road course racers ready to open season at Rolex 24.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is once again stacked with superstars — Kevin Magnussen fresh out of Formula One, reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and Chase Elliott, two months removed from his first NASCAR title — all part of a robust field of 50 entries just a year removed from a record-low car count.
Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion headed to IndyCar this year as a rookie, will be behind the wheel of an Action Express Cadillac when the race begins Saturday. It will be Johnson’s eighth Rolex, his first in a decade.
Lions add Staley, Brunell, DeLeone, Capers to new staff.
ALLEN PARK, MICH » The Detroit Lions on Friday . added Duce Staley, Mark Brunell, Mark DeLeone and Dom Capers to their coaching staff. Staley joins new coach Dan Campbell’s staff as running backs coach and assistant head coach. Brunell will be the team’s quarterbacks coach, and DeLeone will coach inside linebackers. Capers was hired as a senior defensive assistant.
Wild’s Fiala suspended 3 games for boarding Kings’ Roy.
NE WY ORK» The NHL suspended Minnesota Wild forward Kevin Fiala for three games without pay Friday for boarding Los Angeles Kings defenseman Matt Roy.
The players were chasing a loose puck into the corner in the second period Thursday when Fiala shoved Roy from behind, sending him facefirst into the boards. Roy was down for several minutes before being helped off the ice and did not return.
Fiala was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct. He’ll forfeit $77,586.
WNBA’s Layshia Clarendon has surgery to remove breasts.
NEW YORK» Liberty guard Layshia Clarendon, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, announced on social media Friday that they had surgery to remove breast tissue.
“It’s hard to put into words the feeling of seeing my chest for the first time free of breasts, seeing my chest the way I’ve always seen it, and feeling a sense of gender euphoria as opposed to gender dysphoria,” Clarendon wrote on Instagram, along with a photo taken after the surgery. “Sighhhh ... freedom ... freedom at last.”
The league, the players’ union and the New York Liberty released statements offering support to Clarendon.
Ex-Salvadoran soccer boss brought to U.S. to face bribe charge.
NEW YORK» A former soccer federation president for El Salvador was sent to New York City on Friday to face U.S. corruption charges in the long-running FIFA bribery scandal.
Salvadoran authorities had arrested Reynaldo Vasquez in 2016 as part of an international roundup of top officials of soccer’s governing body. He had denied the charges while putting up a failed extradition fight in El Salvador.