Baseball talks more positive
NEW YORK — After days of angry exchanges about money between Major League Baseball and the players’ union, the sport’s commissioner started to doubt whether there would be a 2020 season and said as much on national television. Then Rob Manfred called union head Tony Clark and offered to fly from New York to Arizona to meet for the first time in three months. They spoke one on one for hours Tuesday in a room at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale and emerged with what MLB considers not just a proposal but the framework to play the pandemic-delayed season in empty ballparks. The MLB Players Association did not comment. The plan includes full prorated pay, people familiar with the details told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because details had not been announced. Each team would play 60 games over 10 weeks starting July 20, though a Sunday opener on July 19 could be added. The framework would result in players receiving about 37% of their salaries and would come to roughly $1.48 billion from salaries originally totaling $4 billion. The playoffs would expand from 10 teams to 16 this year, and the two wild-card games would transform into an eight-team wild-card round with eight best-of-three series. The designated hitter would expand to all games for the first time, also involving games between only National League teams, for 2020 and 2021.
TRACK
› The likelihood the world’s fastest man might miss the Olympics next summer increased Wednesday when Christian Coleman received a provisional suspension for failing to be home when drug testers showed up last year. Coleman, 24, is an Atlanta native who competed in college for the University of Tennessee
and is the reigning world champion in the 100-meter dash. He said his latest flareup with the antidoping system stemmed from a miscommunication that could have easily been resolved with a phone call from the doping control officer who came to his house Dec. 9. It was his third whereabouts infraction in a 12-month span and could carry a ban of up to two years. His path to the starting line at the Tokyo Games may now be through a hearing room. Coleman’s argument is being undercut, in part, by the fact he was well aware of the ins and outs of the “whereabouts rule” because of a case against him that was dropped last year — before this latest incident. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which handles antidoping cases for World Athletics, said phone calls are not part of its testing protocol because they can make it easier for athletes to manipulate the process.
FOOTBALL
› The Southern Heritage Classic has canceled the Sept. 12 game between Tennessee State and Jackson State in the first known Division I cancellation because of the coronavirus pandemic. Officials are offering refunds. This is the second cancellation in three years for the football matchup of historically black universities — it was called off due to weather in 2018 — that is played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. That is also the home of the Memphis Tigers, who currently plan to have only season-ticket holders at games there this season.