IN BRIEF Some NFL facilities get set to open
NFL teams can begin reopening their facilities on Tuesday if state and local governments will allow it.
In a memo sent to the 32 teams Friday by Commissioner Roger Goodell and obtained by The Associated Press, he stressed that the clubs must be “in compliance with any additional public health requirements in their jurisdiction, and have implemented the protocols that were developed by (league medical officer) Dr. (Allen) Sills and distributed to all clubs on May 6.”
Facilities have been closed since late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Each team was required to submit a plan to the league for reopening its training/practice facility this week.
“Clubs unable to meet these criteria on May 19 may reopen their facilities on the earliest date thereafter on which they are able to meet the criteria,” Goodell added.
■ Dolphins fans will be given a chance to view Don Shula’s statue at their stadium in the first of a series of events to celebrate the late coach. Access to the statue by vehicle will be permitted next Friday and Saturday. He died on May 4 at the age of 90.
Auto racing: NASCAR has yet to receive the green light to race in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf said he spoke to NASCAR officials about the status of the June 27 and 28 races at Pocono Raceway. The stock car series announced this week it will stick to Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Florida and Alabama for June races — all of them without fans.
Baseball: Bob Watson, an All-Star slugger who became the first black general manager to win a World Series with the Yankees in 1996, has died. He was 74. The Astros, for whom Watson played his first 14 seasons in a baseball career spanning six decades, announced his death Thursday night. The team did not provide details, but son Keith wrote on Twitter that he died in Houston from kidney disease. “He was an All-Star on the field and a true pioneer off of it, admired and respected by everyone he played with or worked alongside,” the Astros said in a statement.
Colleges: Pepper Rodgers, a colorful personality who helped Georgia Tech to an unbeaten season as a player in 1952 and went on to coach the Yellow Jackets as well as Kansas, UCLA and Memphis teams in both the USFL and CFL, died Thursday. He was 88. A statement from his alma mater said Rodgers died in Reston, Virginia, where he lived after retiring from his final job as the Redskins’ vice president of football operations in 2004.
NBA: The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament outside Los Angeles did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside, according to autopsies released Friday. The reports by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office provide a clinical but unvarnished look at just how brutal the crash was, describing broken bones, dismembered body parts and a stench of fuel on what remained of clothing that burned. The causes of death for Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, pilot Ara Zobayan and the others were blunt trauma . ... Pistons G Bruce Brown had thumb surgery last month and is ready to play if the season resumes.
Tennis: More than 40 top-level professional tennis tournaments are off the sport’s 2020 calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic as of Friday, when the men’s and women’s tours extended their breaks and the sport’s Hall of Fame canceled its induction ceremony. ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement that his tour, which now has ruled out any competition before August, is assessing the “feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season.” In addition to the cancellation of its July 11-18 tournament, the International Tennis Hall of Fame said its 2020 class of Goran Ivanisevic and Conchita Martinez will be honored alongside any Class of 2021 inductees next year.
WNBA: Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is focusing on about a half dozen scenarios for the league to begin play this summer. Engelbert did not go into detail about each scenario, but told AP that the league is looking at playing at one site, a few possibly at most instead of at every home arena.