Big 12 still focused on expanding conference

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said expansion remains a focus for the conference, which wrapped up its spring meetings Friday with a record revenue distribution of $440 million to split among its 10 current schools.

Less than a year after becoming the commissioner, Yormark said there was a “great discussion” about expansion during the meetings held for the first time in West Virginia.

“We have a plan. As I’ve said all along, we have an appetite to be a national conference in our makeup from coast to coast. And we do believe in the upside of basketball moving forward as a collective group,” Yormark said. “That being said, we love our current composition, love the four new schools that are coming in next month.”

The Big 12 will expand from 10 to 14 schools on July 1 when BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston officially join the league.

Those additions come a year before the departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the Southeastern Conference.

Horse racing: Churchill Downs will suspend racing on Wednesday and move the remainder of its spring meet to Ellis Park to conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of safety and surface protocols in the wake of 12 horse fatalities the past month at the home of the Kentucky Derby.

NBA: Grizzlies guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday. Silver is preparing to announce whatever penalty is coming Morant’s way for the second gun incident shortly after the end of the NBA Finals.

Tennis: Rafael Nadal had arthroscopic surgery on Friday night for the injured left hip flexor that forced him to sit out the French Open for the first time since he won the first of his record 14 titles there in his 2005 tournament debut.