The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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South Carolina’s highest paid head coaches are taking 10% salary cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Football coach Will Muschamp, men’s basketball coach Frank Martin and women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley are taking the cuts. The university also said Tuesday that school president Robert Caslen and athletic director Ray Tanner are among the top-level administrators taking the 10% cut.
The school said in a statement it could lose up to $40 million because of the virus this fiscal year ending June 30. Additional and potentially bigger shortfalls could be seen going forward.
These cost-cutting measures are expected to save $1.2 million on South Carolina’s bottom line.
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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says the city is talking with the organizers of the Boston Marathon about what to do if the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t let up by the race’s proposed new date of Sept. 14.
The mayor said on Tuesday that the decision to reschedule the marathon from April to September was made with the hope that the disease “would no longer be a significant public health risk.” While Massachusetts is planning to lift its ban on some businesses and activities next week, large public gatherings have been banned through Labor Day — a week before the race’s new date.
Walsh had told the Boston Globe last week that he was open to the return of professional sports this summer — with no fans in the stands. The marathon field was scheduled to include more than 30,000, and even a stripped-down race of just a few hundred elite runners would mean hundreds or thousands of volunteers and officials and thousands more fans lining the 26.2-mile course.
A Boston Athletic Association spokeswoman said the organization is considering all options but will be guided by public health officials recommendations.
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Eastern Michigan’s football and basketball coaches are set to take a 7% salary cut as the athletic department tries to deal with the budget impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Athletic director Scott Wetherbee announced the salary reductions, which will also apply to him and school President James Smith. Football coach Chris Creighton, men’s basketball coach Rob Murphy, and women’s basketball coach Fred Castro will be affected by the 7% cuts.
EMU also says approximately 70 coaches and staff will participate in the Work Share program offered through the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. They’ll have their work hours reduced by 40%.
The school says the Work Share program allows EMU to reduce work hours while allowing employees to obtain unemployment benefits.
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The Italian government has given the go-ahead for Serie A teams to resume full team training after approving a new health protocol.
Sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora made the announcement on RAI state TV on Tuesday.
Spadafora added that he has called a meeting with soccer officials for May 28 to decide when the Serie A season can resume. Serie A officials are hoping to restart the season on June 13 if they can get clearance from the government to play one day before the ban on sports events expires.
Serie A players have been training on an individual basis since May 4. Team training likely won’t start for several days, though, because the protocol requires players to be tested for the virus three days beforehand, then every four days.
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NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly tells The Associated Press he's hopeful the decision to close the U.S. and Canadian border to non-essential travel for another month won’t “have a material impact” on the league’s discussions to restart its season.
Daly provided the response shortly after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the border restrictions will stay in effect through June 21. This marks the second time the border restrictions have been extended since first being put into place on March 18 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The extension of the restrictions comes at a time when the NHL and NHL Players’ Association are discussing plans on when the league can resume playing after the regular season was paused on March 12.
The NHL has seven teams based in Canada.
In a separate development, the NHLPA’s executive board has voted to defer the final payment of players’ regular season salaries through the end of May.
-- AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow
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Central Michigan is discontinuing its men’s track and field program, citing university-wide budget cuts.
The decision affects both indoor and outdoor track. Athletic director Michael Alford says the school is facing “a new financial reality” because of enrollment challenges and the coronavirus crisis.
Scholarships for current men’s track athletes, including for new students this fall, will be honored for as long as they're enrolled at CMU. Athletes can also transfer immediately if they choose.
Elsewhere in the Mid-American Conference, Akron is cutting women’s tennis and men’s cross country and golf, and Bowling Green has dropped baseball.
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The Belmont Stakes will be run June 20 in front of no fans as the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
The New York Racing Association unveiled the new Belmont date Tuesday morning. This is the first year the Belmont will take place before the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. The Derby was moved to Sept. 5 and the Preakness to Oct. 3.
The rescheduled Belmont will be 1 1/8 miles instead of the race’s trademark 1 1/2-mile distance that has been in place since 1926. It was last contested at a 1 1/8 mile in 1894.
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The last candlepin bowling alley in the Massachusetts city where the sport was invented is closing, and management says the coronavirus pandemic is to blame.
Colonial Bowling Center in Worcester is shuttering for good, manager Paul Wambach told The Telegram & Gazette on Monday evening.
Wambach said the fall-to-spring season provides most of the alley’s revenue. But the business has been closed since March and summer leagues usually start in April, so the business's 91-year-old owner decided the time was right to close for good.
Candlepin bowling was invented in Worcester in 1880, according to the International Candlepin Bowling Association, and the city once had more than 25 alleys.
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Russian soccer club Dynamo Moscow says a player and a coach have tested positive for the coronavirus and samples from four others gave atypical results.
Dynamo says defender Roman Evgeniev was found to be positive in recent testing ahead of the league’s planned return next month. The club also says a goalkeeping coach had been diagnosed earlier. The club says he hasn’t had contact with other employees since early April.
Two other unnamed people from the club gave “borderline” results in tests and another two had antibodies which indicated they had COVID-19 in the past.
The Russian league plans to return on June 21.
Rubin Kazan said Monday that defender Konstantin Pliev had tested positive for the virus but was “feeling fine.” Lokomotiv Moscow said last week that Peru forward Jefferson Farfan gave a positive sample and had symptoms including a cough, fatigue and fever.
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The Premier League says six people from three clubs have tested positive for the coronavirus following the first round of checks.
Tests were conducted on 748 players and club staff on Sunday and Monday.
The league has not disclosed the names of the individuals who tested positive. They must self-isolate for seven days.
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Spanish soccer club Málaga says it plans to fire some employees to improve its financial situation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The second-division club’s finances have been overseen by a public administrator since a judge replaced Qatari club owner Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani in February.
Málaga says the measure is one of many being taken to “ease the difficult economic situation it is experiencing.” It says the “restructuring” is needed to ensure its sustainability.
The club did not say which employees will be fired. The team is in 15th place in the second-division standings.
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The German basketball league plans to finish its season next month in a closed three-week tournament.
Ten teams will live in Munich and play at the Audi Dome without fans or contact with the outside world. The league’s seven other teams will not take part and their season will be declared finished.
Each team will be allowed to bring 22 people to live in hotels closed to the public. Games will be played at the venue which hosted the basketball tournament at the 1972 Olympics.
The plan was approved by the government of the state of Bavaria.
League president Alexander Reil says the tournament offers “a certain return to normality” with strong health safeguards amid the coronavirus pandemic. The league has not played since March 8.
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French soccer’s awards ceremony has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s players’ union says it will not be presenting trophies for the best players and coaches in the top two divisions of men’s soccer and the women’s first division.
The union says the time is not right for “individual awards during this crisis period” and that the winners’s list will be left blank for 2020 in tribute to the medical staff “at the service of our society.”
The awards were initially scheduled to be held last weekend.
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Manchester United says it will refund fans with season tickets for the games they won’t be able to attend during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Premier League season was suspended in March with United fifth in the standings. United has four home games left.
The club wrote to season ticket holders to say “we share your disappointment that you will not be able to watch United in person from within the stadium, but we would encourage you to give your continued loyal support from the comfort and safety of your home.”
Clubs are pushing to be allowed to play at their usual stadiums rather than in neutral venues as the police wanted.
United is asking fans for their “co-operation not to travel to any stadiums at which we are playing on matchdays.”
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Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan will play a series of friendlies next year to raise money for medical facilities in Italy and Spain.
The three round-robin games have been dubbed the “European Solidarity Cup” and thousands of medical staff and carers will get tickets for their work fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Dates for the games will be set when the calendar for 2021 is clear and fans are allowed back into stadiums.
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Cristiano Ronaldo has reported back to Juventus’ training center after a 10-week absence.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner showed up for medical tests with the Serie A leaders.
Ronaldo observed a two-week isolation period at his home in Turin after spending the lockdown period in his native Portugal.
Ronaldo has not been alongside his teammates since helping Juventus to a 2-0 win over Inter Milan on March 8. He flew to his home island of Madeira, Portugal, after that.
Serie A was suspended a day later when the Italian government ordered a nationwide lockdown. The league is hoping to resume playing on June 13.
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