NFL
HOUSTON (AP) — Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s decision to settle 20 of 24 civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct may not dissuade the NFL from giving him a lengthy suspension, a person familiar with the league’s investigation told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Watson has been accused by massage therapists of harassing, assaulting or touching them during appointments when he played for the Houston Texans.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents all 24 women, said Tuesday in a statement that once the paperwork is finished on the 20 settlements, “those particular cases will be dismissed.” He added that the terms of the settlements are “confidential” and that his legal team “won’t comment further on the settlements or those cases.”
Watson still faces discipline from the league, which conducted its own investigation into the 26-year-old’s behavior and is expected to make a decision before the Browns open training camp on July 27.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Rob Gronkowski won’t be joining Tom Brady for a third season with the Buccaneers.
The four-time All-Pro tight end announced his retirement for the second time in three years on Tuesday. In an Instagram post, Gronkowski thanked his teammates and coaches over the years and said he’s going back to “chilling out.”
Gronkowski won four Super Bowls with Brady, including three in New England.
GOLF
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Brooks Koepka, one of the first players to denounce a rival league for only 48 players, is the latest PGA Tour player to sign on with the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, The Associated Press has learned.
A person briefed on Koepka’s decision told The AP he still would be able to compete on the PGA Tour until he hits a shot on the LIV Golf circuit. The person spoke on condition of anonymity without authorization to speak on behalf of the tour.
The Daily Telegraph first reported Koepka’s decision.
It was another step — and a big name with his four major championships — that added to the roster of the LIV Golf series and invariably will lead to no space for some of the lesser-known players who competed in the inaugural event outside London two weeks ago.
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is doubling the size of its purse to $9 million, another boost to the women’s game that brings prize money for the five majors to nearly triple the amount from a decade ago.
The purse for the LPGA Tour’s second-oldest major is now 300% higher than it was in 2014, the year before KPMG and the PGA of America partnered with the LPGA Tour to raise the prize money and the profile by taking it to fabled courses.
The Women’s PGA Championship starts Thursday at Congressional Country Club, which has hosted the U.S. Open three times. The winner will get $1.35 million.
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Nick Faldo is leaving 16 years as the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports.
CBS announced Tuesday that Trevor Immelman of South Africa, who won the 2008 Masters and will be the International team Presidents Cup captain this year, will step in for Faldo starting next year.
Faldo, the three-time Masters and British Open champion, came over to CBS in 2007 as the lead announcer after having previously worked at ABC. His last broadcast on CBS will be the final round of the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 7.
MLB
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is standardizing procedures for rubbing baseballs and their removal from humidors in an effort to establish more consistency amid complaints about slickness that followed the crackdown on sticky substances.
MLB has been working on standards over the course of the season in response to feedback from players and sent a memorandum outlining the changes on Tuesday to general managers, assistant GMs and clubhouse managers. Titled “Updates to Baseball Storage & Handling,” a copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press.
Scrutiny of baseball preparation — a minimum 13 dozen are readied for each game — has increased in recent years. Use of a humidor, began by Colorado in 2002, expanded to Arizona in 2019, three additional teams in 2020, then a total of 10 last year and all 30 this season.
MLB is mandating a ball be stored in a humidor for at least 14 days before game use, and ball storage must be recorded by the home team’s gameday compliance monitor and then certified in a signed form by the clubhouse manager.
NHL
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars have hired Peter DeBoer as their new coach.
The on Tuesday move comes a month after he was fired by the Vegas Golden Knights after they missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s five-season history.
DeBoer previously led New Jersey and San Jose to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season with both of those clubs.
Dallas was in the Stanley Cup Final two summers ago with Rick Bowness as their interim head coach before he got a two-year contract that went through this season. Bowness was 89-62-26 with two playoff appearances in his nearly three seasons.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers have given coach Jay Woodcroft a three-year contract extension for taking over the team in February and leading them to the NHL Western Conference final.
The Oilers announced the deal Tuesday in removing Woodcroft’s interim tag.
Woodcroft was named the interim coach on Feb. 10 after Dave Tippett was fired following a 7-13-3 run that had the Oilers sitting fifth in the Pacific Division.
The Oilers underwent a rapid turnaround under the 45-year-old Toronto native, winning their next five games by a combined score of 22-8.
SPORTS BUSINESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James and Naomi Osaka are becoming teammates in the entertainment world.
Tennis star Osaka and her agent and business partner, Stuart Duguid, are forming a media company called Hana Kuma in partnership with The SpringHill Company, which was created by NBA star James and Maverick Carter.
Tuesday’s announcement comes shortly after Osaka and Duguid started EVOLVE, an athlete representation agency.
The 24-year-old Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion who also has reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father; the family moved to New York when Naomi was 3 and she now is based in Los Angeles.
According to Forbes, Osaka became the world’s highest-paid female athlete in 2020 by earning about $37 million thanks to a long list of sponsorship deals.
SWIMMING
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s Kristóf Milák thrilled home fans by lowering his own world record in the men’s 200 butterfly at the swimming world championships on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Milák produced a stunning swim to clock 1 minute, 50.34 seconds and earn Hungary its first gold medal of the competition.
Milák was 3.03 quicker than Léon Marchand, who improved on the French record he set in the semifinals. Japan’s Tomoru Honda was third.
The 20-year-old Marchand later set another national record of 1:55.75 as he was fastest in the semifinals of the men’s 200 individual medley.
Bobby Finke also set a national record of 7:39.36 as he produced a sizzling finish to win the first gold of the evening in the men’s 800 freestyle. American swimmers claimed two other gold medals.
OLYMPICS
TOKYO (AP) — The final price tag for last year’s COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics was put at $13 billion (1.4 trillion Japanese yen), the organizing committee said Tuesday in its final act before it is dissolved at the end of the month.
The cost was twice what was forecast in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the Games. However, the final price tag presented by organizers is lower than the $15.4 billion they predicted when the Olympics ended just under 11 months ago.
Accurately tracking Olympic costs — who pays, who benefits, and what are and are not Games’ expenses — is an ever-moving maze. The one-year delay added to the difficulty, as did recent fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen.
OBITUARY
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Former Purdue basketball star Caleb Swanigan has died at 25.
The Allen County Coroner’s office confirmed Tuesday that Swanigan died Monday of natural causes at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
A private doctor will be handling his death certificate, according to Rebecca Maze, a senior investigator at the coroner’s office.
The 6-foot-9 center was from Fort Wayne and attended Homestead High School before playing for the Boilermakers from 2015-2017. He averaged more than 14 points and 10 rebounds for Purdue.
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