The highlights of Monday's AP Sports report. An up-to-the minute listing of all stories planned, including games and events, is available in Coverage Plan on AP Newsroom, , . You can also find a link to Coverage Plan on the left navigation of the Newsroom home page,
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The AP’s Ralph Russo hosts the latest AP Top 25 College Football Podcast.
TOP STORIES
BBO—VIRUS OUTBREAK-BASEBALL
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball made another try to start the coronavirus-delayed season in early July, proposing a 76-game regular season, expanding the playoffs from 10 teams up to 16 and allowing players to earn about 75% of their prorated salaries. Players have refused cuts beyond what they agreed to in March shortly after the pandemic began. By Baseball Writer Ronald Blum. SENT: 900 words, photos.
FBC—FIRST STEP TO FOOTBALL
Around the country, colleges are taking the first cautious, detailed steps toward playing football during a pandemic, attempting to build COVID-19-free bubbles around their teams as players begin voluntary workouts. From testing to masks, plans are similar but not identical. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-STADIUMS-PLAYERS
The roar of the crowd has long been a staple of major sports and a clear advantage for the home team. When the coronavirus risk wanes enough to allow the games to begin again, the very essence of these events will be missing for at least a while. Players in all leagues have expressed their hesitance to lose the on-site fan support they’ve trained to thrive on. Instead, many of them have remarked that they must rely on the creation of their own energy. By Dave Campbell. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
BBO—BASEBALL DRAFT-END OF AN ERA
NEW YORK — It all started 55 years ago when Rick Monday was picked first by the Kansas City Athletics. As baseball begins to reshape its amateur draft with one slashed to only five rounds this week due to the coronavirus pandemic, a look back at some of the big busts, great calls and notable nuggets that have marked the event’s evolution. From back-to-back home runs in George Brett and Mike Schmidt, to the 2009 prime-time experiment that starred Stephen Strasburg and Mike Trout. By Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
A virus Latest across all sports has been sent. Separate virus sidebars have been sent from: United States (NFL gives teams planner for total reopening of facilities); Italy (Serie A could finish without a champion and Mario Balotelli reportedly fired by Brescia, his hometown club) and New Zealand (Fans set to return as New Zealand loosens virus restrictions).
COMMENTARY
FBN—JIM LITKE-GOODELL
Never thought we’d see the day when typing the words “Roger Goodell” and “daring” in the same sentence wasn’t the setup for a punchline. But here we are. By Sports Columnist Jim Litke. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 7 p.m.
NOTABLE
BBO—LATE-ROUND PICKS
With the baseball draft shortened to five rounds, the group of undrafted players could have more talent than usual. In fact, you could put together a pretty good All-Star team of players who were drafted after the fifth round. Mike Piazza at catcher, Albert Pujols at first base and Wade Boggs at third are just a few of the examples. By Baseball Writer Noah Trister. SENT: 700 words, photos.
GLF—COLONIAL-CBS
The small footprint in the PGA Tour’s return to golf includes television. Jim Nantz will be in the booth by himself for CBS Sports. By Golf Writer Doug Ferguson. UPCOMING: 600 words, photo by 7 p.m.
CAR—F1-HAMILTON-PROTESTS
Prevented from doing his day job by the coronavirus outbreak, Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is standing out during the pandemic through his passionate campaigning against racial injustice. By Steve Douglas. SENT: 420 words, photo.
BOX—FURY-WILDER
The U.S. promoter of Tyson Fury is hoping to stage a third heavyweight fight between the British boxer and Deontay Wilder by the end of the year, potentially in the Chinese enclave of Macau. Bob Arum tells the AP that Fury “owes” Wilder a third fight after claiming the WBC belt off the American with a seventh-round stoppage in February. Only then would Fury turn his attention to an all-British fight with WBA, IBF and WBO titleholder Anthony Joshua in early 2021. SENT: 530 words.
ATH—DOPING-DIACK TRIAL
PARIS — A Paris court heard allegations that top athletes hushed-up suspected doping by giving millions of dollars in illicit payoffs to corrupt administrators, as the trial got underway for the disgraced former head of track and field who was once among the most influential leaders in Olympic sports. Wearing a face mask, Lamine Diack was present in court for the first of six days of hearings that will weigh evidence that his presidency of track and field’s governing body was riddled with corruption and other malfeasance. By John Leicester. SENT: 760 words, photos.
