TENNIS
Azarenka advances
Victoria Azarenka won the first match on the stadium court at the new site of the Miami Open by beating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The unseeded Azarenka is a three-time Miami Open champion. After a one-day delay because of rain, the tournament started Wednesday at the Miami Dolphins' complex. The 13,800-seat stadium was mostly empty for the opening match, but bigger crowds are expected when seeded players begin taking the court. They have first-round byes. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the first stadium match.
FOOTBALL
Siemian, Jets agree
Quarterback Trevor Siemian and the New York Jets have agreed to terms on a one-year deal, making him the backup to second-year quarterback Sam Darnold. A person with direct knowledge of the contract said it is worth $2 million, with a maximum value of $3 million with incentives. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the team had not announced the signing. The Jets also have Davis Webb on their roster, but were in the market for a veteran because Josh McCown is an unrestricted free agent and is mulling retirement. McCown, who turns 40 on July 4, wrote in a statement last week released by agent Mike McCartney that he still has a strong desire to play football but wanted to spend time with his family to determine if he would want to continue playing this season. Siemian, 27, spent last season with Minnesota, but was with Denver the previous three years. He has 30 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions in 26 games, including 25 starts.
AAF title game moved
The Alliance of American Football is moving its championship game from Las Vegas to Frisco, Texas. The new eight-team spring league, which plays its seventh set of games this weekend, said Wednesday that the April 27 title match will switch to The Ford Center at the Star, which is owned by Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. "The Alliance has built a foundation of high-quality football, revolutionary technology and world-class partnerships with the NFL, CBS and Turner Sports," Jones said. "It was only natural that we at the Cowboys organization would want to join that great group of partners." Originally, the title game was set for Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, an aging college facility. But when Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, joined the Alliance last month as chairman, he helped arrange for the championship game's move to Texas during a meeting with Jones at the NFL combine. Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian and TV-film producer Charlie Ebersol are co-founders of the Alliance, whose games have been televised by CBS, CBS Sports Network, Turner Sports and NFL Network.
MMA
Dillashaw gives up belt
TJ Dillashaw has surrendered the UFC 135-pound championship because of an "adverse finding" in his last drug test. Dillashaw posted on social media that he would give up the belt after he was informed by the New York State Athletic Commission and the United States Anti-Doping Agency of the results of his test leading up to his last fight in January. Dillashaw suffered a first-round loss to Henry Cejudo and failed to become a two-division champion. The 33-year-old Dillashaw (16-4) had cut 10 pounds of weight to fight Cejudo. Dillashaw used a program devised by a triathlete math professor and performance specialist to cut some serious weight in his attempt to hold championships in two weight classes. He's a two-time bantamweight champion and won the title for a second time when he defeated Cody Garbrandt at UFC 217 in November 2017.
OLYMPICS
Doping ring investigated
As many as 21 athletes from five sports may have been part of a doping ring stretching around the world, German prosecutors said Wednesday. Austrian police arrested five competitors at the Nordic skiing world championships last month and the case has since spread to cycling. Munich prosecutor Kai Graeber said the scandal could spread further. Graeber said blood doping has occurred in at least 10 different countries since late 2011 and "there is believed to have been a three-figure number of cases of blood withdrawal and re-transfusion around the world." The athletes come from eight different countries, Graeber said. Authorities aren't naming suspects or the sports affected, but Graeber said three of the five sports are winter events. Graeber added that doping allegedly took place in European countries such as Italy, Sweden and Croatia, along with the U.S. state of Hawaii and last year's Olympic host South Korea. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that it was investigating the Hawaii connection. The International Olympic Committee did not immediately respond when asked whether it feared blood doping could have compromised last year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
SOCCER
Women on grass in '23
FIFA will only allow natural grass fields at the 2023 Women's World Cup. The stipulation is contained in requirements sent to bidding nations and follows controversy over the use of artificial turf at the 2015 tournament in Canada. Some players launched a gender discrimination case -- which was later withdrawn -- over FIFA's use of turf four years ago because men's World Cup games have always been on grass. They claimed the artificial surface is less forgiving than grass and impacts the game because of concerns over injury. They also claimed balls travel and bounce differently on artificial turf. FIFA said it wanted the same surface in every stadium. This year's 24-team tournament in France will be played on grass in nine different venues.
HORSE RACING
Mayor sues to block Preakness move
BALTIMORE — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has sued the owners of Pimlico Race Course in hopes of blocking them from moving the Preakness Stakes or using state bonds to fund improvements at Laurel Park.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, Pugh, on behalf of the city, also asks the court to grant ownership of the racetrack and the race to the city through condemnation.
In a statement, The Stronach Group, which owns the track and the race, said: “These actions are premature and unfounded.”
A spokesman for Pugh did not respond to requests for comment.
A Maryland law passed in 1987 requires that the Preakness — the second jewel in racing’s Triple Crown — can be moved from Pimlico “only as a result of a disaster or emergency.”
The lawsuit claims that The Stronach Group is “openly planning to violate Maryland law by moving the Preakness to a different racetrack despite the absence of any disaster or emergency, except for the disaster that they are in the process of creating.”
Citing The Baltimore Sun’s reporting, the lawsuit asserts that since 2011, Stronach has “systematically underinvested in Pimlico and invested instead in the Laurel Racetrack.”
Stronach has spent the majority of the state aid it receives for track improvements on Laurel Park for the past several years.
“Through the systemic divestment of Pimlico, Defendants could indeed manufacture an ‘emergency or disaster’ to justify transfer of the Preakness to Laurel, as undermaintained infrastructure begins to fail and crowds attending Pimlico races and the horses racing there are endangered,” the lawsuit states.
Moving the race or shuttering the track would harm the Park Heights and Pimlico neighborhoods around the track, which are significantly poorer than Laurel and Bowie, the lawsuit states.
Stronach Group officials previously pledged to keep the Preakness at Pimlico through 2020. The 2019 race is planned for May 18.
But they also have made clear that they plan to invest in Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County, in hopes of building a “super track” that could attract a high-profile race such as the Breeders’ Cup.
The Stronach Group took control of Pimlico and Laurel in 2011 when it bought the Maryland Jockey Club.
Sports on 03/21/2019