BASKETBALL
Hall induction delayed
Basketball Hall of Fame Chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN that the enshrinement ceremony for Eddie Sutton, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and four others will be delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sutton, a former coach for the University of Arkansas, died Saturday. The ceremony was to have taken place in Springfield, Mass., on Aug. 29. Colangelo told ESPN that the event will be moved until the spring of 2021. Colangelo did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. There was no immediate announcement from the Hall of Fame about the rescheduling plan. Bryant, Garnett and Duncan all got into the Hall in their first year as finalists, as did WNBA great Tamika Catchings. The other members of the Class of 2020 were two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, longtime Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey and 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley.
FOOTBALL
Booth official tabled
The NFL has tabled a proposal for a booth official who would aid calls by using a video feed, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The league's competition committee told teams last month it supports studying ways to determine how officiating personnel who have access to a video feed could help on-field officials. A booth umpire would serve as an eighth game official. But when the owners vote on rules proposals in a conference call today, they instead will be looking at alternatives to a booth official, the person said on condition of anonymity because the league has not announced the move. Those alternatives will focus on preseason tests of expanding the authority of the current replay assistant as he communicates with on-field officials. Several reasons for dismissing the booth official suggestion have been offered, from the extra cost of another permanent official to the fact college football has such a setup. Regardless, the league's approach to improving officiating now will center on enhancing the current system.
Sports on 05/28/2020