Bettman downplays threat of Edmonton moving to Seattle

Hockey: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman downplayed the threat of the Oilers moving to Seattle on Tuesday as the Edmonton mayor predicted that an NHL team in Seattle wouldn’t sell out its games.

Bettman (pictured above) says an arena deal in Edmonton is achievable, “and with a new arena there should be no reason to have any doubts about the future of the Oilers in Edmonton.”

The team’s lease at aging Rexall Place is set to expire in 2014, and Oilers owner Daryl Katz and other officials were in Seattle on Monday for meetings about a possible relocation.

Mayor Stephen Mandel said in a TV interview Tuesday that Seattle already has a crowded sports calendar and may not sell out all its games.

Associated Press

Williams’ tumor benign

Men’s basketball: North Carolina said Roy Williams’ surgically removed kidney tumor was not cancerous, though he will have a biopsy to ensure a second kidney tumor is also benign.

In a news release, the school said tests have determined the tumor removed last week from Williams’ right kidney was an oncocytoma, which is a benign growth often indistingui- shable from kidney cancer on X-rays that doesn’t spread like a cancerous tumor would.

Williams also has a tumor on his left kidney, but according to the school, doctors say there is “a good chance” that growth is the same as the one removed Sept. 19. Doctors plan to biopsy that tumor next week and won’t have to perform a second surgery if the tumor is an oncocytoma.

Associated Press