Pac-12 restates call for reform at end of meetings
COLLEGES: Pac-12 university presidents and chancellors reiterated the conference’s call for reform in college athletics at the conclusion of its summer meetings.
The conference said in a statement Sunday that the Pac-12 CEO Group, which is made up of the league’s presidents and chancellors, moved closer to finalizing a proposal that better addresses the needs of athletes and “simultaneously reaffirms the primacy of our universities’ academic mission.”
Pac-12 leaders sent a signed letter to their colleagues at the other four major football conferences last month outlining plans for reform and asking for feedback. The Pac-12’s proposal includes a stipend for athletes, improving health coverage, protecting against unfair loss of scholarships before graduation, reducing time demands, liberalizing transfer rules and incorporating athletes into the conferences’ governance groups.
The conference also announced that it has created an 11 a.m. Pacific Time television window on the Pac-12 Networks for the upcoming football season. The league said the move was made in an effort to reduce the number of night games across the league.
The number of games played in the new morning window will be determined as the season and television picks progress.
In addition, the conference expanded a health initiative for athletes that includes extending the funding of a research grant program at $3.6 million per year for the next three years. The program will be reviewed after that.
US women 3-on-3 titlists
BASKETBALL: Jewell Loyd led the U.S. women’s basketball 3-on-3 team to a world championship, beating Russia in the title game in Moscow, Russia.
Loyd, who will be entering her junior year at Notre Dame in the fall, helped the U.S. beat Russia 15-8 and finish the tournament 9-0. It’s the second straight FIBA 3-on-3 title for the U.S.
Loyd was joined on the team by South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell, Louisville’s Sara Hammond and Tennessee’s Cierra Burdick.
The U.S. advanced to the championship game by beating Belgium 18-14 in the semifinals. While the Americans led from nearly start to finish, the game was tied at 13-all with just over a minute to play before the U.S. put together a 5-1 run to close out the win. Belgium won the bronze.
The U.S. men’s team finished 2-4 in the tournament. Qatar won the gold medal and Serbia took the silver.
Froome claims first stage
CYCLING: British rider Chris Froome geared up for the Tour de France by winning the first stage of the Criterium du Dauphine in Lyon, France.
Froome won the eight-stage race last year. He completed the 10.4-kilometer time trial around Lyon in 13 minutes, 13 seconds.
“I’m pretty much where I was last year, if not a little bit better,” Froome said on the event’s website. “I’m very, very happy with my performance today. I didn’t think I’d do so well in such a short and flat time trial. I’m definitely here to try and win the race overall.”
Spaniard Alberto Contador, a two-time Tour de France champion, finished second, 8 seconds behind Froome. Bob Jungels took third, 9 seconds back, and Andrew Talansky placed fourth, 11 seconds off the pace.
“My time is OK. For me, the last part was hard,” Contador said. “I knew there would be a strong headwind to finish. It made the race very hard.
“I didn’t want to take any useless risk in the downhill as I knew that a motorbike had crashed in the morning, so I feared some oil on the road.”