U.S./World Sports category

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Jordan and NASCAR chairman Jim France stood side-by-side on the steps of a federal courthouse as if they were old friends following a stunning settlement Thursday of a bruising antitrust case in which the Basketball Hall of Famer was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing...

A’ja Wilson stood atop the WNBA again in 2025, winning an unprecedented fourth MVP as her Las Vegas Aces earned a third championship in four seasons. For that, she earned The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year on Wednesday for the first time in her career. It’s the second...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR chairman Jim France testified Tuesday in Michael Jordan’s federal antitrust lawsuit against his family that he still has not changed his mind on granting teams permanent charters, and evidence showed he entered negotiations on a new revenue-sharing agreement determined to thwart teams’ efforts for a better...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke won its first outright Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1962 and threw the College Football Playoff into chaos Saturday night when Darian Mensah connected with Pine-Richland graduate Jeremiah Hasley for a 1-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play in overtime, and the unranked Blue Devils held on...

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza made all the big plays Saturday night. Then his Hoosiers teammates and their fans celebrated like it was 1967. Mendoza’s neatly tucked 17-yard pass to Elijah Sarratt gave the No. 2 Hoosiers the lead they needed and the defense shut down No. 1 Ohio...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi ‘s legacy was long secured when he came to Inter Miami and joined Major League Soccer. He’d won a World Cup, won dozens of trophies, was generally considered the greatest player in the sport’s history. He didn’t need an MLS Cup. But he wanted...

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Michael Annett, a former racecar driver who made 436 combined starts in NASCAR’s three national touring series, has died. He was 39. JR Motorsports, one of Annett’s former teams, posted the news on social media on Friday. No cause of death was announced. “Our thoughts and prayers...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired NBA great Michael Jordan took the stand at the landmark NASCAR antitrust case Friday and testified that he has been a fan of the stock car series since he was a child but felt he had little choice but to sue to force changes in a...

WASHINGTON — With eyes across the globe focused on 48 balls being plucked from four bowls, next year’s World Cup came into focus Friday when a draw determined Argentina and Lionel Messi will start their title defense against Algeria, and the U.S. will open against Paraguay. Teams from five-time champion...

WASHINGTON — FIFA has invited more teams than ever for a World Cup priced largely for fans in the 1%. The process of figuring out which teams in the expanded 48-nation field will play where begins with Friday’s draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Cape Verde, Curaçao,...

Serena Williams has taken the first step that would be required ahead of a comeback to tennis, registering with the sport’s drug-testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Tuesday. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, one of the greats of the game, has not competed since...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The landmark federal antitrust trial against NASCAR opened Monday with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin breaking down in tears minutes into his testimony as the first witness in a case that could upend the venerable stock car series. Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, which he co-owns with Michael...

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has fired the Southeastern Conference’s longest-tenured coach, ending Mark Stoops’ tenure in his 13th season with the Wildcats after back-to-back losing records. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement Monday morning that he informed Stoops they decided to go in a new direction and started...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Jordan’s bitter fight against NASCAR heads to federal court Monday in a jury trial that could rip apart the top motorsports series in the United States. The antitrust allegations leveled by Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports has exposed salacious personal communications, NASCAR’s finances and...

Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74. A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the...

NEW YORK — Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other ex-NBA player. Billups, a five-time All Star who won a championship with...

GURGL, Austria — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin is heading into her home races in Colorado next weekend as the overall World Cup leader on a two-event winning streak. Shiffrin dominated another slalom Sunday as she made it two convincing wins from two races in the discipline to start the...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A University of Alabama at Birmingham football player stabbed two teammates Saturday morning hours before the team’s game against the University of South Florida, the university said in a statement. The two wounded players were in stable condition, interim head coach Alex Mortensen said at the postgame...

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn won’t be the only 40-and-over American woman aiming for a medal in Cortina during the upcoming Olympics. The U.S. bobsled team boasts 40-year-old Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, who has won three Olympic golds, and Elana Meyers Taylor, a 41-year-old who has collected five Olympic medals....

MIAMI — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will play a Major League Soccer match in their new stadium for the first time on April 4, one of the highlights of the league’s schedule that was revealed Thursday. The 2026 MLS regular season starts Feb. 21 and runs through Nov. 7....

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — There won’t be any spectators for the opening test races at the controversial sliding venue for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. That’s because while the track itself is mostly complete, the surrounding area remains a massive construction site. Still, the upcoming World Cup bobsled and skeleton...

TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Freeman scored twice and Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna had one goal each as the United States overwhelmed Uruguay with a four-goal first half in a 5-1 win on Tuesday night to head into a World Cup year with a five-game unbeaten streak. Tanner Tessmann added...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Tevaughn Campbell forced Montreal quarterback Shea Patterson’s fumble at the goal line and Marcus Sayles recovered it in the end zone with 3:05 left to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Alouettes 25-17 on Sunday night for their fifth Grey Cup title. Saskatchewan also won Canadian Football...