AP National Sports

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Big 12 Conference is extending its reach into Mexico. The league says Kansas and Houston will play men’s and women’s basketball games in Mexico City in December 2024. The league will also explore a possible football bowl game in Monterrey in 2026. Big 12 Mexico is the league’s first international

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — One side of a dormitory for medical students in downtown Tirana has been covered by a mural of Lionel Messi. Argentine painter Maximiliano Bagnasco is taking part in the Tirana MuralFest 2023 and decided to go with the soccer great. The mural of a bearded and

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jack Swarbrick will step down as Notre Dame’s athletic director next year after a 16-year run in which he helped the school maintain the football program’s independent status amid an unprecedented flurry of conference realignment. Notre Dame says NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua will succeed Swarbrick. Bevacqua will join the

By DAVE CAMPBELL AP Pro Football Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings are parting ways with star running back Dalvin Cook for salary cap savings after his fourth consecutive season surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing mark. The team announced the move Friday, a day after Cook was informed he was being released, a person familiar

By The Associated Press Racing at Belmont Park was canceled on Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada, and New York’s governor warned that the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, could be affected if conditions don’t improve by Saturday. It was the second straight day in which the

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer Ryan Hunter-Reay will return to the IndyCar Series as Conor Daly’s replacement at Ed Carpenter Racing. Daly was let go a day earlier in what team owner Carpenter called one of the most difficult decisions of his tenure running the organization. He cited performance issues for the split

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer PARIS (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic is intriguing but there are also storylines worth following in the other French Open men’s semifinal. That will be Casper Ruud vs. Alexander Zverev in a match that which will be played second Friday on Court Philippe Chatrier. Ruud and Zverev

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer LE MANS, France (AP) — Rick Hendrick fully supports Chase Elliott as he returns from a one-race suspension for deliberately wrecking Denny Hamlin, but the team owner believes on-track aggression has gotten out of control this season and NASCAR sent a message by parking the superstar. Elliott missed

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer ISTANBUL (AP) — Manchester City enters the Champions League final as a modern soccer and financial heavyweight compared to Inter Milan. That is a new twist in their European history ahead of Saturday’s game. Their respective status in European soccer on and off the field flipped about 12 years

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — Budweiser will still be the official World Cup beer through the 2026 tournament in the United States, after brewer AB InBev renewed with FIFA on Thursday despite a troubled time with men’s 2022 World Cup host Qatar. Two days before the tournament began in Qatar, World

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech police say 23 West Ham and Fiorentina soccer fans were detained for their behaviour in connection with the Europa Conference League final in Prague. They say one person is suspected of attacking a police officer and two others of hooliganism. The rest are suspected of committing various misdemeanours. Interior Minister Vít

PARIS (AP) — Miyu Kato left behind the disappointment of her controversial disqualification in doubles by claiming the mixed doubles title at the French Open. Kato and her women’s doubles partner were defaulted during their third-round match last week after Kato accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck after a point. The Japanese player

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s second division threatens to take attention away from the Bundesliga next season with several heavyweights competing at the lower level. Hertha Berlin and Schalke were relegated from the top flight. They join the likes of second-tier teams Hamburg, Nuremberg, Kaiserslautern, Hannover and Fortuna Düsseldorf. They’re

LONDON (AP) — England midfielder Declan Rice looks to have played his final match for West Ham. Rice captained West Ham in its victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday. West Ham chairman David Sullivan says Rice has been promised he can leave the club and he wants to go. Sullivan

By JAMES ROBSON AP Soccer Writer Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has signed for Liverpool for a reported initial fee of 35 million pounds ($43.6 million) to mark the start of an expected rebuild by the club. Mac Allister was part of Argentina’s World Cup-winning team last year. He completed a move from Brighton on

By JAMES ROBSON AP Soccer Writer MANCHESTER, England (AP) — With Lionel Messi heading for Inter Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo already in Saudi Arabia it’s time for soccer’s next global superstar to step forward. Erling Haaland’s record-breaking first season at Manchester City has seen the striker establish himself as arguably the most lethal goal-scorer in

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer The first big surprise in golf’s new world? Seeing PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi wealth fund leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan smiling together. Behind the scenes were a pair of PGA board members. One of them was Jimmy Dunne, a power broker in golf and on Wall Street. That

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer Von Miller’s desire to eliminate artificial fields is personal. The three-time All-Pro edge rusher tore his right ACL playing on an artificial surface in Buffalo’s game at Detroit last Thanksgiving. Miller, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and Green Bay Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari are part