Off the wire

The Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills have agreed on a trade that will send quarterback Matt Cassel (shown left in this file photo) to the Bills.
The Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills have agreed on a trade that will send quarterback Matt Cassel (shown left in this file photo) to the Bills.

FOOTBALL

Report: Manning will return

Weeks of speculation about Peyton Manning’s future ended Wednesday with word that he’s returning for an 18th season in the NFL and fourth in Denver. A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Manning will take a $4 million pay cut, from $19 million to $15 million, but that he can make it all back through performance incentives. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement of the deal. Manning, who is still scheduled to make $19 million in 2016 in the final season of the fiveyear contract he signed in 2012, will $ take his physical and sign his revised contract today. Manning mulled retirement after the Broncos’ playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts. But he determined that he still had the health and hunger to keep playing at age 39, when he tries to become the oldest QB to win a Super Bowl. Manning, who won a title with the Colts in 2006, met with General Manager John Elway a few weeks ago after taking some time to decompress from an arduous season and told him he wasn’t ready to retire. Manning has led the Broncos to the best record in the NFL in each of his three seasons in Denver. Yet, each time, they unraveled in the playoffs: a 35-point Super Bowl loss to Seattle and two home flops following first-round byes.

• The Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills have agreed on a trade that will send quarterback Matt Cassel to the Bills next week and fetch the Vikings extra draft picks. Both teams announced the deal on Wednesday, which will send two undisclosed draft choices to the Vikings and one undisclosed draft pick with Cassel to the Bills, six days before NFL transactions can begin with the start of the new league year. The trade can't be completed until then, but the announcement wouldn't have been made if there were any potential roadblocks pending for the deal. The trade also wouldn't have been initiated had the Vikings not been confident in Teddy Bridgewater, the first-round draft pick who took over as the starter in the third game of last season after Cassel broke his left foot. Cassel spent two years with the Vikings, taking over in 2013 after Christian Ponder struggled to keep the job. Cassel's production was up and down, with a total of 14 touchdown passes and 14 turnovers in 12 games, but his experienced, encouraging presence was valuable to have around while Bridgewater got his career going. The trade for Cassel came on the heels of a blockbuster move the Bills agreed to Tuesday night, a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire running back LeSean McCoy in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso.

• The Dallas Cowboys have re-signed restricted free agent Cole Beasley after the diminutive receiver emerged as a threat in the slot last season for Tony Romo. Beasley signed a four-year contract Wednesday reportedly worth about $14 million, with $7 million guaranteed. The 5-foot-8 former SMU player had career highs with 420 yards and four touchdowns in his third season in 2014. The signing of Beasley came two days after Dallas put the franchise tag on All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant, who will make $12.8 million if he signs the one-year tender. The Cowboys have until July 15 to sign Bryant to a long-term deal. Beasley was third among Dallas receivers behind Bryant and Terrance Williams. He has 916 career yards.

BASKETBALL

Jackson fined

The NBA has fined the New York Knicks for Phil Jackson's comments about Ohio State freshman D'Angelo Russell. Jackson watched the Buckeyes' 81-57 victory over Nebraska last Thursday and afterward told Cleveland.com that Russell was a "great-looking kid" and a "great prospect." NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed the fine Tuesday night but did not disclose the amount. Team personnel are prohibited from publicly discussing players who aren't yet eligible for the NBA draft. The Knicks have the NBA's worst record at 12-47 following their 124-86 loss to Sacramento on Tuesday, putting them in position to land the top pick. Jackson, the Knicks' president of basketball operations, had been fined $25,000 last year for mentioning Derek Fisher as a coaching candidate while he was still playing for Oklahoma City. Fisher was eventually hired.

• A girls' high school basketball team barred for wearing unofficial jerseys will play in the Los Angeles city championship after all -- but without their coach. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Narbonne High's coach, Victoria Sanders, has been suspended for the remainder of the season. Sanders said she accepts the punishment. Officials had disqualified Narbonne from the City Section competition after the team wore uniforms with pink letters and numbers for breast cancer awareness. Rules require teams to wear only their official school colors. Officials say they reversed their decision "to meet the spirit of the rule and place kids first." Narbonne's girls basketball program will be on probation through next season. The team will face Palisades High in the section championship game on Saturday.

• The probability of creating the perfect March Madness bracket is shockingly low -- as in less than 1 in 9.2 quintillion (or 9,223,372,036,854,775,808) chance. Jeff Bergen, a mathematics professor at DePaul University, crunched the numbers and discovered that it was nearly impossible to create the winningest bracket. "The size of the number astounds people," he said. "It's just not going to happen." It's more likely that the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox will win the next 16 World Series games, he said. Or that someone will win the Mega Millions lottery two times in a row buying one ticket both times. Or just as likely that someone will pick the winning party of each presidential election through 2264.

BASEBALL

Alex Johnson dies

Alex Johnson, who won the American League batting title with the then-California Angels in 1970, has died. He was 72. Alex Johnson Jr. said Wednesday that his father died Saturday of complications from prostate cancer. The elder Johnson, a Detroit native, played for eight teams in his 13-year career. He won the American League batting crown with a .329 average in 1970 as a member of the Angels. Johnson had 78 home runs, 525 RBI and a .288 average over his career. His final season was in 1976 with the Detroit Tigers when he had six home runs, 45 RBI and a .268 average in 125 games. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees.

• The new flat-seam ball in college baseball is having the desired effect, with teams hitting 40 percent more home runs so far this season. The NCAA announced Wednesday that teams are hitting a home run about every other game. Last year, teams homered about once every three games through the first three weeks of the season. The actual average is 0.47 home runs per team compared with 0.33 at this point in 2014. Last season's final average of 0.39 per team was a record low. The NCAA approved use of the flat-seam ball in an attempt to punch up a game that has seen steep declines in offense since new bat standards took effect in 2011. Studies show the flat-seam ball travels 20 feet farther than the old raised-seam ball.

GOLF

Women allowed

One of the three clubs used for the British Open with a male-only membership policy has voted to allow female members for the first time. Royal St. George's, which last hosted golf's oldest major in 2011, said on Wednesday more than 81 percent of the club's full members took part in a ballot, and 90 percent voted in favor of women being eligible for membership. "It is extremely good news going forward," Tim Checketts, club secretary of Royal St. George's, told The Associated Press. The rule change will take immediate effect. Checketts said it usually takes a year to accept new male members, but the timeframe can be quicker for juniors, and that could be the case for women. Royal Troon and Muirfield are the other host clubs of the British Open to have male-only memberships. Troon hosts the Open next year, and has already said the club was reviewing its membership policy. The eligibility of female members in Britain's leading clubs was a hot topic that was brought further into scrutiny in September, when The Royal & Ancient Golf Club voted to end its male-only policy after 260 years. That club's corporate structure, the R&A, organizes The British Open. Last month, seven women accepted invitations to become honorary members of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, whose clubhouse overlooks the Old Course at St. Andrews and is among the most famous buildings in golf. Darren Clarke won the British Open when it was at Royal St. George's four years ago.

NCAA

Hiring grade drops

A report released Wednesday on college sports has issued its lowest grade for racial and gender hiring practices in its nearly two-decade history. The report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport says NCAA member schools are hiring fewer women and minorities for sports jobs, while the scores for hiring women in particular have dipped significantly in two years. The combined overall grade for college sports in 2014 was a C with 74 points, down from a C-plus in 2013. Richard Lapchick, the TIDES report's lead author, says it is the lowest combined score since the first report released in 1997. Separate scores for gender and racial hiring both fell, with the gender grade sliding from a B in 2012 to a C-minus in 2014.

Sports on 03/05/2015

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