Sports Briefs: Jury awards $316 million in lawsuit against TBS

ATLANTA -- Turner Broadcasting System should pay $316 million to a Texas businessman who said that Turner breached a contract that he was negotiating to buy the city's pro basketball and hockey teams, a jury ruled yesterday.

The verdict in favor of David McDavid doesn't affect the NBA Hawks and NHL Thrashers, both of which are now owned by an eight-man group known as Atlanta Spirit.

McDavid signed a letter of intent with Turner to purchase the two teams in April 2003. The proposed deal also included operating rights to Philips Arena, home of both the Hawks and Thrashers. McDavid's exclusive negotiating rights expired 45 days later, but the sides continued to talk. Then, in September 2003, Turner announced that it was selling the teams and the arena rights to Atlanta Spirit.

McDavid, the spurned bidder, filed a $450 million lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court, accusing executives of sharing his confidential financial information with the group that now owns the teams.

Misty Skedgell, a Turner spokeswoman, said that TBS was considering an appeal.

The jury said that McDavid was due $281 million for breach of contract and $35 million for additional violations. But the jury also ruled that Turner didn't share confidential information and didn't commit fraud.

Basketball

■ Josh Howard put his problematic left ankle into a walking boot yesterday, and the Dallas Mavericks don't know how long they'll be without Howard, their second-leading scorer and rebounder.

Howard, a former All-Star, had missed eight straight games because of the injury. The frustrating part for the Mavericks was that every time he seemed close to returning, the ankle would swell and get sore again.

Multiple MRIs have shown no structural damage and nothing requiring surgery. The only option left was to immobilize the ankle in hopes that a long rest is all he needs.

■ Antonio McDyess has re-signed with the Detroit Pistons a month after being dealt to Denver as part of the Allen Iverson trade.

The Pistons said yesterday that McDyess, 34, was back for the rest of the season, but didn't disclose financial terms of the deal. He was in uniform for last night's game in Washington against the Wizards.

Detroit sent McDyess, Chauncey Billups and Cheikh Samb to Denver for Iverson on Nov. 3. The Nuggets waived McDyess a short time later, and he had to wait 30 days before rejoining the Pistons.

■ Nolan Richardson and Arkansas' 1994 national-championship team will be honored by the university on the weekend of the Razorbacks' March 1 game against Georgia.

The university announced its plans yesterday. Arkansas won the '94 national title with a victory over Duke.

Richardson was Arkansas' coach for 17 seasons until he was fired in 2002. He later lost a discrimination lawsuit against the school, but relations have thawed recently. Richardson has been supportive of Stan Heath and John Pelphrey, the two men who have coached Arkansas since he left.

Soccer

■ East Forsyth's Ben Newnam was one of six repeat picks to the National Soccer Coaches Association's high-school boys All-America team in selections announced yesterday. Scott Goodwin of Raleigh Broughton and Eric Martinez of Charlotte Providence Day also made the boys team, and Kim Currie of Lumberton, now a freshman at North Carolina, and Meghan Gilmore of Asheville Roberson, now a freshman at Georgia, made the girls team.

The All-America players will be recognized Jan. 17 at the NSCAA national convention in St. Louis.

■ BB&T Soccer Park in Davie County will be one of 10 sites for next year's National Cup VIII Regionals, a series of tournaments sponsored by U.S. Club Soccer.

The tournaments, for teams in the Under-11 through Under-17 divisions, are scheduled June 27-30, and age-group winners in the U13 through U17 divisions will advance to the National Cup VIII Finals. Teams in the U11 and U12 divisions will play through to regional championships, but will not advance to nationals.

■ The Australian government will commit $30 million to landing the World Cup in 2018.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today his government would work with Australia's soccer federation to bring the soccer championship Down Under for the first time.

Candidates to be host of the 2018 World Cup include Mexico, the U.S., England, Spain, a combined Netherlands-Belgium bid, Russia, Qatar, China and Japan.

Miscellaneous

■ Scary scenes of broken maple bats sailing into the stands or dugouts soon could be a thing of the past.

At least that's what Major League Baseball hopes.

All bats used in big-league games soon will have their own serial numbers and ink markings for tracking, part of baseball's efforts to decrease the number of broken bats and ensure a safer environment for players and fans.

By the start of the 2009 regular season, the plan of MLB's safety and health advisory committee is that all bats will have been certified by MLB and that the 32 manufacturers will be held to a new list of standards surrounding their production.