Sports

Gophers hire FIU's Richard Pitino
The University of Minnesota has picked Richard Pitino, the son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino, to take over as men's basketball coach for Tubby Smith. A person with knowledge of the discussions says Pitino reached a verbal agreement with Minnesota on Wednesday.
Fueled by outrage even from the governor when the video went public, Rutgers fired basketball coach Mike Rice on Wednesday after deciding it didn't go far enough by suspending and fining him for shoving, kicking and throwing balls at players along with spewing gay slurs.
Estimate: 4.5M hours of labor for Vikings stadium construction
The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority gave a quick update on the status of the new stadium to the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Sports Facilities yesterday. There wasn’t a whole lot of news, but there was an interesting card in the MSFA’s “deck,” in Powerpoint parlance. The MSFA put up a table of the project’s workforce…
Dayton: Don’t rush to judgment on electronic pulltabs, Vikings stadium funding
DFL Governor Mark Dayton says the criticism about the less-than-expected gambling revenue needed to fund the state share of a new Vikings stadium is premature and politically motivated. Republican critics like state Sen. Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge) have called for an investigation into the miscalculation. But Dayton said an investigation would be a waste of taxpayer…
The first ever meeting of the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Sports Facilities is convening at the State Office Building. (Click on headline to see updates.) Tim Nelson April 2, 20132:08 pm In post-meeting presser, MSFA chair Michele Kelm-Helgen says that fixed roof language is just a place holder from the legislation, doesn’t represent a decision…
St. Paul: Forget about the abandoned factory and ballpark plan
The City of St. Paul is not interested in saving the empty Diamond Products factory in any way, shape or form. That’s the message from mayor Chris Coleman, who is sending a letter in response to constituent inquiries about the plan to save the factory where White Rain shampoo, Dippity-Do hair gel and other personal…
Sellout crowd braves chill at Twins' opening day
A sellout crowd braved near-freezing temperatures at Target Field on Monday to watch the Minnesota Twins open the 2013 season against the Detroit Tigers. The Twins lost 4-2 in the earliest outdoor season home opener in team history. The cold may have slowed the Twins batters, but many fans didn't seem to mind the chilly weather.
NCAA battles former players' lawsuit over revenues
Four years ago, Ed O'Bannon filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and the video game maker EA Sports seeking compensation after recognizing an avatar in the company's March Madness game that he says was created in his image. Since then, the lawsuit has blossomed into one of the biggest legal threats the NCAA has ever faced over the issue of paying student athletes who attract billions of dollars in revenue annually, and the latest court filing from the NCAA weeks ago highlights how much is at stake.
Yankees set record payroll at $230M; Astros $27M
The New York Yankees set a record for baseball's highest opening-day payroll at $230.4 million, almost 10 times what the Houston Astros are paying their players. In Minnesota, the payroll for the Twins was $76 million.