Letang to miss a few weeks with injury

Letang to miss a few weeks with injury

PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will miss a couple of weeks due to a lower-body injury.

Coach Mike Sullivan announced the injury on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Letang played 26 minutes in a 4-3 overtime win over the Boston Bruins. Sullivan did not elaborate on when Letang was hurt but the five-time All Star was slow to get up after getting knocked into the boards during a sequence in the Pittsburgh zone in the second period, though he did not miss a shift.

Letang has two goals and 19 assists for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who have ripped off seven straight wins to move atop the Metropolitan Division.

Patriots claim Floyd one day after release

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.

The New England Patriots have claimed wide receiver Michael Floyd off waivers one day after he was released by the Arizona Cardinals.

Floyd’s agent Brian Murphy confirmed the move in an email.

Floyd, Arizona’s first-round draft pick in 2012, was released by the team two days after he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and failure to obey a police officer.

The 6-foot-2 220-pound receiver gives Tom Brady a big, experienced target. Floyd was having a down season but had five 100-yard receiving games last year.

Floyd had 33 catches for 446 yards and four touchdowns with the Cardinals this season, but had several critical drops.

Europe doesn’t want World Cup expansion

NYON, Switzerland

Europe’s top clubs are calling on FIFA President Gianni Infantino not to expand the World Cup from its 32-team format.

European Club Association chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says the number of games played each season “has already reached an unacceptable level.”

Infantino wants 48 teams at the 2026 World Cup, adding 368 players committed to national-team duty for at least one month.

A bigger and more lucrative World Cup would help fulfill Infantino’s election promises to FIFA’s 211 member federations.

The 220-member ECA’s research said European clubs employed 76 percent of players at the 2014 World Cup.

NBC to create all-Olympic channel

NEW YORK

NBC is bringing year-round Olympic programming to the United States.

After years of trying, the U.S and International Olympic Committees have agreed with NBC on a package that will offer year-round Olympic programming, focused on U.S. athletes. NBC will launch a new U.S. television network branded “Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA” in the second half of 2017.

That channel will complement the IOC’s Olympic Channel, which launched on a worldwide digital platform after the Rio Games.

The programming will include archival footage and documentaries, along with original Team USA programming contributed by the USOC.

Boxing champ sent to jail in bill dispute

OMAHA, Neb.

World boxing champion Terence “Bud” Crawford has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years’ probation for two misdemeanors in connection with an April disturbance at a body shop in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

Crawford would have to serve about 50 days under state sentencing guidelines. Crawford’s attorney said he plans to appeal the sentence and that the boxer could be out of jail on an appeal bond later Thursday.

Crawford was found guilty of disorderly conduct and damage to property for his actions at the body shop where his 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo was painted. He damaged a hydraulic lift during a dispute over the bill.

Crawford stopped John Molina Jr. in the eighth round Saturday in Omaha to keep his WBO and WBC 140-pound titles.

Staff/wire report