SPORTS digest

NHL salary cap set at $75 million

NEW YORK

The NHL salary cap has been set at $75 million for this season in a slight increase over last year.

The league and NHL Players’ Association announced the cap and the salary floor of $55.4 million in a joint statement Sunday. The figures are set by the league’s hockey-related revenue.

It’s an increase of $2 million from the $73 million cap last season, as players elected to use their escalator clause to raise it.

Even a slight increase can help several teams that are up against the cap, like the Chicago Blackhawks and Presidents’ Trophy winning Washington Capitals. For budget teams, the floor increased just $1.4 million from $54 million.

The expansion Vegas Golden Knights must spend at least to the salary floor in their first season.

Fans rain fake money on Italian goalie

KRAKOW, POLAND

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had fake money thrown at him during his country’s Under-21 European Championship opener against Denmark by fans seemingly upset by his decision not to renew his contract at AC Milan.

As well as fake dollar bills being thrown at Donnarumma during Italy’s 2-0 victory over Denmark in the Polish city of Krakow on Sunday, a banner emblazoned with “Dollarumma” was displayed.

The 18-year-old Donnarumma has made more than 70 first-team appearances for Milan since his debut in 2015. But the club said on Thursday that Donnarumma does not want to sign a new deal.

Donnarumma has a year left on his Milan contract.

FIFA debates making games 60 minutes

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Football’s rule-making panel wants debate on moving to 60-minute games and stopping the clock when the ball is not in play.

Playing two halves each of 30 minutes’ actual playing time would be a “radical change” to the Laws of Football, the FIFA-supported International Football Association Board acknowledged.

It features in a five-year strategy document of talking points and proposals with three goals — to increase respect, playing time and attractiveness of the game.

Any changes would take years to enact after discussions and trials overseen by IFAB, which revises football’s laws annually and comprises officials from FIFA and the four British football federations.

Fans have become frustrated that games of 90 regulation minutes plus time added for stoppages at referees’ discretion typically produce “fewer than 60 minutes of effective (actual) playing time,” IFAB said.

On Saturday, there were just 47 minutes of actual playing time in Russia’s 2-0 win over New Zealand to open the Confederations Cup, according to FIFA.

The game in St. Petersburg took less than 1 hour, 50 minutes from first whistle to last, which suggests a 60-minute, stop-start clock would take more than two hours to complete as football adapted.

Porsche wins 24-hour Le Mans race

LE MANS, France

Veteran German driver Timo Bernhard led Porsche to a dramatic third straight win at the 24 Hours Le Mans race to prevent a huge upset win for the lesser category Oreca team on Sunday.

After a series of mishaps to pre-race favorites Porsche and Toyota, the LMP2 category Oreca suddenly found itself in the lead with 19-year-old Frenchman Thomas Laurent behind the wheel three hours from the end of the grueling endurance race.

But the 36-year-old Bernhard, racing in the faster and more powerful LMP1 category Porsche 919 Hybrid, overtook the Oreca with about 1 hour remaining.

As the Porsche No. 2 crossed the finish line, there were scenes of relief in the Porsche garage as team members danced around holding up t-shirts with “Hat trick 2015, 2016, 2017” written on them.

Staff/wire report