Maple Leafs to Buy Raptors, Control Arena

The NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs said Thursday they plan to buy the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, a move that will bring the two last-place teams under one roof when the Raptors’ half-built arena is completed.

The deal ends negotiations between the Maple Leafs and Raptors over whether they should build an arena together or construct separate facilities. Fans had worried the teams would face money troubles unless they shared the costs of a single arena.

“Toronto sports fans have been telling us they wanted both of their sports teams to play in one building,” Maple Leaf Chairman Steve Stavro said. “Single ownership makes all of that possible.”

As part of the deal, the Maple Leafs will get control of the Air Canada Center, under construction near Toronto’s waterfront. It is due to open in 1999, and will be redesigned to accommodate hockey as well as basketball.

Track and Field

Laban Rotich will try to prevent Marcus O’Sullivan from gaining his sixth victory in the Wanamaker Mile at tonight’s 91st Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Soccer

World Cup finalist Tunisia edged Congo, 2-1, and Togo claimed its first African Cup of Nations win by beating favored Ghana, 2-1, in the sixth day of the tournament at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In other action, Angola and Namibia played to a 3-3 tie.

Hockey

The Nashville Predators insist they are not planning to move before the NHL expansion team even begins play this fall.

“Under no circumstances will the Predators franchise be moved to Houston, nor will the Edmonton Oilers franchise be relocated to Nashville,” Predator owner Craig Leipold said.

Talk of a possible move started this week after Houston Rocket owner Leslie Alexander bid $82.5 million for the financially troubled Oilers. Prospective buyers in Edmonton have 30 days to come up with $70 million to counter that bid.

Jurisprudence

Charlotte Hornet owner George Shinn filed a countersuit against a woman who alleges he attacked and sexually abused her at his home last fall. Shinn’s suit, filed in Mecklenburg County, accuses the woman of slander, extortion, blackmail and blames her for damage to his home in Tega Cay, S.C., stemming from search warrants carried out by investigators.

Rebecca Harvey of Omaha has filed a civil lawsuit against Miami Dolphin running back Lawrence Phillips, claiming she was sexually assaulted during a party last year at an Omaha hotel.

Tennis

Qualifier John van Lottum overcame a 5-0 deficit in the first set to beat Vince Spadea, 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, in the second round of the Sybase Open in San Jose.

In another match, Todd Martin defeated Brazilian Jaime Oncins, 6-3, 7-6.

Sarah Pitkowski of France, slowed by a cold, upset eighth-seeded Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals of the $480,000 Paris Open.

Other winners included, Germany’s Anka Huber, who defeated Russian Anna Kournikova, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Mary Pierce, who beat Slovakia’s Karina Habsudova, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

Baseball

In the first salary arbitration decision of the year, a three-man panel decided that Minnesota Twin pitcher Frank Rodriguez will be paid $425,000 this season rather than his request for $880,000.

Miscellany

University of Arizona offensive coordinator Homer Smith plans to retire immediately on the advice of doctors because of a diabetic condition, according to Wildcat football Coach Dick Tomey. Smith, 66, is a former UCLA assistant.

Lionel Aldridge, a defensive end on three of the Green Bay Packers’ NFL championship teams in the 1960s, was found dead in his apartment in Shorewood, Wis. He was 57. The cause of death had not been determined for Aldridge, who suffered from mental illness after football.

Joe B. Hall, 69, the University of Kentucky’s basketball coach from 1973 to 1985, underwent double bypass heart surgery in Lexington.

A memorial service will be held at 11:45 a.m. today in Pauley Pavilion for Katie Abbott, who died at 36 of cancer on Tuesday. Abbott was Pauley Pavilion’s manager since 1994.

Uvaldo Acosta, men’s volleyball coach at George Mason University, drowned in rough surf off Honolulu. He was 32.