Arena League Players File Suit

A group of Arena Football League players filed a class-action antitrust suit in New Jersey on Friday, seeking free agency and an end to “price-fixed salaries” and contracts without injury benefits.

League owners say they will negotiate with the players only under a collective bargaining agreement and have threatened to cancel the 2000 season for the league’s 18 teams, one of them an expansion franchise in Los Angeles.

“When served [with the suit] we will turn it over to our lawyers,” AFL Deputy Commissioner Ron Kurpiers said. “And we will vigorously defend it to its conclusion which may be three or four years from now.”

Kurpiers said the league owners will meet in Chicago on Feb. 23 to determine the fate of the season.

The suit is “seeking to end this series of anti-competitive agreements that are employed among the teams in the Arena Football League,” Jeffrey Kessler, the players’ lawyer said.

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Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre reached an agreement on a contract designed to give the Packers leeway under the NFL salary cap, his agent said. “It’s just a restructuring of his current deal to enable the team to have some cap room to sign some other players,” James Cook said of the seven-year, $47.25-million contract that Favre signed in July 1997. . . . Fullback Tommy Vardell, a bruising runner, blocker and pass catcher whose eight-year NFL career was hampered by injuries, retired from the San Francisco 49ers, saying his heart was no longer in the game. . . . The St. Louis Rams shuffled their front office to fill a vacancy left by the retirement of Coach Dick Vermeil, promoting Jay Zygmunt to president of football operations and Charley Armey to general manager. . . . Tom Donahoe, fired as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ director of football operations last month, declined the Miami Dolphins’ offer of a front-office position, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. . . . Kippy Brown and Ray Sherman, both of whom served as NFL offensive coordinators last season, have been added to Coach Mike Sherman’s staff in Green Bay, Sherman to coach the wide receivers and Brown the running backs. . . . The New Orleans Saints rehired Rick Venturi as assistant head coach to newly hired Jim Haslett. . . . Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones pleaded no contest to interfering with a police officer during a 1999 traffic stop and was fined $750 and ordered to perform 24 hours of community service.

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Steve Greatwood, a former assistant USC football coach, has been hired by Arizona State to be its offensive line coach. . . . Ken Margerum, who starred at Stanford and went on to a seven-year NFL career, has been hired to coach wide receivers at California.

Baseball

The Angels signed catcher-outfielder Todd Greene and pitcher Mike Holtz to one-year contracts, avoiding arbitration hearings. Greene, 28 signed for $650,000. He earned $225,000 last season, when he hit .243 with a career-high 14 home runs. Terms were not disclosed for Holtz, 27, who earned $290,000 last season, when he went 2-3 with an 8.06 earned-run average. He had asked for $440,000; the Angels had offered $300,000. . . . Relief pitcher Turk Wendell, who signed for $1.2 million plus 99 cents last year, avoided arbitration with the New York Mets with a deal worth $2.05 million--plus a $13.99 bonus. The Mets settled their arbitration case with Pat Mahomes by agreeing to a $750,000, one-year contract with the right-hander and signed free-agent pitcher Dennis Springer. . . . Shortstop Deivi Cruz agreed to a one-year contract with the Detroit Tigers for $1.9 million, more than four times his salary last season.

Track

Maurice Greene won the 60-meter dash in 6.45 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year, in the Millrose Games at New York. In the men’s 60 hurdles, lightly regarded Dominique Arnold upset Mark Crear, Allen Johnson and Terrance Trammel in 7.51 seconds. Johnny Gray, 39, won the men’s 800 in 1:49.88 for his fourth Millrose title, and Joetta Clark Diggs, 37, who began her Millrose career at age 14, won her seventh 800 title in her 22nd and final appearance in 2:04.79.

Miscellany

Defending champion and top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland advanced to the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Tennis Open at Tokyo with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Anna Kournikova of Russia. Hingis will face Chanda Rubin in the semifinals. Rubin was a 6-4, 6-4, winner over Amanda Coetzer of South Africa.

Brazil beat Chile, 3-1, at Londrina, Brazil, to qualify for the Sydney Olympics in men’s soccer, leaving Argentina and Chile to fight it out for the second South American spot.

John Moose, a stock car racing pioneer in the Carolinas, died Thursday at Concord, N.C. The former driver, promoter and NASCAR official was 73.

After being acquitted of all the serious charges in a 20-count indictment, John Montefusco, the 1975 National League rookie of the year, was sentenced in Freehold, N.J., to three years’ probation for criminal trespass and simple assault against his former wife, Doris D. Montefusco. Montefusco said he planned to appeal the decision.

Antonio Diaz knocked out James Crayton in the eighth round of their scheduled 12-round junior-welterweight bout at Indio.