DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The International Motor Sports Ass’n has announced schedule updates for three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge events.

The Acura Sports Car Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio has been moved to the weekend of Sept. 25-27, 2020. It was originally scheduled for the weekend of May 1-3.

The IMSA Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has been moved up one weekend to run on Sept. 4-6. It was originally scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 11-13. This date adjustment was made to accommodate IMSA competitors planning to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which now will run on Sept. 19-20.

The 23rd annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta has been moved back one week and now will run Oct. 14-17 to provide teams a more balanced schedule as the season comes to its conclusion. The original dates of the event were Oct. 7-10.

These three event date changes are in addition to the previously announced reschedule of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, which now is set for Nov. 11-14.

Previously purchased tickets for all four events will be valid on the new dates.

The NHL is temporarily cutting the pay of league office employees by 25%.

The league confirmed that salaries will be reduced across the board starting April 1.

The NHL's season has been on pause since March 12 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to sources, the NHL is hoping that the temporary pay cut among league office employees will prevent layoffs during this uncertain time.

There were 3½ weeks and 189 games remaining in the regular season when play was suspended. The NHL has been modeling several different options on how to complete the season, if at all possible. Teams have been told to look into building availability through the summer.

For now, NHL players have been told to self-isolate at their homes until at least March 27.

On Monday, the New Jersey Devils became the first known NHL team to cut employee pay while the season is on pause. The sports and entertainment group that owns the Philadelphia 76ers and the Devils notified salaried, full-time employees that they will be subject temporary pay cuts of up to 20% and will be moving to a four-day work week.

The NHL has reiterated that it doesn't want to do anything to compromise the 2020-21 season. Commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN's Get Up last week that he believed that under the current circumstances, the league can "go later than we've ever gone."

"How late is a good question," Bettman said. "What we want to make sure of is that we don't do anything from this season that might impact next season and having the normalcy it is supposed to have. So the two factors are timing relative to how late we can go without impacting next season, and making sure that whatever we do competitively, if we are going to complete this current season, it has to have integrity, and it has to be respectful of the well-over-100-year history of the Stanley Cup. And that's something we're very focused on."

Despite news that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has issued an executive order that resulted in the indefinite closing of Winged Foot Golf Club, the USGA continues to plan for a June U.S. Open.

In a statement to GolfChannel.com, the USGA continues “to hold the dates for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in June and monitor all available guidance and regulations from the CDC, WHO and other federal, state and local authorities to do what is in the best interests of the community for the health and safety of all those involved.”

According to Golfweek, preparations had been underway at Winged Foot until last week when work was halted. No grandstands had been built and only essential personnel are now allowed on the course.

Following earlier postponements of the Masters and PGA Championship, the U.S. Open is currently scheduled to be the year’s first major championship, but that’s beginning to look less likely given that New York remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The USGA acknowledged that “postponement could be a possibility” and that the association is creating “contingency plans” in case the championship is shifted to later in the year.

“It is premature at this point to speculate on any potential date or location changes, but we expect to make a decision sometime in the middle of April,” the statement read.

Although the Masters and PGA Championship are also scrambling for new dates later this year, the golf calendar opened slightly on Tuesday when the IOC announced the Olympics would be postponed until at least the summer of 2021. The men’s competition in Tokyo was scheduled to be held in late August with no other PGA Tour events planned for that week.

Manchester United are optimistic Paul Pogba will remain at the club beyond the next transfer window and doubt whether any of Europe's elite clubs can afford the midfielder, sources have told ESPN.

Pogba's agent, Mino Raiola, has said he "wants to take a great player to Real Madrid" sparking more speculation the Spanish giants are set to bid for the France international.

Juventus are also interested in re-signing Pogba but there are significant doubts over whether either club could finance a deal, even if the 27-year-old insists he wants to leave Old Trafford.

Pogba has a contract until June 2021 but United can also trigger a clause to extend it for another 12 months until 2022.

Real Madrid were put off by the £180 million asking price last summer and while privately United accept Pogba's value will dip with time running out on his contract, they still value their record signing at more than £100m.

As well as the transfer fee, Real Madrid and Juventus would have to put together a hefty wage packet of around £300,000-a-week to seal a deal.

The issue is complicated further by concerns surrounding finances in football relating to the coronavirus crisis and the implications for broadcasting deals while major league and European club competitions are suspended indefinitely.

Pogba is training at home while United's Carrington training base remains off limits to the majority of players and staff.

The squad were due to return on April 10 but that is now unlikely after the British government imposed a nationwide lockdown on Monday night that will last for the next three weeks.

Pogba has been limited to just eight appearances in all competitions this season after suffering metatarsal and ankle injuries. He has not played a competitive game since United's 4-1 win over Newcastle on Boxing Day but was due to return to first team training just before the Premier League was suspended on March 13.

Obi Toppin and Anthony Grant spent the season transforming Dayton from an unranked team that wasn't even picked to win its conference into one of the nation's best, complete with the most wins in program history.

The pair behind the Flyers' remarkable rise claimed The Associated Press' top individual honors: Toppin is the men's college basketball player of the year and Grant is the coach of the year.

"Our team is very appreciative of what we accomplished," Toppin told the AP, "just because we made history at our school."

Indeed. Dayton (29-2) went from being picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 to No. 3 in the final Top 25 poll, matching the program's best poll finish, first accomplished in 1956. The Flyers went unbeaten in league play and in road games, leaving them positioned to claim a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament that was canceled amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

Now Dayton has its first winners of the AP's top awards, joining St. Joseph's in 2004 (with Jameer Nelson and coach Phil Martelli) as the only programs in the past 40 seasons to claim both in the same year.

"In the 31 games that we played, our guys did a heck of a job of playing consistent and taking advantage of the opportunities that were in front of us," Grant said. "What we did accomplish in the shortened season is something I think that hopefully will be remembered."

The 6-foot-9, 220-pound Toppin followed his unanimous selection to the AP All-America first team by appearing on 34 of 65 ballots from Top 25 voters, who submitted ballots after the cancellation of the NCAA tournament.

Iowa junior Luka Garza was second in the balloting, earning 24 votes after averaging 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Fellow All-Americans Markus Howard of Marquette, Payton Pritchard of Oregon and Udoka Azubuike of Kansas split the remaining votes.

It wasn't that long ago that Toppin was a 6-foot-2 high school junior who had never dunked in a game and then a senior lacking any Division I scholarship offers, sending him to prep school before ending up at Dayton. But he has blossomed as a redshirt sophomore into an efficient scorer who made regular appearances on TV highlight reels with high-flying dunks.

He averaged 20 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 63% from the field and 39% from 3-point range, leading a season-long surge by the Flyers that rallied a community shaken by devastating tornadoes and a deadly mass shooting in the past year.

Dayton grabbed national attention early, taking Kansas to overtime in a loss in the Maui Invitational championship game. The Flyers' only other loss came in December on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime against Colorado. They had won 20 straight games when the season ended.

"Honestly, if you had asked me, I swear we could've won a national championship, and our team was so ready to play in the tournament," Toppin said. "We were so locked in. But because of this virus, things happened. It's just going to be a what-if for the rest of our lives, but it's something we're going to have to live with."

Grant earned 30 of 65 votes to claim the AP coaching award in his third season at his alma mater. Baylor's Scott Drew, who guided the Bears to a 23-game winning streak and five weeks at No. 1, was second with 13 votes.

San Diego State's Brian Dutcher was third with 12 votes after leading the Aztecs to a 26-0 start, followed by Florida State's Leonard Hamilton, who earned six votes after leading the Seminoles to their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Grant, a former Dayton player, said he has some of the same what-if thoughts as his star player. Still, he said he prefers to be grateful for "a special group" that deftly handled the added attention and pressure that came quickly amid the Flyers' steady climb up the rankings.

"I thought our guys' ability to stay focused on the things they could control really told the story of our year," Grant said. "I think from the beginning of the year to the end, there was a consistency that our guys played with, which as a coach makes me really proud."

___

PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTING

Obi Toppin, Dayton (34)

Luka Garza, Iowa (24)

Markus Howard, Marquette (3)

Udoka Azubuike, Kansas (2)

Payton Pritchard, Oregon (2)

___

COACH OF THE YEAR VOTING

Anthony Grant, Dayton (30)

Scott Drew, Baylor (13)

Brian Dutcher, San Diego State (12)

Leonard Hamilton, Florida State (6)

Mark Few, Gonzaga (2)

Steve Pikiell, Rutgers (1)

Bill Self, Kansas (1)

The Tokyo Olympics are officially postponed until 2021, but Team USA's leadership is recommitting itself to stay in the job.

USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and head coach Gregg Popovich remain committed to the team into 2021, Colangelo said Tuesday. Both men's futures in their roles had been uncertain after this summer.

"The commitments everyone made for 2020 are still there; we're all-in and we're committed," Colangelo said. "It's important to deal with the unknowns and this virus. This too shall pass and we'll be back for everyone's well-being."

Earlier this year, Colangelo and Popovich had announced a 44-man preliminary roster that was loaded with the top Americans in the game, with stars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Kevin Durant (despite his Achilles injury) registering official interest in defending the gold medal.

All of that is in flux, as neither the Olympics nor the NBA have any firm dates for their respective future calendars. Last week in an interview with ESPN, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said it was possible the NBA's calendar could shift in the future and possibly move later in the year.

Nothing is certain, but there is a possibility that the fallout from the suspended events this year could ended up causing the NBA and Olympics to have some conflicts. Prior to the postponement, Team USA training was scheduled to begin July 4 with the Olympics starting July 24.

"We will follow the leader. We have to wait to see how everything is laid out and we'll make the adjustment," Colangelo said. "Our players are NBA players first, let's face that."

Team USA had exhibitions tentatively planned this summer in Las Vegas, in San Francisco at the new Chase Center and in Shanghai before going to Tokyo. All of those will be postponed.

"Changing the window for the NBA is easier said than done. There's a lot of logistics and contracts to deal with," Colangelo said. "Same for the Olympics. You have to assume it will be around the same dates."

On Tuesday, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were officially postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For USA Basketball, the postponement of the Games means the men's and women's national teams will have to wait another year to defend the gold medals they won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The men's national team is coming off a seventh-place finish at the FIBA World Cup in China last year. Now it will have to wait to avenge that disappointment, though who'll be on the team when it attempts to do so is just one of the many questions raised by Tuesday's announcement.

MORE: When will the NBA return? Latest updates amid coronavirus suspension

Could the Olympics and the NBA season now conflict?

Yes. Japan and the International Olympic Committee are not certain when the Tokyo Olympics will take place. While the summer of 2021 remains a strong possibility, the Games could move to earlier in the 2021 calendar, possibly spring.

Furthermore, commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the NBA's calendar could change, perhaps shifting the NBA schedule forward.

As a result of these potential changes, the Olympics and the NBA season could run concurrently or close to it.

What will happen to the Team USA roster?

The roster and selection pool are in complete flux. USA Basketball named 44 finalists for the Olympic roster earlier this year and planned to select a 12-player team from that group in late June or early July, without further tryouts.

Now that preliminary roster is likely to be revamped or discarded, and the process will start again once there's a new date for the Tokyo Games.

There was strong interest among veteran stars -- including two-time Olympic gold medalist LeBron James, who will turn 36 before next year, and Stephen Curry, who has yet to compete in the Olympics -- to play for the team this summer, but everyone's priorities are being reset.

Some players might be able to return to health and compete because of the postponement, including 2016 gold medalist Kyrie Irving and two-time gold medalist Kevin Durant.

Is it possible the NBA won't be able to send its top players?

Yes. Even if the Olympics and the NBA season do not conflict directly, players could be coming off a grueling 12-to-15-month schedule that could include squeezing in the remainder of the 2019-20 season and then playing the 2020-21 season on a tighter-than-normal timeline.

For top players who typically have long playoff runs, especially older players, that might impact interest. For example, Chris Paul would be 36, Curry would be 33 and James Harden and Russell Westbrook would be turning 32 by the fall of 2021. Durant would be almost 33.

On the other hand, many of the league's best young players, including Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Trae Young, De'Aaron Fox and others -- were left off the 44-man roster. If some veterans don't play, it could give younger stars an opportunity to represent Team USA.

With the college basketball calendar likely not changing -- the NCAA has already canceled this season and plans to start next season as normal -- it's possible top college players could be recruited as well.

What happens to Gregg Popovich? Will he remain Team USA's coach?

There was some uncertainty about Popovich coaching the San Antonio Spurs past the 2019-20 NBA season -- some thinking he would finish the NBA season, coach the Olympic team and then ride off into the sunset.

On Tuesday, Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo told ESPN that both he and Popovich would remain with the program through the Tokyo Games. Colangelo had previously said 2020 would be his last year with USA Basketball.

That Popovich would want to continue coaching isn't a surprise. Popovich is passionate about this job, pouring hours into the role over the last several years. Considering the team's miserable seventh-place finish in the World Cup last year, it's hard to believe Popovich would want that to be his only showing as the national team coach.

Which countries might benefit from a delay? Which countries might suffer?

The delay might benefit Team Canada, which had yet to qualify for the Olympics. The Canadians were scheduled to host a qualifying tournament in June -- one they likely would have been favored to win. But that event was in danger of being canceled due to coronavirus concerns. Under that scenario, the remaining Olympic spots would have been filled via FIBA's world rankings -- and Canada, currently ranked 21st, wouldn't have qualified.

Additionally, the Canadians could potentially have several players -- including Tristan Thompson (free agency) and Dwight Powell (torn Achilles) -- available to play next summer that they wouldn't have had available to them this year.

One team that could suffer is Australia. A strong contender to get their first-ever medal, the Aussies have an older team led by veteran Andrew Bogut and guards Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. The delay will make them older. But one positive could be the improved health for star Ben Simmons. He had been sidelined due to a back injury before the worldwide stoppage, and a year's delay could give enough time to fully remedy the issue.

Rory Lawson says he has "been through the mill" dealing with coronavirus symptoms over the past eight days.

The former Scotland captain, 39, has had a cough, fever and aches and added that he feels "lucky" not to have been hospitalised.

"I'm not someone to get ill," he told BBC Sport.

"I've never had a day off school sick. I didn't have a day out of rugby ill. It's definitely surprised me. It's been a real slap in the face."

On Monday, the UK and Scottish governments urged people to stay home to help curb the spread of the pandemic and ease the pressure on health services.

And Lawson hopes his experience will "wake a few people up" to heed that the "younger people are not exempt from an attack from this coronavirus".

"I think I may be close to 50-ish per cent now," he said.

"I just felt totally floored, totally empty. Just when I thought I was out of of the woods with the fever symptoms, the other symptoms just kept coming.

"I've been three or four days now without being able to smell or taste anything. My cough is still sticking around stubbornly.

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone. You're helping others by not going out and keeping the distancing to the recommended level."

'If rugby hiatus takes three months, it takes three months'

Lawson says having to reschedule the remaining Six Nations matches as well as European and domestic rugby is "a really difficult scenario" but is the right thing to do.

And he added: "If we don't get things right and this virus continues to spread and snowball and get worse and worse then who knows when the seasons can pick up anyway?

"If we follow the guidelines then we can all be out the other end of this quicker than if we don't. That'll mean saving lives, that'll mean everyone can get back to normal. If that takes three months, it takes three months.

"Let's just try and do our bit to make sure that it is the minimum level that it needs to be. It's a horrible, horrible virus."

SEATTLE — Informally, NHRA’s recent changes to its Countdown to the Championship requirements will be known as “The Billy Torrence Rule.”

In late January, the sanctioning body expanded its field of title-eligible racers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Since 2008, only the top 10 in each class could contend for the series title after the first 18 races.

The new format will allow racers who are ranked 11th or below by the end of the 18th race, the U.S. Nationals atLucas Oil Raceway, to race for the title — provided they show up at all scheduled events in the so-called “regular season.” That’s 18 races for Top Fuel and Funny Car, 13 for Pro Stock and 11 for the bikes.

NHRA officials deserve some credit for recognizing something needed to change. But their ready-fire-aim response missed the source of the problem: The cost of racing is too steep.

It’s a pat-on-the-head gesture that’s aimed at boosting car counts without understanding why car counts are sometimes low. Certainly, it was disappointing to Top Fuel owner-drivers Terry McMillen and Scott Palmer last fall to miss the Countdown after competing at all 18 races.

It felt especially perturbing because part-timer Billy Torrence skipped eight of the first 18 races, won two of the 10 he showed up for and was runner-up at another two, made the Countdown at No. 10, and won two of the final six to finish fifth.

Torrence didn’t do anything wrong. His son Steve Torrence, who earned his second straight Top Fuel championship, said, “It’s just a flaw in their points system that we were able to exploit.” The reigning champ called the situation “borderline embarrassing” for the sport.

Moreover, Top Fuel owner-driver Mike Salinas sat out three of the first 18 races, won twice and took the No. 5 Countdown berth. In 2014, Pro Stock’s Erica Enders omitted two summer races and ended up claiming the first of her three championships.

Bob Vandergriff Racing almost exposed the weaknesses in the system in 2018, when Blake Alexander ran a limited number of Top Fuel events and won twice. He could have made the Countdown as a part-timer, had he been scheduled to compete in an extra race or two. But the team owner didn’t see any need to spend more money for the “honor” of running the final six races, which weren’t in his budget. It was the same team, same scenario for rookie Jordan Vandergriff last year.

It’s difficult to imagine that any racer who couldn’t afford to attend the first 18 races deciding to spend more money for the privilege of saying he was in the Countdown.

Top Fuel owner-driver Jim Maroney was right that the new rule “means absolutely nothing to anybody.”

Billy Torrence will continue to race part time. So will Maroney. Salinas will skip the first four events. The Top Fuel class is hurting for touring regulars to fill out its field of 16. But Justin Ashley, Pat Dakin, Lex Joon, Shawn Reed, Audrey Worm, T.J. Zizzo and newest Top Fuel licensee  Brandon Welch aren’t enticed to sign up for 18 races.

J.R. Todd, the 2018 Funny Car champion, said, “I don’t think that’s going to bring in more cars.”

Shawn Langdon, the 2013 Top Fuel champion, said, “You got to have full fields. I get that. But I’ve never been one for participation trophies. You play to win. You race to win. That’s the glory of the playoffs by having the best teams out there, not just those that keep showing up throughout the year. I think a couple people want to have that on their résumé at the end of the year, but I don’t think sponsors are flooding in just based off of people’s resumes that said they made the Countdown.

“But they do need to make a direction toward maintaining full fields at all the races, so I applaud them for their efforts,” Langdon added. “But my personal opinion is participation trophies never got anybody anywhere.”

Welch and Ashley want to live within their means.

“They made that change, I think, with the idea that they would provide an incentive to somebody. It doesn’t provide an incentive to me,” Welch said. “The key is that as a team owner you don’t want to overextend yourself just because you can. Just because you can make the Countdown, but you have to add four races that weren’t in the budget, that’s probably not a good idea. If I’m Billy Torrence, I don’t have to go to all 18 and I’d likely still make the Countdown anyway. Billy Torrence can afford it, but he doesn’t want to, so it doesn’t really provide an incentive.”

Ashley, meanwhile, wants to conduct his Top Fuel program in an intelligent manner.

“We’re not going to go out of our way to schedule our races around that,” Ashley said. “But we’re going to take one race at a time, just look at our results and then make an informed decision from there. We’re focused on ourselves. We’ve got to be the best team that we can be. We’d rather go to 12 events and have an opportunity to win each event than be at 24 events and spread ourselves too thin.”

“It’s not going to entice the lower-funded teams, like mine,” Maroney noted. “I don’t understand what’s being accomplished by it.”