Sports digest

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2000

LeClair gets $7-million in arbitration

John LeClair won the largest arbitration award in NHL history Friday, getting a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers for $7-million.

The previous high came in 1998 when St. Louis center Pierre Turgeon got $4.65-million.

LeClair was seeking a one-year salary of $9-million. The Flyers countered with an offer of $4.6-million. LeClair's salary represents a 92 percent pay hike from the average of his last contract, a three-year deal. The one-year contract allows him to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.

"We respect the arbitrator's decision," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said. "We will continue our efforts to sign John to a long-term deal. John has requested that talks be suspended when training camp starts. We respect his wishes and will try over the next month to sign him to a long-term contract."

LeClair has averaged 47 goals a season in the past five years, the most of any active player. He had 40 goals and 77 points last season.

MORE NHL: Former Lightning forward Steve Guolla, a restricted free agent, agreed to terms to stay with Atlanta. Guolla, 27, set career highs last season with 29 points, 19 assists and 66 games, split between the Thrashers and Tampa Bay. ... Dallas got right wing David Ling from Chicago for future considerations. ... Avalanche captain Joe Sakic is preparing for salary arbitration talks in Toronto next week. Sakic, a nine-time All-Star who led Colorado in scoring last season, would prefer a long-term deal. ... Toronto re-signed defenseman Danny Markov, a restricted free agent.

TENNIS: Upset by Amy Frazier last week at the Acura Classic, Martina Hingis turned the tables, beating Frazier 6-2, 6-1 in the estyle.com Classic at Manhattan Beach, Calif. Hingis faces defending champion and fifth seed Serena Williams, who beat Conchita Martinez late Thursday, in today's semifinals. In another quarterfinal, Elena Dementieva defeated Lisa Raymond 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. ... French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten beat Todd Martin 6-7 (7-0), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the quarterfinals of the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati at Mason, Ohio. In today's semifinals, Kuerten faces 15th seed Tim Henman, who beat Fabrice Santoro 6-1, 6-4. Late Thursday, Henman defeated Pete Sampras for the first time in seven career tries, 6-3, 6-4.

SOCCER: Hoping to maximize home-field advantage, American officials would like to limit the sale of seats closest to the field to those fans most supportive of the U.S. men's team for an upcoming World Cup qualifying match at RFK Stadium in Washington. That would largely restrict fans rooting for the U.S. opponent, Guatemala, to the upper deck for the Sept. 3 game. ... Jim Gabarra was the first coach hired in the new women's professional league, the WUSA. He will lead the Washington franchise of the eight-team league that begins in April.

BOXING: Evander Holyfield believes he should still be the heavyweight champion. And John Ruiz thinks he's the best challenger around. If both were right, tonight's fight in Las Vegas for the WBA portion of the title would be a major event. But the title was vacated by Lennox Lewis because of a court order, Holyfield is aging and Ruiz has mostly fought no-names. Holyfield, 37, is 36-4-1 with 25 knockouts. Ruiz, 28, is 36-3 with 27 KOs.

CYCLING: France's sports minister cautioned against misinterpreting the results of drug screening on this year's Tour de France cyclists that showed 45 percent of urine tests came back positive for banned substances. "Banned substances were detected, but there were prescription medications," Marie-George Buffet told Europe-1 radio.

HORSE RACING: Lemon Drop Kid, a leading candidate for Horse of the Year, will retire to stud after the Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. ... The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has given preliminary approval to a merger with the Breeders' Cup. The deal is expected to close in 30 to 60 days. ... Hallowed Dreams, a 3-year-old filly which has not raced outside Louisiana, will push Cigar, Citation and Mister Frisky aside in the record books if it wins tonight's 6-furlong $35,000 Millennium Stakes at Evangeline (La.) Downs. Unlike the other three horses that share the American mark with 16 consecutive victories, Hallowed Dreams never has raced in graded stakes or beyond 61/2 furlongs.

TRACK AND FIELD: Maurice Greene won the 100 meters in the Weltklasse Golden League meet at Zurich, Switzerland. Marion Jones edged Inger Miller in the women's 100 by 0.01 seconds, then took the long jump by half an inch. Hicham El Guerrouj and Gabriela Szabo ran the fastest times of the season in the men's 1,500 and women's 3,000, respectively.

NCAA: Increased money for TV rights helped boost the NCAA's annual budget to $325.6-million, up $22.2-million from last year. Most of the new revenue comes a $14.6-million increase in TV rights.

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