The NCAA is asking a federal appeals court to reject a legal effort to make colleges pay Division I athletes an hourly wage. Lawyers for the students say that weekly, they spend 30 hours or more on their sport, and often need money for expenses even if they are on scholarship. The NCAA says the idea would cause chaos, and leave student-athletes with a tax bill for their scholarships. 

A Texas prosecutor said Wednesday he will dismiss a felony domestic violence case against former Texas basketball coach Chris Beard, in part because of the alleged victim's wishes not to prosecute. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said after a review of the evidence, and considering the wishes of Beard's fiancée, his office could not prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Tiger Woods could only make it through 16 holes of his pro-am at the Genesis Invitational in the wind and cold. The good news? He had no trouble getting up the 52 steps to the clubhouse at Riviera. The real test comes on Thursday when Woods plays against a full field of the world's best players for the first time since the British Open. Adding to the challenge is that Woods has never fared very well at Riviera. He once either won or was runner-up in 10 out of 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour. The exception was a tie for 18th at Riviera.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce promised thousands of fans celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl championship Wednesday that the team will be back for more. During a boisterous victory rally at downtown's Union Station after a parade, Mahomes and Kelce joked about “experts” who predicted the just-concluded NFL season would be a rebuilding year for the Chiefs, who defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday.

Native Americans are bracing for what they say are racist traditions as the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs embarked Wednesday on a victory lap with a hometown parade. The team won their championship in Arizona, where tribal reservations make up at least a quarter of the land base. This past week, there has been a complicated mix of delight for the NFL involving Native and Indigenous cultures but disdain for appropriation. 

The presidents of Ukrainian and Russian Olympic committees fought together as teammates at the 1992 Barcelona Games and won a gold medal in fencing for the post-Soviet Unified Team. They are now on opposite sides of the war that Russia is waging on Ukraine. They're fighting each other in a growing split within the Olympic movement over whether Russia and ally Belarus should be barred from next year's Paris Games.

The chancellor at New Mexico State expressed his confidence in athletic director Mario Moccia less than a week after the men's basketball team was shut down for what the chancellor said was a culture of bad behavior, egregious violations of the student code of conduct and other "despicable acts." In addition to professing his full confidence in Moccia, chancellor Dan Arvizu said at a news conference that he was confident the behavior that led to the cancellation of the season and firing of head coach Greg Heiar was not reflective of the athletic department or the school overall.

Sweden emerging as the front-runner in a troubled search for a 2030 Olympics host is a surprise in Stockholm. The year started with Sweden not on the radar of the race. Longtime favorite Sapporo faded during a bribery investigation linked to the recent Tokyo Olympics.