Adjournment of NBA Hearing Slows Process

The NBA’s arbitration hearing on guaranteed contracts is going to take a lot longer than expected.

A nine-day adjournment was announced Tuesday, meaning a verdict might not come until October, when training camps are expected to open.

Tuesday was supposed to have been the final day of the two-day hearing in New York. Instead, three dates have been added, Sept. 3, 4 and 8.

Arbitrator John Feerick will have 30 days to render his decision. The season is scheduled to start Nov. 4.

The hearing concerns the union’s claim that owners should be liable for about $800 million in salaries due to 220 players who have guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season. The league contends employees never get paid during lockouts.

Hockey

Despite low NHL television ratings, the Walt Disney Co. says it is confident it will turn a profit on its new five-year, $600-million television contract.

The deal, announced in New York, gives the NHL 2.6 times more money than ESPN and Fox Sports paid under the contract that expires after this season. The league will get $350 million for the cable rights on ESPN and $250 million for the broadcast rights on ABC, both owned by Disney.

“We will make money,” said Steve Bornstein, president of ESPN and ABC Sports. “We believe through exclusivity and cross-promotion that we will be able to increase ratings and ad rates.”

The Chicago Blackhawks sent goaltender Chris Terreri to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional pick in next year’s draft. Terreri broke into the NHL with the Devils more than a decade ago. . . . Defenseman Ray Giroux, a star at Yale the last four years, was acquired by the New York Islanders from the Philadelphia Flyers for a sixth-round draft choice in 2000.

Tennis

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil won a South American showdown, upsetting top-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), in the opening round of the Hamlet Cup at Commack, N.Y.

Earlier, second-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia flirted with defeat before breaking Javier Sanchez’s serve in the final game of a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the Spaniard.

Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Rita Grande of Italy, 6-4, 6-3, and advanced to the second round of the Pilot Pen International women’s tournament at New Haven, Conn. Also, qualifier Virginia Ruano-Pascual beat Anne Miller, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Ruano-Pascual will face top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the second round.

Golf

Joel Kribel of Pleasanton, Calif., shot a 66 to top match-play qualifiers in the rain-interrupted U.S. Amateur at Rochester, N.Y. After a 30-minute delay caused by lightning and rain, a downpour suspended play with 94 players still on the courses at Oak Hill, the venue for the 1995 Ryder Cup.

Track & Field

World champions Maurice Greene and Marion Jones won 100-meter dashes at the Athletissima Grand Prix meet at Lausanne, Switzerland. Greene won in 9.92 seconds. Jones clocked 10.72.

Soccer

Tonight’s U.S. Open Cup final between Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew was switched to Thursday at 7 p.m. because of the expected impact of Hurricane Bonnie in the vicinity of Virginia Beach, Va., site of the final.

Names in the News

Point guard Charles O’Neal, a junior college transfer from Jacksonville, Fla., has been declared academically ineligible for the fall semester at Long Beach State, forcing him to miss the 49ers’ first nine basketball games.

A trial in a civil suit has opened in St. Louis in which Angela Link, a former college girlfriend of Anthony Peeler, is seeking unspecified damages for what she says was a physical attack in 1992 by the Minnesota Timberwolves guard. Link claims that Peeler, a former University of Missouri star, choked, bit her and held a pistol to her head.

Driver Max Papis is leaving his CART FedEx Championship Series team to become Bobby Rahal’s successor next year, according to Cal Wells III, co-owner of Papis’ current team, Arciero-Wells Racing. Team Rahal spokesman Scott Reisz said, “We have not signed a driver to replace Bobby at this point.”

Three-time Olympic medalist Steve Timmons will be inducted to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Mass. He will be joined by fellow Olympians Craig Buck, Dusty Dvorak and Paula Weishoff. Japanese coach Yasutaka Matsudaira and volleyball organizer Bill Baird also will be enshrined.

Bruce Baumgartner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been elected president of USA Wrestling.

Tom Kipp, who pitched for the first USC national championship baseball team, in 1948, died at 76 in Middletown, Calif.

UCLA’s Josh Keller (soccer), Josh Johnson (track and field) and Nada Kawar (women’s track and field) were awarded NCAA postgraduate scholarships. The NCAA annually awards 174 postgraduate scholarships to students who have excelled academically and athletically and are in their last year of college competition.