TENNIS
Equal pay and off day to stay Wimbledon agreed to equal pay for men and women, phased out curtsies to the Royal Box and is building a retractable roof over Centre Court.
However, Wimbledon officials ruled out scheduling matches on the middle Sunday -- except as an "emergency option" in the event of a major weather backlog.
Wimbledon champions will each receive $1.49 million this year, an increase of 5.8 percent. Total prize money for the two-week tournament will increase 3.4 percent to $23.46 million. Last year marked the first time women earned equal prize money at the grass-court Grand Slam.
FOOTBALL
Rose Bowl viewed as roadblock If only the Big Ten and Pac-10 weren't so stubbornly loyal to the Rose Bowl, the BCS would be on its way to a playoff.
That perception has allowed the other conferences to be safely noncommittal about the possibility of turning the Bowl Championship Series into a four-team major college football playoff.
"I think the characterization of the Big Ten and Pac-10 being at one place and everyone else being at the other place, I don't think it's accurate," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told reporters during a break in the BCS meetings in Hollywood, Fla.
"Just because somebody says they're open-minded and interested in looking at other models doesn't mean they're committed to it."
Clearly the Rose Bowl and its separate TV contract with ABC is a major hurdle for the BCS to clear if it wants to adopt the new "plus-one" format. Delany and Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen have said they do not support it. One magazine even dubbed the Rose Bowl alliance 'The Axis of Obstruction."
