PRO FOOTBALL
WASHINGTON (AP) - Opening another legal attack on the NFL over the long-term health of its athletes, a group of retired players accused the league in a lawsuit Tuesday of cynically supplying them with powerful painkillers and other drugs that kept them in the game but led to serious complications later in life.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages on behalf of more than 500 ex-athletes, charges the NFL with putting profits ahead of players’ health.
To speed injured athletes’ return to the field, team doctors and trainers dispensed drugs illegally, without obtaining prescriptions or warning of the possible side effects, the plaintiffs contend.
Some football players said they were never told they had broken bones and were instead fed pills to mask the pain. One said that instead of surgery, he was given anti-inflammatory drugs and excused from practices so he could play in games. Others said that after years of free pills from the NFL, they retired addicted to painkillers.
ATLANTA (AP) - Build it and the Super Bowl will come.
That message rang loud and clear Tuesday when Minneapolis was awarded the 2018 game after a vote by owners rewarded the city for its new stadium deal.
The owners chose Minneapolis and the $1 billion stadium planned for the site of the old Metrodome to host the championship over New Orleans and Indianapolis.
“In large part, it was due to recognition of the great work they’ve done on the stadium,” Commissioner Roger Goodell noted.
New Orleans bid committee members were certain the new Minneapolis stadium, set to open in 2016, swung the vote. The stadium will hold up to 72,000 for the Super Bowl.
MAYS LANDING, N.J. (AP) - Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice has received initial approval to enter a court program that could result in dismissal of an assault charge against him in New Jersey.
The decision announced Tuesday relates to an aggravated assault charge Rice faces following a Feb. 15 incident with his then-girlfriend in an Atlantic City casino elevator. The couple married a day after Rice was indicted.
Atlantic County acting prosecutor Jim McClain said the decision was made after his office “considered all relevant information.”
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