The Kraft Group, which owns the Patriots and Revolution, is part of a group bidding to buy Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to an ESPN report. The price tag is in the $4.1 billion range, ESPN reported, and two groups have submitted offers, although both are working to finalize financing. The WME-IMG/Dalian Wanda Group has reached out to investors seeking $25 million to $50 million, and the Kraft Group has agreed, according to the report. The second group is China Media Capital. ESPN reported last month that UFC was for sale, although officials have been tight-lipped on the matter, and reported on Thursday that bidding for UFC is close to an end.
Baseball
Mets’ Wright out after neck surgery
New York Mets third baseman David Wright will be sidelined indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck in Marina del Rey, Calif. The decision to proceed with the operation was made after Wright went through weeks of tests, rest, and anti-inflammatory injections . . . Hall of Famer Joe Torre, 75, currently Major League Baseball’s chief baseball officer, was chosen as general manager for Team USA in the 2017 World Baseball Classic . . . Phillies minor league pitcher Alec Asher, 24, was suspended 80 games after he tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a banned performance-enhancing substance. . . . Minnesota Twins closer Glen Perkins will miss the rest of the season because of a persistent left shoulder injury that will require surgery, manager Paul Molitor confirmed before Thursday night’s game against the Yankees.
Hockey
Hurricanes sign G Ward to extension
The Carolina Hurricanes signed goaltender Cam Ward, the only remaining player from the franchise’s 2006 Stanley Cup championship squad, to a two-year, $6.6 million contract extension that allowed him to avoid free agency. Ward will be paid $3.5 million next season and $3.1 million in 2017-18, keeping the 32-year-old netminder with the team that selected him in the first round of the 2002 draft. ‘‘Obviously I’ve been here for my whole career — Raleigh [N.C.] and the Hurricanes are really the only place that I know, and we consider it home,’’ Ward said . . . In a move aimed at restructuring the team’s leadership after two straight early summers, Anze Kopitar supplanted Dustin Brown as captain of the Los Angeles Kings, two years after Brown accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for the second time. “It’s time for Kopitar to take over,’’ said Kings president Dean Lombardi. ‘‘He’s one of our best players, and he’s moving into his prime. It’s his turn.’’ . . . The Arizona Coyotes dealt a fifth-round draft choice to the Dallas Stars for the exclusive negotiating rights to pending free agent defenseman Alex Goligoski until July 1.
Football
DISH drops NFL Network, NFL RedZone
DISH Network’s satellite distribution system dropped the NFL Network and NFL RedZone, representing the first time in the NFL Network’s 13-year history one of its service providers has discontinued to offer the network, which will continue to be distributed to more than 60 million households across the US, to its subscribers . . . The Miami Dolphins signed running back Kenyan Drake, a third-round pick out of Alabama, to a four-year contract. Drake’s signing means the Dolphins now have all eight of their draft picks under contract . . . Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, who grew up in Orlando and played collegiately at Central Florida, committed $10,000 from his foundation to the OneOrlando Fund to help the needs of the community after the Pulse dance club massacre.
Golf
Thompson seizes lead at Meijer LPGA
Defending champion Lexi Thompson shot a 6-under-par 65 for a share of the Meijer LPGA Classic lead at Belmont, Mich., with Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko, and Ariya Jutanugarn close behind. The 21-year-old Thompson played the front nine — her final nine at Blythefield — in 6 under.
Colleges
Ex-Baylor coach Briles blasts school
Fired Baylor football coach Art Briles ripped his former employer, accusing the school of wrongful termination and indicating he has no interest in settling a federal lawsuit filed against him and the university by a woman who was raped by a football player. In a motion filed as part of the lawsuit, Briles said he wants new attorneys separate from the school, and his personal attorney said Baylor used the coach as a scapegoat in its mishandling of sexual assault allegations . . . Dartmouth hired Laura Schuler as its ninth women’s hockey coach in nearly four decades . . . UConn football coach Bob Diaco and his wife, Julia, are donating $250,000 toward the construction of new soccer, baseball, and softball facilities at the school . . . Norfolk State vacated 97 wins in women’s bowling, volleyball, softball, football, baseball, and men’s tennis, three conference championships and will spend two years on probation after an NCAA investigation found the school allowed 48 ineligible student-athletes were allowed to compete over a period of four years.
Miscellany
IAAF: Russians to learn of Olympic fate
Russia will learn Friday if its track and field athletes will be allowed to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, as more damning evidence of doping irregularities pours in. The latest World Anti-Doping Agency report on the obstruction of drug-testing in Russia came shortly before the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, was to meet in Vienna to decide whether to admit Russia’s athletes to the Olympics . . . NBA star Pau Gasol is considering freezing his sperm to avoid Zika as he mulls a decision to compete for Spain at the Olympics in Rio . . . Tina Charles tied a career high with 32 points, Swin Cash reached 5,000 career points and the New York Liberty beat the host Connecticut Sun, 80-72 . . . Karima Christmas and Odyssey Sims each scored 17 points as the Dallas Wings snapped a six-game losing streak with an 88-79 victory over the Seattle Storm, which got 29 points from rookie Breanna Stewart.