Winnipeg’s Last Attempt to Save Jets Fails

A final attempt to sell the Jets to a group wanting to keep them in Winnipeg failed Wednesday, and the NHL said the franchise probably will be moved.

After team officials met with representatives of the Manitoba government and the private sector, seeking to keep the team, a tearful Barry Shenkarow, the Jets’ owner and president, said, “I quite frankly don’t care where it goes.”

Said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: “It appears that no one in the private sector believes, after extensive analysis, that a team in Winnipeg is economically viable.”

Several U.S. groups have been mentioned as possible buyers, with one led by former health care executive Richard Burke considered the front-runner for a team expected to command a price of about $65 million. That would take the Jets to Minneapolis, but cable television mogul Ted Turner also is interested in bringing them to Atlanta.

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Lorne Henning was fired as coach of the New York Islanders. . . . Canada’s Dale DeGray and Jean-Francois Jomphe scored goals within 50 seconds of each other in the first period of a 4-1 victory over the United States in the quarterfinals of the World Hockey Championship in Stockholm.

Football

Michigan Coach Gary Moeller was so intoxicated after his arrest last weekend that jail officials refused to admit him, suggesting he be taken to a hospital to check for alcohol poisoning, police reports indicate. He was arrested Friday night in suburban Detroit after punching an officer, and reports say he was taken in handcuffs to Providence Hospital, where he screamed profanity at patients and officers until nurses asked police to isolate him in a room.

The university named Keith Molin to head its internal investigation of Moeller, who has been suspended with pay.

Seattle Seahawk Coach Dennis Erickson chose to defer his prosecution on drunk-driving charges and begin two years of treatment for his drinking problem. Erickson was arrested April 15 near Marysville, Wash., and a breath test measured his blood-alcohol level at 0.23%.

The Cincinnati Bengals terminated the contract of running back Steve Broussard, who was injured twice last season. . . . The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed linebacker Derrick Brooks, the 28th player selected in last month’s NFL draft, to a four-year contract.

Jurisprudence

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson answered questions under oath in Somerville, N.J., about accusations that in 1988 he sexually assaulted his ex-wife’s former publicist, Phyliss Polaner, who has filed a lawsuit.

Tennis

Sixth-seeded Aaron Krickstein, slowed because of an injured hamstring, lost to Brett Steven, 7-5, 6-2, in the second round of the AT&T; Challenge in Duluth, Ga.

Martina Hingis, 14, of Switzerland defeated Jana Novotna, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the $430,000 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany. Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez also moved to the quarterfinals by beating Radka Zrubakova, 6-1, 6-4.

Miscellany

U.S. track and field athletes will be subject to unannounced drug testing, beginning June 1, under a plan approved by USA Track & Field’s executive committee.

Dino Baggio scored in the fifth minute, giving Parma a 1-0 victory of Juventus of Turin in the first leg of the all-Italian UEFA Cup final at Parma, Italy.

University of Tennessee athletes and other students are being questioned about thousands of dollars in fraudulently billed long-distance phone calls. The university is investigating 17,000 long-distance calls made from dormitories that were charged to an internal access code assigned to an employee. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported as many as 100 athletes are being questioned. Freshman football player Andy McCullough said, “I’ll put it this way: Everybody on the team knew about that number. If we do get into trouble, we won’t have a team.”

Leon Van Bon of the Netherlands won the seventh stage of the Tour DuPont, a 150-mile cycling race from Concord, N.C., to Greenville, S.C., in 5 hours 52 minutes 34 seconds, and Lance Armstrong of Austin, Tex., retained the overall lead for the fourth day.

Names in the News

Former Cincinnati Red outfielder Gus Bell, 66, was listed in serious condition after suffering a heart attack. . . . North Carolina center Rasheed Wallace reportedly will announce that he is giving up his last two years of eligibility to play in the NBA. . . . Tim Jorgensen of Wisconsin Oshkosh became NCAA Division III’s career home run leader with 61 as he hit four in a doubleheader sweep of St. Norbert. . . . Hector Camacho Jr., 16, son of the former boxing champion, scored a unanimous decision over 139-pounder Ishe Smith in the Golden Gloves national tournament at Lowell, Mass.