Cable TV Company Bids to Purchase Flyers, 76ers

Cable television company Comcast Corp. confirmed Friday that it is negotiating to buy Philadelphia’s two indoor sports arenas and the Flyers and 76ers.

A successful completion would result in one of the richest deals in sports history, but the Philadelphia-based firm says no agreement has been reached and added “there is no assurance that any such agreement will be concluded.”

Newspaper and broadcast reports have said Comcast would pay about $500 million for 60% of the NHL Flyers and complete ownership of the NBA 76ers, the 18,000-seat CoreStates Spectrum and the $210-million 21,000-seat Core States Center, scheduled to open this summer.

Jurisprudence

Ron Weaver, who played football at L.A. Pierce College and the University of Texas under the name of Ron McKelvey after exhausting his own college eligibility years before, will plead guilty to a federal charge of misusing Social Security numbers and will get probation. Weaver, 30, used the name and Social Security number of McKelvey to play two seasons at Pierce and one at Texas before he was discovered on Dec. 30.

Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr has been hired by NFL players to argue their case before the Supreme Court on March 25.

Football players want to the court to award $30.3 million to rookies subject to the league’s $1,000-a-week cap on players who were on developmental squads.

Quarterback Doug Flutie signed a two-year deal with the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts that is reportedly worth $2 million, with bonuses. . . . The Cincinnati Bengals signed unrestricted free-agent linebacker Gerald Dixon, who played for the Cleveland Browns last season, and re-signed cornerback Roger Jones. . . . The Chicago Bears signed offensive tackle James “Big Cat” Williams to a four-year, $9.2-million contract.

Tennis

Unseeded Tim Henman beat defending champion Martin Sinner, 7-5, 6-1, in the Copenhagen Open to reach his second consecutive ATP semifinal.

Winter Sports

Ids Postma of the Netherlands won the first gold medal in the inaugural World Single Distance Speedskating Championships at Hamar, Norway, taking the men’s 5,000-meter event in 6 minutes 47.09 seconds.

Austria, with Martin Hollwarth, Reinhard Schwarzenberger, Andreas Widhlzl and Andreas Goldberger, collected 888.5 points and won a normal-hill team ski jumping competition at Oslo.

Donna Weinbrecht collected an unprecedented fifth World Cup freestyle ski title at Altenmarkt, Austria, and Jim Moran completed an American sweep by winning the men’s event.

Miscellany

Pro Stock Bike rider Dave Schultz made a pass of 7.386 seconds and 182.85 mph to break the national elapsed time and speed records during first-day qualifying in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. He later made a 184.57-mph pass. . . . The Ferrari 333SP driven by Italy’s Max Papis has the pole for today’s 61-car IMSA’s Sebring International endurance race in Florida.

J.J. Isler, skipper of the first all-woman sailing crew in the 32 years of the Congressional Cup, beat co-leader Peter Holmberg of the Virgin Islands by 53 seconds. It was only her second victory in 15 races. Holmberg and New Zealand’s Gavin Brady are tied at 12-3 behind France’s Thierry Peponnet (13-3).

Judge Thomas Cecil rejected another plea by Standardbred owner Ronald Zumbrun for a class action suit against Los Alamitos Race Course in a continuing battle over harness racing dates.