THE INSIDE TRACK : Newswire : NCAA Declared Winner in Fight With Adidas

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Adidas America Inc. to keep the NCAA from limiting the size of commercial logos on uniforms.

The Portland (Ore.) subsidiary of the European apparel and footwear company sued the NCAA last November in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., saying the NCAA’s bylaw limiting the size and number of logos on uniforms violated antitrust laws.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Van Bebber in March denied the company’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and in an order filed last week dismissed the lawsuit, the NCAA said Tuesday at Indianapolis.

“This is an important decision for the NCAA and for intercollegiate athletics,” NCAA President Cedric Dempsey said. “The judge agreed with us.

“Adidas has many other opportunities to get its message across to consumers other than on the backs of college players.”

Said Adidas spokesman John Fread, “We are disappointed in the ruling. We are going to ask the judge to reconsider it and if that is unsuccessful we will file an appeal.”

Boxing

Months of fragile negotiations for the rematch of one of boxing’s most controversial recent fights ended with Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis signing contracts over the weekend that will pay them about $15 million each to fight again Nov. 13 in Las Vegas.

Lewis still believes something was wrong at ringside in the first fight.

So does Holyfield, although, unlike Lewis, he said it had nothing to do with funny judging.

“I was cramping going into the ring and that was my biggest problem,” Holyfield said. “I just didn’t feel well, and I thought several times of just quitting.”

Holyfield didn’t quit, of course, and the fight ended in a 12-round draw. That prevented the heavyweight title from being unified and sparked investigations into how the ringside judges scored the fight.

“The judging definitely was suspect,” Lewis said. “I believe there was some influence there. But I’m bringing my own two judges to this fight.”

Though Holyfield still maintains he did not lose, he admitted that he fought poorly. He accepted parity in the purses this time, after making $20 million, $10 million more than Lewis, when they fought March 13 in New York.

Hockey

The NHL’s vote scheduled today on Mario Lemieux’s bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to take place before the Hall of Fame center formally takes control of team. League officials say that timetable is not unusual.

NHL spokesman Frank Brown said league approval to sell the team would be made contingent on the bankruptcy court in Pittsburgh also approving the deal. The league’s governing body will vote in New York.

If the deal is completed, Lemieux will be the first athlete from a major professional franchise to buy his former team. He still needs to work out details of a $5-million investment in the team from SMG, a Philadelphia partnership that manages the Civic Arena, where the Penguins play home games.

Miscellany

USC basketball player Shannon Swillis has been granted a release from his scholarship and will return to his hometown to play for Fresno State.

“Shannon’s a great kid, a Fresno kid, and we’re happy to have him,” Fresno State Coach Jerry Tarkanian said.

The 6-foot-6 junior forward played sparingly for USC last season after averaging 5.9 rebounds as a freshman. He follows Quincy Wilder, Greg Lakey and Kevin Augustine, all of whom recently left the Trojan program.

Mario Hernandez, a test driver for the PacWest CART champ car team, will replace the injured Adrian Fernandez in the L.A. Street Race on Monday at Exposition Park. Fernandez, No. 1 driver for Pat Patrick’s CART team, suffered a broken wrist Aug. 6 while practicing for a race in Detroit. It will Hernandez’s first race in a stock car.

A drug-use report card for Olympic athletes was among the recommendations offered by an IOC reform panel in Geneva.

The “health passport” would contain the athletes’ drug-test records.

The panel also said the International Olympic Committee itself should be more accountable by simplifying its financial records to make it easier for the public to understand its sources of income and expenditure.

And it urged the IOC to continue making the Olympics open to all by promoting the use of free television networks, rather than pay TV channels, and by encouraging affordable seating prices at Olympic venues.