Big Ten Will Launch Network

The Big Ten will announce today that it will enter into the television business, forming its own network that will launch in 2007.

The conference is also expected to announce the ABC/ESPN family will remain the exclusive carrier of some of its signature events. The current deal, set to expire in June 2007, is said to be worth up to $50 million a year.

ABC/ESPN will continue to broadcast the major events, such as Michigan-Ohio State football and high-profile basketball games, with the league’s network showing other events, including many non-revenue that can’t find a home on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

From the Chicago Tribune

HOCKEY

Vigneault Is Named Coach of Canucks

Alain Vigneault was named coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

A former head coach with the Montreal Canadiens (1997 to 2000), Vigneault, 45, spent last season as coach of the Manitoba Moose, a minor league affiliate for Vancouver.

Television ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals dropped 21% from the final game of the NHL’s last championship series two years ago.

The NHL salary cap will be about $44 million next season, an increase of $5 million a team, after league revenues were higher than expected in the first year after the season-long lockout. The cap basement will be about $28 million.

Joe Sakic, 36, agreed to a one-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, choosing to stay with the team for an 18th season instead of becoming a free agent.

TENNIS

Agassi Is Expected to Play at UCLA Event

Defending tournament champion Andre Agassi has committed to playing in the Countrywide Classic scheduled for July 24-30, tournament officials said.

Agassi, 36, has won the event at UCLA four times but has struggled with a recurring back injury since the end of last season.

-- Lauren Peterson

Mary Pierce, 31, pulled out of Wimbledon because of a foot injury, joining Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport as former Grand Slam event winners out of the tournament that begins Monday.

Philipp Kohlschreiber upset top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round of the Ordina Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Ai Sugiyama, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Hastings Direct International at Eastbourne, England.

MISCELLANY

NASCAR Team Owner Arrested in Tax Case

NASCAR racing team owner Gene Haas was arrested on federal tax fraud charges of trying to avoid paying about $20 million in income taxes, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Haas, 54, allegedly put about $50 million of bogus expenses on the books at his machine tool company, the Oxnard-based Haas Automation Inc., to avoid paying taxes.

He also owns Haas CNC Racing, which operates Jeff Green’s Nextel Cup car.

Men’s basketball Coach Ben Braun agreed to a two-year contract extension at California, extending his deal through 2011.

Montana basketball Coach Larry Krystkowiak is expected to announce this resignation today to take a job with the Milwaukee Bucks, for whom he played from 1987 to ’92.

Point guard Bobby Brown withdrew his name from consideration for the NBA draft and will return to Cal State Fullerton for his final season of eligibility.

UCLA’s Hannah Jun shot a six-under par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Mina Harkgae after the first round of stroke-play qualifying at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in Pueblo, Colo.

Jun suffered a fractured vertebra in her neck in a car accident in December involving UCLA football player Justin Medlock.

Defensive back Marshall Jones of Westlake Village Oaks Christian High has committed to USC.