FOOTBALL

NFL LABOR TALKS BREAK DOWN NFL labor talks broke off yesterday, three days before the start of free agency, leaving teams and players in a quandary about negotiating new contracts. Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, spent the last three days meeting in New York and Washington with commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

“We’re deadlocked. There’s nowhere to go,” Upshaw said. “There’s no reason to continue meeting.”

The NFL acknowledged the talks had broken off and said no further discussions were scheduled.The league said it would not extend Friday’s deadline for the start of free agency.

Although the contract does not expire until after the 2007 season, this is a critical period in the negotiations to extend the 12-year-old agreement. Talks have been going on for more than a year. If the deal is not extended, this would be the last year with a salary cap, so agents and team officials want to know how to structure contracts.

The sides have agreed on a number of issues. The biggest one is changing the formula for the amount of money to go to the players from “designated gross revenues” – primarily television and ticket sales – to “total gross revenues,” which include almost every bit a money a a team generates.

They differ, however, on the percentage of revenues to be allocated to the players – the union is asking for 60% and the league’s current offer is 56.2%.

But there are also disputes among groups of owners on that issue, too. Tagliabue has called a league meeting in New York for Thursday. Teams with lower revenues – mostly small-market clubs – say that if the contributions to the players’ fund are equally apportioned among 32 franchises, they will have to pay a substantially larger proportion of their nontelevision and ticket money because they have less. Owners of high-revenue teams, like Dallas’s Jerry Jones, claim spreading the load equally would force some teams to work harder to generate new sources of money.

TENNIS

SAMPRAS TO RETURN TO COURT WITH WTT Pete Sampras is returning to the tennis court, signing up for the World Team Tennis Pro League more than three years after his last match.

Sampras’s last professional match was the 2002 U.S. Open final, when he beat longtime rival Andre Agassi for his record 14th Grand Slam title. Sampras held a news conference a year later at the U.S. Open to say he was retiring.

As much as he says he’s looking forward to playing in the WTT, he made one thing quite clear: Don’t call it a comeback.

“I miss playing the game. I miss the majors. I miss competing. But to play at the level I used to play is a whole other animal. I’ve done that, and I know what it takes,” he told the AP. “Me playing a little tennis this year is something I can control; there isn’t any pressure. I can relax and have a little fun. Coming back is not something that crossed my mind.”

The 34-year-old Sampras has never played in the WTT, a 12-team league that in recent years has featured such stars as Agassi, Steffi Graf, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick and Venus Williams. Sampras will be chosen by a team in the March 28 draft and expects to play about a half-dozen matches during the July 6-26 regular season.

BASEBALL

WINN GETS BIG EXTENSION WITH GIANTS Randy Winn and the San Francisco Giants agreed yesterday on a $23.25 million, three-year contract extension through 2009. Winn, acquired before last season’s trading deadline from Seattle, batted .359 with 14 home runs after joining the Giants last season. The 31-year-old is on the U.S. roster for the World Baseball Classic.

The switch-hitting Winn, slated to be the team’s leadoff hitter and starting center fielder this season, will get a $3 million signing bonus and salaries of $4 million in 2007, $8 million in 2008 and $8.25 million in 2009, according to agent Craig Landis.

PIRATES LOCK UP WILSON FOR THREE YEARS Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson agreed to terms of a three-year, $20.2 million contract extension yesterday. The 27-year-old Wilson was heading into the last year of a two-year, $8 million contract. He had one more year of arbitration eligibility and could have become a free agent after the 2007 season.

Wilson has been Pittsburgh’s starting shortstop for five seasons, and has batted .263 with 35 home runs in 720 games. His best season came in 2004 when he was an All-Star and had 201 hits.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

LSU EARNS SHARE OF SEC TITLE Glen Davis scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lift no. 21 LSU to a 64-61 victory over South Carolina last night, giving the Tigers at least a share of the Southeastern Conference title. Davis, the SEC’s leading scorer, was held to just six points in the opening half, but LSU (21-7, 13-2) pounded the ball inside in the second half to capture its first league title in six years.

South Carolina (14-14, 5-10) lost another close one, which has been typical of its season. The Gamecocks had a chance late in the game trailing by two, but Tarence Kinsey was called for traveling. Tasmin Mitchell made a free throw with 26.3 seconds to go to put LSU ahead 62-59.

In other top 25 action last night, no. 12 Boston College down Wake Forest 80-65.

– Associated Press