BASKETBALL

NBA EXPANDS ITS INSTANT REPLAY USE

The NBA broadened its use of instant replay to review some flagrant fouls and fights. The league’s Board of Governors voted last week to allow game officials to review all calls for unnecessary or excessive contact, known as Flagrant Foul Penalty Two, as well as player scuffles, the league said in a news release.

“Officials’ first priority should be ending the altercation,” the league said. “In the course of doing that, they might not see a punch or other unsportsmanlike act committed by a player that might call for ejection.'”

Because a Flagrant Foul Penalty Two call carries an automatic ejection, the league will allow instant replay reviews. Flagrant Foul Penalty One calls are for unnecessary roughness without excessive contact.

Instant replay previously was allowed only in reviewing field goals and fouls made as the game clock ran out.

Bloomberg News

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

DAN BEEBE HIRED AS BIG 12 COMMISSIONER

Dan Beebe was hired as Big 12 Conference commissioner yesterday with an eye toward reaching fans with newer technologies and making new revenues. Beebe was awarded the job permanently after taking the job in an interim role in July. The Big 12’s chief operating officer since joining the conference in 2003, he emerged from a field of five finalists to become the third commissioner of the 12-year-old conference.

“We were impressed by his experience, his talents and his vision about how to take this conference to the next level,” said Harvey Perlman, the Big 12 board chairman and University of Nebraska chancellor.

Associated Press