League Notes

Under a change approved by the NBA BOG, the league will award the top four postseason seeds in each conference to the three division winners and the second-place team with the best record, but the teams will now be ranked in order of record, rather than the three division winners being the top three seeds regardless of records. The rule came under scrutiny last season when the Spurs and Mavericks had the two best records in the Western Conference, but the Mavericks were the No. 4 seed because the Spurs won the division. Also, the Clippers “were accused of losing games intentionally” to ensure they would face the division champion Nuggets in the first round rather than the Mavs (WASHINGTON POST, 8/3).

NOTES: The new 44,000-seat Iowa Speedway will host an IRL event on June 24 next year, with an accompanying Indy Pro Series race on June 23. The track is co-designed by ESPN/ABC IRL analyst and retired NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace (K.C. STAR, 8/3)....The Kentucky Sports Authority is working with Octagon to try to bring an LPGA event to the state. KSA Exec Dir Terry Johnson said that state officials “are trying to secure at least” 60% of sponsorship money needed to host the event, or about $2.5M, and that they are “hoping for the summer of 2007 or 2008” (AP, 8/3).