More than $500M in claims were "approved" under the NFL's concussion settlement, "nearly a decade earlier than league officials estimated they would reach that amount." A report on the concussion settlement information website said that about $502M had been "approved in less than two years of the settlement." Almost 2,000 claims have been "filed in less than two years." Hundreds more of the nearly 20,500 retired players "signed up to be prequalified to file claims than were expected, outpacing all previous projections" (AP, 7/30).
GET BACK ON TRACK: The Verizon IndyCar Series and Andersen Promotions signed a five-year deal to "encourage participation" in the Indy Lights series, which has "seen its ranks dwindle in recent years." Last year's Indy Lights field "boasted 14 regulars, while this year's crop only has half that many" with a total of just four teams "participating in every race." IndyCar and Indy Lights are "hoping their plan, highlighted by a smaller participating budgets, will attract new and former entrants as well as encourage increased participation among current entrants" (INDYSTAR.com, 8/1).
PLAYING CATCH-UP: Golfer Jessica Korda "wants American golf authorities to do more to challenge Asia's dominance of women's golf." Korda said, "One of the things that the U.S. doesn't have is a national team, somebody to help the girls and boys kind of grow." She added, "The biggest disadvantage for a lot of American girls is there's not a developmental program, a team of some sort to help them with their game. The USTA is doing a bunch of camps for tennis. They're taking kids under their wings. Hopefully you'll see more male and women's tennis players kind of dominating the rankings coming up." Korda: "I would definitely love to see something like that happen for golf" (GOLFWEEK.com, 7/31).
