Sports Briefs

Viewership up for Super Bowl

 

NEW YORK (AP) – The Super Bowl put a halt to a four-year decline in viewership, with an estimated 99.9 million people watching the Kansas City Chiefs come back to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in what is annually the most-watched television event of the year.

 

The Nielsen company said viewership rebounded slightly from the 98.5 million who watched in 2019. An exciting game that featured a fourth-quarter comeback and two teams that haven't been in the ultimate game lately most likely helped drive public interest.

 

Super Bowl viewership had been slowly eroding since its peak in 2015, when 114.4 million watched a thrilling finish between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.

 

Halftime show performer Jennifer Lopez led all personalities with 2.2 million interactions on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to Nielsen. Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City quarterback who won Super Bowl MVP, was the top player with 514,000 interactions.

 

RusAF board resigns

 

MOSCOW (AP) – The entire board of the Russian Athletics Federation resigned as Russia faces another ban from Olympic track and field.

 

The federation, known as RusAF, said the board stepped down after a meeting with new Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, citing its failure to resolve Russian track's long-running difficulties with the world governing body.

 

The federation has been suspended by World Athletics since 2015 over widespread doping, but the crisis has deepened in recent months.

 

In November, the federation's then-president, Dmitry Shlyakhtin, was among seven people issued disciplinary charges of obstructing an anti-doping investigation using fake documents. The case led World Athletics to freeze a programme allowing top Russians to compete internationally as neutral athletes. That had been a stepping stone to forming a Russian team for the Olympics in Tokyo.Mazzarri steps down at Torino

 

TURIN, Italy (AP) – Walter Mazzarri stepped down as Torino coach yesterday after his club conceded 11 goals over its last two matches, and Moreno Longo was hired as his replacement.

 

After an embarrassing 7-0 rout at home by Atalanta, Torino lost 4-0 at relegation-threatened Lecce on Sunday to stretch their losing streak to three games.

 

“President Urbano Cairo and coach Walter Mazzarri, after a thorough analysis of the current situation, have decided to end their professional relationship,” the club said in a statement. “Torino Football Club announces therefore the consensual resolution of Walter Mazzarri’s contract.”

 

Longo is a former Torino player and youth squad coach who also coached Pro Vercelli and Frosinone.