WASHINGTON -- The House Oversight and Reform Committee approved legislation Wednesday to have the comptroller general of the U.S. study baseball's minor leagues, which are trying to fend off a contraction proposal from major league clubs.

The committee by voice vote approved the bill, which calls on the comptroller general to evaluate the social, economic, and historic contributions that minor league baseball has made to American life and culture.''

Major League Baseball and the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which governs the minors, are negotiating a Professional Baseball Agreement to replace the deal that expires after this season. MLB's proposal would drop the big league affiliation of 42 minor league teams and eliminate short-season leagues not held at major league training complexes.

The current PBA guarantees a minimum 160 affiliations.

We deserve to have our voices heard in any conversation regarding Minor League Baseball with such potentially devastating consequences for the communities we represent, Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.

MLB and the minors last met Feb. 20, and talks are expected to continue into the summer. The majors already have unilaterally announced increases in the pay of players with minor league contracts starting in 2021.

Several mayors announced a task force in January aimed at protecting teams and affiliations.

MLB is confident that we can simultaneously keep baseball in the communities in which it is currently being played and modernize our player development system so that it fits the 21st century, improves playing conditions and increases opportunities for players, MLB said in a statement. The most constructive role Congress can play in these negotiations is to encourage minor league baseball to continue working with MLB to address the real issues impacting minor league players and communities across the country.''

Walking through the SRO America (formerly Pirelli World Challenge) paddock, one will see some of the world’s most exotic production-based sports cars. They are beautiful, sleek and expensive.

Familiar names such as Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Audi, McLaren, Maserati, Camaro and Mustang are joined by lesser-known manufacturers such as Ginetta, KTM and SIN. Together they fill one of the most diverse paddocks in all of racing.

But the cars don’t always look as pretty after competing in the two flat-out Sprint and SprintX races per weekend.

One of the most successful aspects to the SRO America campaign is its use of class racing with so many different types of cars. SCCA amateur racing with numerous classes dates back to the 1940s, and annually those wild Runoffs events are some of the most entertaining motorsports competitions in the world.

On the professional road racing side, more than 30 years of highly competitive, wheel-to-wheel production-based action has highlighted the sprint-style class racing — from GT3 to GT4 to Touring Car categories.

Past driving champions in the then Pirelli World Challenge series included Johnny O’Connell, Peter Cunningham, Patrick Long, Randy Pobst, R.K. Smith, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Lawson Aschenbach, Bobby and Tommy Archer and, most recently, Portugal’s Alvaro Parente and Finland’s Toni Vilander.

The Sprint-format (50 minutes, one driver, no pit stops) proved to be a popular structure for fans, drivers and crews. It produced flat-out racing from green flag to checkered flag, with superb competition from each of the racing divisions.

In 2018, worldwide entrepreneur Stephane Ratel, a successful sports car magnate in the GT3 category, became the majority shareholder of WC Vision (producers of the Pirelli World Challenge), the North American version of Ratel’s SRO Motorsports Group.

This year’s 13-round road racing series is known as SRO GT World Challenge America powered by AWS (Amazon Web Services) and it will feature GT3 cars.

In addition, the SRO America portion of the SRO Motorsports Group organizes the competitive Pirelli GT4 America series and the TC America tour for Touring Cars.

In 2020, GT World Challenge Powered by AWS is a new international championship produced by the SRO Motorsports Group worldwide. Twenty-two non-clashing events will see sprint and endurance rounds staged across Europe, North America and Asia.

These races will have leading manufacturers competing through their regional customer racing programs.

“Our company has produced great GT racing for many decades and the worldwide influence of Stephane and his outstanding company has been a highlight for the former Pirelli World Challenge, now SRO Motorsports Group America,” said Greg Gill, president and CEO of SRO America. “Working closely with the manufacturers and giving the customers a great format to compete has given the class racing a new boost for the coming year.

“We will be making a couple of significant changes in the 2020 season. In the GT3 classes, we have decided to go toward the customer racers with three classes this year, We have the Pro-Am (pairing Platinum/Gold- rated drivers and Bronze-rated drivers), the Silver (Silver-rated drivers) and the Am (Bronze-rated drivers) classes. Plus, the introduction of the GT Sports Club class for older GT3 cars and new GT2 cars with bronze drivers looks to be showing great growth already. We are excited for the 2020 season.”

SRO America is scheduled to kick off its season March 6-8 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS will again campaign with GT3 production-based sports cars with the 90-minute SprintX race format (two drivers) in the Pro-Am, Silver and Am classes.

During a majority of the race weekends, GT3 contests will be doubleheaders with Saturday and Sunday events. In addition, the new GT Sport Club classification will have the all-new GT2 and retired (older) GT3 sports cars with bronze drivers.

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STATESVILLE, N.C. — Jeb Burton will make two starts for Niece Motorsports in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series this season with support from State Water Heaters and ALSCO.

Burton is slated to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Michigan Int’l Speedway.

“I’m excited to race with the folks at Niece Motorsports again this year,” said Burton. “I can’t thank State Water Heaters and ALSCO enough for their support. I’m looking forward to getting back into one of these trucks and having a solid performance.”

Last season, Burton and Niece Motorsports teamed up for races at Kentucky Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, with Burton earning ninth-place finishes in both events.

Burton will make his first NGROTS start at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 14.  The Virginia-native has made one NASCAR Xfinity Series (start at the track, earning a top-10 result in 2016. In addition, Burton has one NASCAR Cup Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“We are excited to have Jeb back again this season,” said team owner Al Niece. “We have a strong driver lineup again this year and are proud to bring Jeb back to the team. We are looking forward to strong performances from him again this year. We are thankful to have support from State Water Heaters and ALSCO.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Speedweeks will officially enter a bold new era next February.

NASCAR and Daytona Int’l Speedway officials announced Wednesday afternoon that the traditional schedule for the annual festival of speed will undergo a major shift in 2021, condensing down from two weekends into just six days for the upcoming season.

The action begins on Tuesday, Feb. 9, when the non-points Busch Clash exhibition event moves from the 2.5-mile tri-oval onto Daytona’s famed 3.56-mile road course layout – well known for hosting the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on an annual basis, as well as the Daytona 200 for motorcycles.

Next year’s Busch Clash will be run under the lights as a mid-week, primetime event for the first time, serving as the first buildup toward the 63rd annual Daytona 500.

It will mark the first road course event for full-bodied stock cars at Daytona, though an International Race of Champions event was held on the road-course configuration in 2006.

Wednesday, Feb. 10 will feature Daytona 500 Qualifying presented by Kroger, while the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona – the traditional 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 – remain in their traditional places on Thursday night, Feb. 11.

The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races at Daytona on Friday, Feb. 12, while the Saturday portion of Speedweeks morphs into a double dip, with the stars of the ARCA Menards Series joining the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Feb. 13 for two races in one day.

Sunday, Feb. 14 caps the six-day run off with a bang, featuring the 63rd edition of the Daytona 500 for the NASCAR Cup Series and putting an exclamation point on Speedweeks.

The new Speedweeks schedule was officially unveiled in advance of this weekend’s 50th annual Daytona Supercross.

“We continue to look for opportunities to differentiate the Busch Clash from the Daytona 500, and obviously everything we do around Speedweeks presented by Advent Health is about building toward the 500,” said Daytona Int’l Speedway President Chip Wile. “This is about how we can continue to push and elevate the Busch Clash to be something different. And we’ve done that with a lot of new initiatives the first weekend.

“We’ve seen growth year over year with the Busch Clash and that weekend, but to see the resurgence in road-course racing and the excitement around it from the fans, we thought, why can’t we do this?”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Busch Clash, NASCAR’s annual exhibition race spotlighting pole winners from the previous season, will undergo its biggest change ever next year.

NASCAR and Daytona Int’l Speedway officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the 43rd annual Busch Clash will take place not on the 2.5-mile oval layout at Daytona Int’l Speedway, but on the track’s 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course configuration.

The race will be a mid-week, prime time spectacle, set for Tuesday, Feb. 9 under the lights as the kickoff to Speedweeks presented by Advent Health.

It will mark the first time that full-bodied stock cars have competed on the Daytona road course, which has a rich history both in endurance racing – with the annual Rolex 24 at Daytona for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – and in motorcycle racing, as the Daytona 200 is held annually on the Daytona road course during Bike Week in March.

“We continue to look for opportunities to differentiate the Busch Clash from the Daytona 500 and obviously everything we do around Speedweeks presented by Advent Health is about building toward the 500,” Wile said. “This is about how we can continue to push and elevate the Busch Clash to be something different. And we’ve done that with a lot of new initiatives the first weekend.

“We’ve seen growth year over year with the Busch Clash and that weekend, but to see the resurgence in road-course racing and the excitement around it from the fans, we thought, why can’t we do this.”

Next year’s Busch Clash will add a third, never-before-seen dimension to the Daytona road-racing legacy, as NASCAR inks a new chapter in the historic course’s legendary tale.

The reimagined Busch Clash will utilize roughly three-quarters of the 2.5-mile tri-oval, along with the infield portion of the road course as well.

“The famed road course at Daytona has a long and storied history with sports cars and motorcycles and now we can write a new chapter on it with stock cars,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s Vice President of Racing Development. “Fans coming to the track will get to see six consecutive days of exciting NASCAR action, with no days being the same.”

Wednesday’s change comes after increased fan conversation surrounding road course racing in NASCAR and additional interest in the often-thrilling style of racing.

THOMPSON, Conn. – Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park announced Wednesday that 10 divisions will compete in the 46th annual Liquid Death Icebreaker weekend, April 3-5.

The event begins with a Test & Tune practice on Friday, followed by two days of action to begin the New England racing season.

The event also marks the official beginning of Thompson’s 80th year celebration.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns for the 35th consecutive season and headlines the weekend with the Death To Plastic 150 presented by Liquid Death on Sunday.

Justin Bonsignore took three of the four races at TSMP last season, and has won seven of the last eight, while names like Craig Lutz, Ron Silk and Woody Pitkat will be looking to take him off the top.

Defending tour champion Doug Coby is opening a new race team and will compete as both the owner and driver. The Milford, Conn., native has six Thompson wins to his credit, including the Bud 150 last year.

Thompson’s five NASCAR Weekly Racing Series divisions will begin their championship quest, as the Sunoco Modifieds, Late Models, SK Light Modifieds, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stocks open with qualifying and feature racing.

Each weekly series division will run a night of 20/20 racing in 2020 – with double 20-lap features planned, beginning with the late models at the Icebreaker. The late models will run one feature on Saturday and one Sunday.

In 2020, Mini Stock events will be 20 laps in distance, up five laps from last year.

The Modified Racing Series returns for another year of Icebreaker competition for a 50-lap feature on Saturday night, while the winged warriors of the NEMA Lites will be in town for their own feature.

The EXIT Realty Pro Truck Challenge (35 laps) and EXIT Realty 375 Pro Sportsman (35 laps) will both qualify and race as part of the Saturday program.

The full schedule for Icebreaker weekend will be released once completed.

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The NHL is not allowing its employees to make work-related trips outside of North America in response to the global fears over the coronavirus, and if any of those employees go on their own to a country where the virus has been found they will be quarantined before being able to return to work.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday the league has told its 31 teams they were free to adopt a similar policy, though he stopped short of saying it would be a mandate as concerns of the virus continue to grow.

"We barred all travel outside of North America for business purposes," Bettman said on the final day of general managers' meetings. "People at a personal level or people in their households are still free to do what they want to do. If you go to a place that's on the list of countries that have an issue or while you're there the country comes on the list, then when you come back we want you quarantined, out of the office for two weeks until we can see if symptoms develop."

That even applies to those who work for the NHL's central scouting service: Scouts who are in Europe are staying in Europe, and if they return to North America they will be quarantined. Bettman said the NHL is in regular communication with the other three major North American sports leagues, as well as health experts in both the U.S. and Canada.

Through Wednesday, there have been more than 94,000 confirmed cases of people contracting the virus worldwide, with more than 3,200 deaths.

"We're constantly updating the clubs based on what we're hearing from our experts and the CDC and Canada's equivalent," Bettman said. "It's day by day. We're going to continue to monitor things. It's business as usual. We're going to keep everybody completely informed."

The NHL hasn't gone as far as the NBA did earlier this week. The NBA sent a memo to teams on Sunday suggesting that players limit high-fives with fans and be hesitant to touch markers and items in autograph-seeking situations. Some NBA players have said they are stopping autographs altogether for the time being, and others are carrying their own markers to group-signing scrums.

"When it comes to that level of detail, leagues will do what they think are appropriate and necessary under the circumstances," Bettman said "Our clubs at the medical level, the training level and the player level are pretty informed as to what is wise and prudent conduct under the circumstances."

The International Ice Hockey Federation said this weekit has canceled six different tournaments -- events that were to take place in March and April in Estonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain. Pro leagues in Switzerland and China have also been affected, some games called off, others played without fans.

The NHL isn't at that point yet with the playoffs coming up next month.

"We're aware of and focused on all possibilities," Bettman said. "But at this point it would be premature to pick any one of the possibilities, especially because it may or may not become necessary in North America."

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus that has surged around the globe in recent months. The coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious respiratory diseases. Flu is caused by a different virus.

There is no vaccine for coronavirus, though researchers are working on one and hope to begin testing soon. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are most at risk.

The coronavirus spreads mainly through coughs and sneezes, though it also can be transferred from surfaces. The best way to prevent infection is by frequent hand-washing, cleaning surfaces with regular household sprays and wipes, and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The PGA Tour policy board approved a new measure to help pave the way for top college players to earn status on various tours.

According to a source familiar with the policy board’s meeting Tuesday at Bay Hill, the new program, called PGA Tour University, will grant players status on the Korn Ferry Tour based on a college ranking system. Only seniors who have completed their college eligibility will be considered.

The top 5 eligible players in the ranking will earn Korn Ferry Tour status following the conclusion of the NCAA season.

College players ranked below the top 5 will also have the chance to earn varying degrees of status on the Mackenzie Tour, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Series-China based on their ranking.

The policy board gave preliminary approval last fall and the program is scheduled to begin in Summer of 2021.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Scott Brown is making his 15^th start of the PGA Tour season this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

At the other end of the spectrum, Bay Hill is Henrik Stenson’s second start of the season.

Stenson admits it’s not the best competitive choice to spot the rest of the Tour so many starts, but he needed the break.

“That’s been the tough thing over the years, especially playing two tours. We don’t really have much of an off-season. It’s something that’s needed both for players and possibly the fans as well,” the Swede said. “We see that in other sports. I can see the excitement of my friends that are keen on football, the lead up to the season. You actually get to miss something, both for us as players and for fans.”

Stenson last played a Tour event in November in China and has played just three tournaments, all on the European Tour, this year which has added up to nearly two months of glorious inactivity.

It’s the longest break of Stenson’s career since he joined the PGA Tour in 2007 and it was a much-needed break after so many seasons of playing a yearlong schedule. But all that doesn’t help his competitive fortunes against the likes of Brown.

“I’m starting my PGA Tour season and some guys could have played 15, 20 events already,” he said. “I guess my 20^th [place finish] in China doesn’t really keep up with somebody who has played 15 weeks. You definitely feel like you are starting way far back in the pack when you’re starting the season this late.”

Things will get more intense for Stenson now as he’s scheduled to play the next four weeks as he prepares for the Masters.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A day after the International Olympic Committee committed to holding this year’s Games in Tokyo on schedule, Rory McIlroy offered his support of the decision.

“It's something that we're trying to stay on top of,” the world No. 1 said at Bay Hill. “It’s something that if the organizers and the Olympic Committee believe it's safe enough that athletes can go and compete in the Games, then you have to take their word for it.

“They're obviously liaising with the people that are the best at doing this, whether it's the CDC in this country, whether it's the World Health Organization, whatever it is. If they're speaking to those people, and those people are the best in their field, then you have to trust that their judgment is the right one.”

McIlroy, who skipped golf’s return to the Olympics four years ago in Brazil, has committed to this year’s Games even amid the spread of coronoavirus in Japan and beyond.

IOC president Thomas Bach said in a press conference this week, “Neither the word cancellation nor the word postponement was even mentioned.” He also said he expects the Games to begin on July 24 as scheduled.