The Vikings parted ways with several high-priced veterans over the offseason. That could happen again next year.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, NFL revenues are expected to significantly decrease this season. That means the salary cap could plummet, falling from $198.2 million in 2020 to perhaps as low as $175 million in 2021. And the Vikings already were facing some cap issues for 2021 before the pandemic hit.

So, could this be the last Vikings training camp for left tackle Riley Reiff, 31, who is on the books for a cap number of $13.2 million in 2020 and $13.95 million in 2021? Could it be the final Minnesota camp for tight end Kyle Rudolph, 30, who has cap numbers of $7.025 million in 2020 and $9.45 million in 2021?

Even an up-and-coming player such as safety Anthony Harris, 28, cou...

WASHINGTON – The White House and congressional Democrats traded blame on Friday for the expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of Americans, which have run out as negotiations over extending them stalled on Capitol Hill.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Democrats had rejected reasonable offers during talks at the Capitol late Wednesday night, and said they “are certainly willing today to let some of the American citizens who are struggling the most under this pandemic to go unprotected.”

“The president has been very clear for us to be aggressive and forward-leaning to make sure that they get protected and yet what we’re seeing is politics as usual from Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Meadows said, addressing reporters in the White House briefing room.

When St. Thomas officially joined the rebooted the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Bill Robertson lost has last chance to add a Minnesota program to his shrinking conference.

It was almost as if yet another team was leaving the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State Mankato and Northern Michigan are all scheduled to play their final season in the WCHA this winter, leaving the former powerhouse conference with only three teams for the 2021-22 season.

That is three shy of what the NCAA requires for a conference to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“I continue to work hard keeping the men’s WCHA alive for the future,” Robertson, WCHA men’s conference commissioner, said Thurs...

NEW YORK—Friday’s game between St. Louis and Milwaukee has been postponed after multiple Cardinals employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the postponement in Milwaukee had not been announced.

Two other games scheduled for Friday involving the Marlins, Nationals, Blue Jays and Phillies had already been postponed because of an outbreak among Miami players and two positive tests on Philadelphia’s coaching staff.

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NEW YORK — The coronavirus forced another change in Major League Baseball’s schedule, bringing the league’s total to eight teams affected in the first nine days of the season.

Friday’s game between St. Louis and Milwaukee was postponed after two Cardinals employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

The league announced the schedule change hours before the game was to be played. It said the postponement in Milwaukee is “consistent with protocols to allow enough time for additional testing and contact tracing to be conducted.”

The teams plan to resume their schedule Saturday night at Miller Park, pending results from the testing and contact tracing, and make up Friday’s game as part of a doubleheader Sunday.

“We are supportive of Major League Baseball’s decision to postpon...

The Gophers football program’s recruiting strategy includes rolling the dice in Las Vegas.

In particular, Minnesota has had success at Desert Pines High School, a strong program in one of America’s fast-growing states. The U’s 2019 roster had two players from that school, and the team hopes to parlay that into a trifecta in 2020.

Safety Jordan Howden started it off in the 2018 class, coming in as a footnote in head coach P.J. Fleck’s second recruiting class at the U.

Howden earned a scholarship after seeing playing time during his true freshman season. He started 13 games and was a leading tackler as a sophomore in 2019, making the highlight reel with his game-sealing interception in the upset of No...

As coronavirus cases spike in other parts of the country a month before the U.S. Open is supposed to start in New York, the U.S. Tennis Association said Friday it “continues its plans” to hold its marquee event and another tournament beforehand.

The U.S. Open — usually the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, but the second of 2020 because of the pandemic — is scheduled to run Aug. 31 to Sept. 13.

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center also will host the Western & Southern Open on Aug. 20-28; that tune-up was moved from Cincinnati as part of a doubleheader organized by the USTA.

Players will be allowed on-site on Aug. 16.

A statement released Friday by the USTA said: “We remain confident that our top priority, the health and safety of all involved in both tournaments, remain...

Lose yourself in a good book lately? There are plenty to choose from and with the pandemic eliminating plans, books are a dependable source of entertainment that won’t stop. Well, unless you put it down. Which is hard to do with the lineup for the livestream forum for Northwest Passages. Stay home, stay safe and put these book club dates on your calendar so you can join us via our livestream.

The Washington Post’s slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Media columnist Margaret Sullivan expands on that idea in her book, “Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy,” which looks at how local newspapers are losing the battle to stay local, and how democracy suffers when local news dies. Sullivan joins editor Rob Curley in conversation on Aug. 13 at 4 p.m...

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once a coronavirus vaccine is approved as safe and effective, Americans should have widespread access within a reasonable time, Dr. Anthony Fauci assured lawmakers Friday.

Appearing before a House panel investigating the nation’s response to the pandemic, Fauci expressed “cautious” optimism that a vaccine would be available, particularly by next year.

“I believe, ultimately, over a period of time in 2021, that Americans will be able to get it,” Fauci said, referring to the vaccine.

There will be a priority list for who gets early vaccinations. “I don’t think we will have everybody getting it immediately,” Fauci explained.

But “ultimately, within a reasonable time, the plans allow for any American who needs...

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As July prepares to exit stage left, August is ready for its star turn. It won’t have to be all that locked in to look good, at least in comparison to the months that preceded it. In the sports world, August 2020 might even be considered a star.

•••••••

• August is usually pretty hot, just not in the sports sense. The temperatures rise – that will be true again – but major athletic events fade. There is baseball, of course, and the opening of football camps. Some auto racing and golf, but little one would call can’t miss. Well, in a different-type of year, there will be a different type of August.

Major league baseball is still around, of course, trying to get its 60-game schedule in with as few hiccups as possible...