IN BRIEF

BOWLING

Las Vegas will host PBA major tournament

The Professional Bowlers Association will have one of its four major tournaments at Red Rock in the 2007-08 season.

The PBA Tournament of Champions will be Jan. 23 to 27. The week will open with a special PBA Exempt Field Doubles event Jan. 20 to 22.

After skipping Las Vegas for three seasons, the PBA Tour returned in January with a tournament at Sunset Station's Strike Zone. Stations Casino owns both properties.

The PBA is moving another major, the Jan. 9 to 13 PBA World Championships, to the National Bowling Stadium in Reno.

SOCCER

Gold Cup TV ratings blow away Stanley Cup

The CONCACAF Gold Cup final attracted 41 percent more television households in the United States than the Stanley Cup Finals clincher -- and that was just for the soccer game's Spanish-language telecast.

The United States' 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Mexico on Sunday received a 2.5 fast national rating on Univision, the network said. That translates to 2.83 million households.

Anaheim's series-ending 6-2 victory over Ottawa in the Stanley Cup on June 6 received a 1.8 rating on NBC, which comes to 2,005,000 households.

Also: Ecuador's foreign minister met with FIFA president Sepp Blatter in another effort by South American soccer officials and political leaders to persuade world soccer's governing body to overturn its ban on international matches at high altitude.

Jupp Derwall, who coached Germany's soccer team to the European title in 1980 and a runner-up finish at the 1982 World Cup, died Tuesday. He was 80.

HOCKEY

Wranglers announce preseason schedule

The Las Vegas Wranglers have announced their 2007-08 preseason schedule.

The Wranglers will host the Bakersfield Condors on Oct. 11 at the Orleans Arena.

Las Vegas starts its fifth season in the ECHL on Oct. 19 in Fresno. The Wranglers will open at home against the Stockton Thunder on Oct. 21.

Also: The Atlanta Thrashers sent the rights to free-agent center Keith Tkachuk back to St. Louis, reacquiring the conditional first-round pick they traded to the Blues in a deadline deal that helped Atlanta reach the playoffs for the first time.

MISCELLANEOUS

New Zealand pulls ahead in America's Cup

In a classic duel on high seas, the challenger from New Zealand prevailed in a race with eight lead changes to beat defending champion Alinghi and pull ahead 2-1 in the America's Cup.

Emirates Team New Zealand, which nearly had a crew member fall overboard, won a bow-to-bow contest to the finish for a 25-second win in the best-of-9 series.

Also: A 50-year-old golfer was bitten by an alligator as he tried to retrieve his ball from a pond in Florida.

The 11-foot-long alligator latched onto the right arm of Bruce Burger of Lenoir City, Tenn., and pulled him into the pond on the sixth hole at Lake Venice Golf Club in Venice, Fla.

Burger used his left arm to free himself. He was not seriously injured. Seven Fish and Wildlife officers then took an hour to trap the alligator.

Former Virginia Tech and Davidson head coach Bobby Hussey, 67, died Tuesday.

Michael Klim, a six-time Olympic medalist and former swimming world-record holder, announced his retirement from international competition.