BASEBALL

WCL adds franchise in Gresham — After losing a league member to the newly formed summer collegiate baseball Great West League, the West Coast League announced this week the addition of a new franchise in Gresham. Last month, the Medford Rogues, a WCL member since 2013, announced they would be joining the Great West League, which will debut in summer 2016. The yet-to-be nicknamed Gresham team will replace the Rogues and the Klamath Falls Gems, who will also not be playing in the WCL next summer. Gresham, whose owners also own the short-season single-A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and the Gems, will play its home games at Mt. Hood Community College’s Oslund Field.

FOOTBALL

NFL to fund concussion study for jockeys — The NFL said Saturday it will help fund new research on the suspected link between sports-related concussions and long-term brain degeneration. The agreement with the London-based International Concussion and Head Injury Research Foundation will focus on retired jockeys, who suffer far greater rates of brain trauma than even football players. The research starting in January would investigate the suspected link between concussions and the onset of an incurable brain degenerative disease called CTE, short for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can be definitively diagnosed only after death.

GYMNASTICS

U.S. races to huge lead at worlds — The United States women’s gymnastics team dazzled during qualifying at the world championships Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, posting the top overall score to cement its status as heavy favorites for a repeat. The group, led by two-time defending all-around champion Simone Biles and reigning Olympic champion Gabrielle Douglas, finished with a total 236.611 points, well ahead of second-place Russia to secure a spot in Tuesday’s team final.

SOCCER

South African Tokyo Sexwale to run for FIFA president — An apartheid-era political prisoner turned multi-millionaire mining tycoon joined the race to be FIFA president on Saturday. South African Tokyo Sexwale announced his intention to run in next year’s emergency election to replace Sepp Blatter after receiving the endorsement of the South African Football Association. The 62-year-old Sexwale’s varied credentials include being a current FIFA anti-racism adviser, a former prisoner on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, and the previous host of South Africa’s version of “The Apprentice” television show.

Thorns star Morgan remains mum on trade — If Alex Morgan is on the verge of joining the National Women’s Soccer League’s new expansion team in Orlando, she still is not ready to say so just yet. Sports Illustrated first reported the potential deal that would send Morgan and Canadian Kaylyn Kyle to Orlando for the Pride’s first pick of the NWSL draft, two international slots, and the U.S. national team defender Meghan Klingenberg, currently with the Houston Dash. “Nothing is confirmed right now,” Morgan said Saturday. “So I can’t really speak on that. My agent is dealing with all of those negotiations.”

SKIING

Brignone earns 1st World Cup win — Federica Brignone earned her maiden World Cup win Saturday, ending a nearly eight-year wait by the Italian women’s team for a giant slalom triumph. In the season-opening race on a sun-soaked Rettenbach glacier in Austria, Brignone held on to a commanding first-run lead to beat defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States by 0.85 seconds.

TENNIS

Kuznetsova wins Kremlin Cup — Svetlana Kuznetsova swept aside a tired Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1 to win the Kremlin Cup on Saturday. Pavlyuchenkova admitted being exhausted as she played her 10th match in 12 days. For the two-time Grand Slam winner Kuznetsova, it is her first title in her home country and comes at her 11th attempt at the Kremlin Cup.

— From staff and wire reports