Sports in Brief: Premier League gets greater U.S. audience

A total of 1.35 million viewers tuned into the U.S. television coverage of the final day of the English Premier League season, an increase of 72 percent over 2011. U.S. networks televised all 10 games on Sunday.

The largest rating was for Manchester City's title-winning 3-2 victory over Queens Park Rangers, which was seen by an average 600,000 viewers on ESPN2 and 189,000 on ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Queens Park Rangers says it will investigate the actions of captain Joey Barton once the Football Association has completed its own hearing on the midfielder's sending off in the game against Manchester City. Barton was ejected for elbowing City's Carlos Tevez, and then kicked Sergio Aguero and tried to head-butt Vincent Kompany before being wrestled off the field by teammates and team officials. The FA charged him with two counts of violent conduct. He could face a 10-match ban at the start of next season.

Club legend Kenny Dalglish was dismissed by Liverpool's owners, John Henry's Fenway Sports Group.

Dalglish, who led Liverpol to its last league title in 1991, was unable replicate that success, although the club did win the League Cup and reach the FA Cup final.

Barcelona says defender Dani Alves faces surgery after breaking his collarbone in practice and will miss the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on May 25.

FOOTBALL: Shyam Das heard arguments from NFL and players union lawyers on whether commissioner Roger Goodell can discipline players for actions that occurred before the league's current labor agreement was signed last August. The hearing stems from the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal.

The union also has asked arbitrator Stephen Burbank of Penn to decide if the players should be punished for the bounty system. The union argues that Burbank, not Goodell, should hear the players' appeals.

NOTEWORTHY: Wings forward Kevin Crowley was named to the National Lacrosse League's all-rookie team. The league's rookie of the year was Adam Jones of Colorado.

Marina Alex, the Southeastern Conference golfer of the year, and Meghan Bolger Stasi, a former Haddonfield resident, were given exemptions for the 2012 ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Seaview Resort, June 1-3.

World No. 1 Roger Federer defeated Carlos Berlocq, 6-3, 6-4, in his opening match at the Italian Open in Rome.

Rafael Nadal beat Florian Mayer, 6-1, 7-5.

In the women's tournament, Serena Williams rallied past Nadia Petrova of Russia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to extend her winning streak to 15 matches. Sister Venus Williams had an easier time reaching the third round, eliminating Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

- Staff and wire reports