Pro Bowl pass rusher Maxx Crosby has become the latest professional athlete to take a side gig as a front-office executive with a college athletic program, becoming the assistant general manager for the Eastern Michigan football team.

The school announced this week that Crosby, who signed a record-breaking three-year extension worth $106.5 million with the Raiders last month, would help evaluate high school and transfer portal prospects, manage the team’s NIL and revenue sharing budget, and assist the athletic director with fundraising, alumni relations and student-athlete support.

“There is no place more important to my personal and athletic development than Eastern Michigan,” said Crosby, who along with his wife, Rachel, donated $1 million to the Eagles’ football program two years ago.

Crosby is just the latest active professional athlete to take an administrative role with their respective alma maters. Hawks guard Trae Young is working with the basketball program at Oklahoma, Warriors star Steph Curry has accepted an assistant GM role at Davidson, and Hawks guard Terance Mann has been hired by new Florida State basketball coach Luke Louck in a similar capacity.

Crosby starred for Eastern Michigan from 2015-18 before becoming a fourth-round pick of the Raiders in the 2019 draft. He has 59 1/2 sacks over his first six NFL seasons, and each of the past four have ended with a trip to the Pro Bowl.

His recent contract extension with the Raiders had briefly made him the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback.

Crosby already has announced a fundraising challenge in which he will match all donations to the Eastern Michigan program up to $100,000 by the end of May. The school plans to rename the weakside defensive end position on its depth chart from “LEO” to “MAXX,” and its top edge rusher will wear his No. 92 jersey as a tribute to his impact on the program.

“It’s always special when former players return to be part of our staff, and this is truly a full-circle moment,” Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton said.

The NFL’s Washington Commanders and the District of Columbia are in discussions about a new football stadium in the nation’s capital, a person with knowledge of talks said Wednesday.

No deal has been finalized yet, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because there was no agreement in place.

The team has been looking for a new stadium for several years, and that search moved to a new level when Josh Harris’ group bought the Commanders from previous owner Dan Snyder in 2023. Places in Washington, Virginia and Maryland have all been under consideration.

The site of old RFK Stadium is believed to be the preferred destination. The Washington NBC affiliate reported Wednesday that the team and D.C. government were close on an agreement to build there, with the framework of a deal north of $3 billion.

A spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declined comment. A message sent to the Commanders seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Getting back to the franchise’s former home is a path that included Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill in December to pass legislation to transfer the 170-plus acres of land from the federal government to D.C. It made it through Congress at the eleventh hour, and former President Joe Biden signed it into law in early January.

The Commanders’ lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.

The team played at RFK Stadium, 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol, from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland.

San Francisco 49ers practice squad offensive lineman Isaac Alarcon was suspended for the first six games of the upcoming season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The league announced the suspension on Wednesday. Alarcon will be able to participate in the offseason program, training camp and exhibitions before the suspension starts.

Alarcon has never played in a regular-season game since entering the league out of Mexico as part of the international pathway program with Dallas in 2020.

SOCCER

The Gabonese soccer federation announced Wednesday that Aaron Boupendza, a striker for its men’s national team, has died after falling from the 11th floor of a building in China.

A federation statement, posted on social network X, didn’t say when the alleged incident took place or give any more details.

Boupendza, 28, had been playing for Zheijang FC in the Chinese Super League this year. Zhejiang issued a statement saying Boupendza died at his residence.

“Now the club is fully cooperating with the relevant departments to carry out the investigation,” the statement added.

The Gabon federation said Boupendza would be “remembered as a great striker who made his mark during the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon” in 2022.

He scored one goal in that tournament, the winner against Comoros, and eight in total for his country.

After playing in the lower tiers of French soccer with Bordeaux’s reserve side then Pau, Gazélec Ajaccio and Tours, Boupendza’s breakthrough season came with Hatayspor in the Turkish top flight when he scored 22 goals in the 2020-21 season.

The following season, he moved to Qatari club Al-Arabi then to Riyadh-based Al Shabab in the Saudi Pro League. His career then took him to Major League Soccer with FC Cincinnati and to Rapid Bucharest, before joining Zhejiang. He had scored four league goals in six games.

Women’s basketball

Paige Bueckers is ready to start not just her WNBA career with the Dallas Wings but her career as a businesswoman as well.

The longtime UConn star, who was picked first overall by the Wings on Monday night, confirmed during an appearance on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that she is an investor in Unrivaled, which just completed its inaugural season.

Bueckers’ deal with the 3-on-3 league is expected to be far more lucrative than her four-year WNBA rookie contract. The average Unrivaled salary was more than $220,000. Her four-year WNBA deal’s base salary would be just under $350,000.

“I mean, investments in women’s sports — I feel like the return on investment has been amazing,” Bueckers said. “Even the first year (of Unrivaled), the numbers were shocking. They just blew it out of the water. And just to invest so much in women’s sports, it’s growing at an all-time high, and it’s just a great time to be in women’s sports.”

Bueckers, who led UConn to the NCAA title on April 6, is just the latest high-profile investor in Unrivaled.

In December, the league announced $28 million in funding from a group that included Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and USC star JuJu Watkins. Other investors include tennis star Coco Cauff, retired soccer star Alex Morgan and retired NBA star Carmelo Anthony.

Before she steps on the floor for Unrivaled, though, Bueckers has her rookie WNBA season awaiting her.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Duke’s Kon Knueppel is heading to the NBA after one college season.

The 6-foot-7, 217-pound wing announced his decision Wednesday after a season that included him being named MVP of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament while helping the Blue Devils reach the Final Four. Knueppel averaged 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists as the team’s No. 2 scorer behind Associated Press national player of the year Cooper Flagg.

MOTORSPORTS

Rob Gronkowski will have an entertainment role for his first Indianapolis 500 next month, serving as the grand marshal for the “Snake Pit,” the infield party that takes place during “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Gronkowski played 11 seasons in the NFL before retiring after the 2021 season. He now serves as an NFL studio analyst for FOX, which has taken over as the exclusive broadcaster of the IndyCar Series and the Indy 500.

“This is one of the coolest combinations of sports and music out there and in the ultimate venue,” Gronkowski said in a statement Wednesday. “I’m ready to get the party started and celebrate the biggest race in the world.”

Dance producer Illenium will headline a lineup of global electronic music artists in the Snake Pit in Turn 3 of Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the May 25 race.

Gronkowski’s fellow FOX analyst, Michael Strahan, is scheduled to drive the pace car for the 109th running of the Indy 500.