Contracts | featured news

Calvin Johnson is getting paid. The Lions are giving him a seven-year, $132 million extension, with $60 million guaranteed.

The star midfielder, whose record five-year, $32.5-million contract with the Major League Soccer club expired Dec. 31, will announce Thursday that he has reached agreement on a new contract for the 2012 season, which begins in March. Details of the contract were not immediately available but it is expected to call for a summer sabbatical from MLS play, allowing Beckham to play for the English team in the London Olympics.

A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the Philadelphia Phillies and closer Jonathan Papelbon have agreed to a $50 million, four-year contract.

Fans of "The Simpsons" can breathe a "d'oh!" of relief: The animated series was renewed Friday for two more seasons. A contract dispute with the show's voice cast had threatened to end the series, but Fox announced it will air through seasons 24 and 25.

The Arizona Cardinals and Larry Fitzgerald have agreed to an eight-year deal that could pay the star receiver as much as $120 million, making it one of the richest deals in the NFL.

Plaxico Burress will continue his N.F.L. career in New York after all — with the Jets. Burress, the talented but controversial receiver who has not played since shooting himself in the leg in November 2008, agreed in principle to a one-year contract, the team announced Sunday morning. The Jets outfoxed the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Giants — both of his former teams — to sign him.

The Knicks announced that the team president will leave when his contract expires at the end of this month.

Turns out the Philadelphia Phillies do have enough money for both Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay - and Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, too. A year after Phillies traded him away, Lee chose to rejoin them and form a fearsome foursome that is the envy of all of baseball.

Howard Stern is returning to Sirius XM Radio Inc, the shock jock reported on his website on Thursday, sending shares of the satellite radio company up 8 percent.

The New York Yankees have finalized the $51 million, three-year contract with captain Derek Jeter.