Live Nation Entertainment has submitted a proposal to acquire facility manager SMG, according to sources. Bids were due today and Richmond-based investment bank Harris Williams & Co. is managing the process. Live Nation President of Arenas Mike Evans deferred comment to the company’s corporate office, which did not respond to an email. Live Nation Entertainment includes promoter Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Live Nation already runs around 40 amphitheaters, and adding SMG and its 200 accounts would make it the world’s biggest promoter and facility management firm, and the industry’s dominant ticketing provider. A Live Nation acquisition of SMG could present major competitive issues for AEG, Spectra, OVG Facilities and VenuWorks, plus other ticketing firms, independent promoters and talent agencies such as CAA and WME when booking clients at venues. A merger also could draw scrutiny from federal antitrust regulators.

DC United "will have to play between two and four home matches at alternative locations before Audi Field opens" next year. The venue is "slated to open on time in late June, almost four months into the season." United had "hoped to play all 17 home games there by front-loading the schedule with away matches and squeezing the entire home slate into the last four months of the league calendar." But with MLS "balking at that plan," United is "preparing to play multiple early-season home games elsewhere in the area, such as Annapolis, Baltimore or Richmond" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/28).

F1 is "actively scouting downtown Miami as a potential site for a Grand Prix." Execs and engineers with the racing series "were in town this month, meeting with Miami's new mayor and the city's head of film and culture to go over potential racing circuits and logistics." Racing planners "have already put together a half-dozen routes." Vicente Betancourt, Film & Cultural Administrator for the City of Miami Special Events Department, said that "logistics are being discussed with the hope of bringing a race downtown" by '20. But he added that "everything is preliminary" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 11/28).

Attorneys for both the Univ. of Tennessee and Greg Schiano are likely to debate whether the MOU for Schiano to become the school’s next football coach “is a legal binding document” without the UT chancellor’s signature. Both Schiano and UT AD John Currie signed the MOU, and ESPN’s Chris Low predicted it is possible Schiano could “sue Tennessee over this whole fiasco.” Low said, “If that happens … this thing could get even uglier than it already is.” ESPN’s Bob Ley said that would be the “appropriate ending to what was basically digital mob rule over the weekend” (“OTL,” ESPN, 11/28).

CBS Sports President David Berson today said that the recasting of WFAN-AM's morning program "will not effect its television simulcast" on CBS Sports Network. Berson, who oversees the cable channel, said, "It will continue as is ... without interruption. No change." Gregg Giannotti becomes Boomer Esiason’s permanent co-host on Jan. 2, and the show is a "seemingly odd fit for a national simulcast, given its strongly local slant." But Berson said that CBS Sports "believes it has enough national appeal to justify its presence on the schedule, with or without" Craig Carton (NEWSDAY.com, 11/28).

The Univ. of Arkansas has hired Korn Ferry for its AD search and Chicago-based search firm DHR Int'l for its football coach search (TWITTER.com, 11/28).

Retired NHL Kings broadcaster Bob Miller will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 13th annual L.A. Sports Awards on Feb. 6 at The Beverly Hilton (Kings).

The AVP has finalized its '18 schedule, with the season kicking off in Huntington Beach, Calif. from May 3-6. The tour will run from May-September with eight planned events (AVP).

"If UC were in a Power Five conference, our TV distribution would increase by $38 million a year" -- Univ. of Cincinnati AD Mike Bohn (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/28).

"In an ideal world, I would like to have them feel what some of my past guys had to go against all those years" -- Tiger Woods, on his perception among younger PGA Tour players. Woods returns to golf this week at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas (ESPN.com, 11/28).

Seeing a lot of complaints that LARM-PHI wasn't flexed to SNF... The flex rules aren't there to give NBC the best game. They're there to avoid BAD games. BAL-PIT is a good game, two playoff contenders, hardcore division rivalry. It's just not the best game of the week.

— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@FO_ASchatz) November 28, 2017

NBC's @GolfChannel has parted ways ways with Adam Hertzog, Vice President of News & Studio Productions. The ex-ESPNer oversaw news department and daily TV shows like 'Morning Drive" + 'Golf Central.' Geoff Russell will oversee 'realigned' Golf Channel newsroom, according to net. pic.twitter.com/XpRje4xknl

— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) November 28, 2017

If sports gambling is not legalized widely by end of this decade, I will eat @OldTakesExposed's hat. https://t.co/SEmA1olpuG

— Neil Best (@sportswatch) November 28, 2017

Congrats to Jim Hyler, the new chairman of the Masters tournament competition and rules committees.
Perfect man for the job.

— RonGreenJr (@RonGreenJr) November 28, 2017

Auburn Athletics created this hype video, titled "Survival," headed into the SEC football championship game against Georgia.
 

$23M -- Amount the USTA and its National Tennis Center lost last year after "years of surpluses funded by the lucrative U.S. Open" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/27 issue).