Manning Gets Plenty Of Exposure Thursday

The Colts took it to the Saints to get the NFL season rolling, and NBC charted a 13.0/21 overnight Nielsen rating for the game, down 3.7% from a 13.5/22 for last year’s opener. Peyton Manning shined with three TD passes and at least eight commercial spots. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of challenges facing Roger Goodell. Perhaps most pressing -- there's a hearing on Capitol Hill scheduled for September 18 -- what should be done about retired player benefits? The second of our season preview issues address all these topics and more.

In The Drink
Tiger Woods reportedly inks five-year deal with Gatorade that could be worth $100M.

Stepping Up To The Dish
Big Ten Network signs with EchoStar, increasing distribution to close to 30 million homes.

Margin Of Error
ESPN’s contracts with pro leagues and agreements with Comcast and Time Warner projected to drag down Disney’s margins.

Off-Course
Threat of bad whether, time change, new date blamed for poor attendance at first round of BMW Championship.

Stunted Growth
Rick Ankiel becomes latest athlete implicated in Albany District Attorney’s drug investigation.

Playing To Space
Stan Kroenke expected to tell Arsenal BOD he has no plans of staging a takeover of the club, opting to focus on improving Rapids, MLS.

Flip This House
NCAA projects $4M in additional revenue by changing seating configuration at Final Fours.

If You Build It …
Despite calls to break away from current HOF, David Stern says NBA has no plans of building one of its own.