A source said that BRITNEY SPEARS' associates have "had 'secret discussions' with television and advertising execs tied to Super Bowl LII." The game will take place Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The source said that Spears "could also be packaged with other big acts to fill the 12-minute slot." Spears "last rocked the Super Bowl" in '01, when she performed in Tampa with acts including AEROSMITH and 'N SYNC (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/11).
NO REGRETS: Iowa AD GARY BARTA "never feared for his job or considered resigning" after his department paid out $6.5M to "settle two discrimination lawsuits" in May. Barta, speaking for the first time since the high-profile cases were settled, said he remains "very confident with the decisions that we made and that I made." Barta: "Tactically, I suppose you could always think of things that could have been improved upon." Barta was "not a named defendant in the lawsuits" (DES MOINES REGISTER, 7/12).
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS: Flames D MARK GIORDANO was named the “winner of ESPN’s Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award." Giordano will "score a US$100,000 grant from ESPN to aid his charity efforts" (CALGARY SUN, 7/12). The 49ers were awarded the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award, while the USTA won the League Humanitarian Leadership Award. Dick's Sporting Goods won the Corporate Community Impact Award. WWE's STEPHANIE MCMAHON, Orlando City FC and the Ross Initiative in Sports and Equality were presented the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Awards (ESPN)...Heat broadcast analyst RON ROTHSTEIN was honored with the Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Heat GM ANDY ELISBURG "accepted the award in place of Rothstein" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 7/12)
NAMES: ROBERTO CLEMENTE's '67 NL batting championship award was "sold for a record price of $493,500" during an auction at yesterday's All-Star FanFest in Miami. The auction "included 300 items from the personal collection" of Clemente's. The price "beat the previous mark of $313,500" held by MICKEY MANTLE's '56 AL silver bat award (TRIBLIVE.com, 7/11)....Golfer RICKIE FOWLER is "establishing the Rickie Fowler Grand Challenge Scholars Program" at Oklahoma State, his alma mater. The program received an "inaugural gift of $100,000 through the Rickie Fowler Foundation." Fowler said that his plan is to "continue contributing to the fund until it grows" to $1M (OKLAHOMAN, 7/12)....WME-IMG co-CEO ARI EMANUEL revealed his summer reading includes "THE CONTENT TRAP," by BHARAT ANAND. He "liked it so much he hired the author to be a consultant." The book is about how companies are "meeting the digital age challenges of how to get noticed -- and paid" (NYPOST.com, 7/9)....Princess Cruises brought Basketball HOFer YAO MING and a "really tall bottle of champagne" for Sunday's christening ceremony of the new Majestic Princess cruise ship in Shanghai (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 7/11).
