William Morris Endeavor co-CEOs Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel are expected to visit IMG College headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., today to see the operation and meet further with IMG College President Ben Sutton, sources said. The most immediate question facing WME in the aftermath of its $2.4B acquisition of IMG is whether certain company leadership – namely Sutton and IMG Sports & Entertainment President George Pyne – will stay with the company. In a memo to staff yesterday, Sutton wrote that both of them have been asked to stay, but neither have made a commitment yet. It is uncertain which direction they will go. Some industry experts believe Pyne and Sutton are a package deal because they have worked so well together in building IMG College from $25M in net income to $70M over the past three years.

Meanwhile, the college business is new to WME, but they have expressed a desire to stay the course. "They foresee opportunities to further develop the college business," Sutton wrote in the memo to staff. In the meantime, Sutton directed his team of more than 1,000 employees at IMG College to conduct business as usual.

SBD/SBJ has asked industry leaders about the impact and significance of the sale of IMG to WME and Silver Lake Partners. Read their thoughts.

ESPN today will announce plans to offer "six different ways" to follow the Jan. 6 Florida State-Auburn BCS National Championship Game. Augmenting the broadcast of the game itself on the flagship network will be "game-centric viewing options across ESPN's family of networks." Each channel will begin its telecast at 8:30pm ET, coinciding with kickoff. ESPN Exec VP/Programming Norby Williamson said, "We thought this was the perfect opportunity to frankly have some fun, experiment and try to come up with different offerings to see what we can deliver on the biggest stage" (USA TODAY, 12/19).

Multiple Japan-based news outlets today reported that the Rakuten Golden Eagles "would not permit" MLB teams to bid for P Masahiro Tanaka via the new posting system, which caps the acquisition fee at $20M. The Golden Eagles instead "will offer to double or even triple his annual salary" of about $4M, which "could make him the highest-paid Japanese pitcher in history." Team officials reportedly plan to meet with Tanaka today to tell him that they "would not permit him to depart" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/19). Rakuten "rejected terms of the new posting system in a vote by Japan's 12 teams on Monday" (AP, 12/19).

The Bills as of yesterday had about 16,000 tickets to sell for Sunday’s game against the Dolphins at Ralph Wilson Stadium, “making it likely the game will be blacked out from local television.” It would be the second NFL game blacked out this season after the Bengals-Chargers game on Dec. 1 (BUFFALONEWS.com, 12/18). This comes a day after the FCC opted to move toward eliminating blackout rules as they pertain to cable and satellite operators (THE DAILY).

Live event upgrade outfit Experience has struck a deal with the Discover Orange Bowl to offer seat and amenity upgrades as part of the Jan. 3 bowl game. Available upgrades include better seats, behind-the-scenes tours, and on-field access to the halftime show and postgame trophy presentation. This year's game will feature Clemson and Ohio State. "Enhancing the fan experience and empowering fans with new and exciting ways to make special game day memories is a priority for the Orange Bowl Committee," said committee CEO Michael Saks. Experience is now aligned with more than 40 pro teams, college athletic programs, and events.

Russia President Vladimir Putin today said that the country's "top responsibility as host of the Winter Olympics is to ensure equal conditions for all the athletes." Putin during a press conference said the "main thing for us is the good organization of these competitions, the creation of equal terms for all athletes." This comes two days after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that two openly gay athletes would be part of the U.S. delegation to the Sochi Games (AP, 12/19).

The L.A. TIMES' Helene Elliott writes Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow being part of the U.S. delegation is a "message of unmistakable defiance to Russia, which has adopted anti-gay legislation that bans 'propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships to minors,' effectively prohibits gay-rights rallies, and jeopardizes those who express support of gays" (L.A. TIMES, 12/19).

ESPN's Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last night, with host Jimmy Kimmel noting Simmons "used to be a writer here on the show" and now has his "own media empire." Simmons told Kimmel he worked on the show "before you were famous." Kimmel replied, "Well, not really."

Kimmel said to Rose, "I don't know if you know this, Jalen, but Bill talks about you all the time. I think Bill's in love with you." Rose: "This is my good friend. We're the modern-day Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy." Kimmel said Simmons and Rose "definitely have chemistry." Simmons said, "The good thing about Jalen is he says everything, he doesn't hold back." Kimmel asked Rose, "When you were just getting into the NBA and just started to make a lot money, or maybe you made some in college…" Simmons: "Maybe?" Rose: "I was not implicated in any wrongdoing" ("Jimmy Kimmel Live," ABC, 12/18).

The Univ. of Texas has appointed "an eight-person search committee to help” AD Steve Patterson find a replacement for football coach Mack Brown. Korn/Ferry Int’l Vice Chair Jed Hughes is also assisting with the search (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 12/19).

Stats LLC has struck a partnership with golf destination outfit Preferred Golf to create the Preferred Golf Fantasy Challenge. The fantasy golf contest, open to the public and slated to begin Jan. 3 in concert with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, will include weekly prizes such as trips to Preferred Golf's luxury resorts (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).

Towson Univ. has raised the “necessary funding to ensure” the school’s baseball team can play the ’14 season. The school earlier this year announced its intention to “drop baseball and men’s soccer to deal with budgetary deficits and Title IX issues” (Baltimore SUN, 12/19).

NBA Kings investor Shaquille O’Neal, who lives in Atlanta, attended last night’s Kings-Hawks game at Philips Arena (SACBEE.com, 12/18).

“We need to take a firm stand to preserve our sport, prevent catastrophic injury and avoid financial repercussions” – USA Hockey Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Stuart, on a proposal to ban fighting from all levels of amateur hockey in the U.S. (N.Y. TIMES, 12/19).

“We had to evaluate whether we wanted to call it something different like the San Francisco Bowl for one year or whether to keep the fight hunger cause going” – Fight Hunger Bowl Exec Dir Gary Cavalli, on Kraft dropping its title sponsorship of the game (AP, 12/19).

“This is the perfect person to represent everything that’s good about American athletics. … Everyone who has a daughter or a son would dream of having this, an elite academic mind who is also a U.S. Olympian” – You Can Play co-Founder Patrick Burke, on openly gay U.S. women’s hockey player Caitlin Cahow being appointed to the presidential delegation for the Sochi Games (L.A. TIMES, 12/19).

Newsday’s Neil Best: “Finally hit wall today after 3.5 years of talking, hearing and reading about weather concerns re SB48. Let's just shut up and play already.”

NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper: “I’m glad I missed Knicks-Bucks tonight to avoid retina damage. I’m sorry I missed it, based on my timeline. But I’m glad I missed it.”

ESPN’s Buster Olney: “The average MLB salary in '13 was a record $3.39 million.  And yet we keep hearing about how the sport is in decline.”

FS1’s Mike Hill: “The lady in that Kevin Garnett Beats commercial screaming ‘what's up SON’ is HARDCORE.........straight Bed-Stuy like NY chick.”

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

Nike will announce its Q2 results after the bell.

A hearing will be held on the lawsuit brought by the Matheson family, who donated the land on which the ATP/WTA Sony Open tennis tournament is held, to halt expansion of the event.

Seven-year-old Bengals fan Nicholas Johnson wrote a get-well card to Bengals P Kevin Huber, who suffered a broken jaw and cracked vertebrae after “a vicious hit” by Steelers LB Terence Garvin in Sunday's game. Johnson wraps up his letter to Huber by stating, “I hope that Steeler player loses his house and has to live in his car” (CINCINNATI.com, 12/19).

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Children’s Literature.”

“Joy, Nellie and Aranea are three of the many children of this title character.”

Boxer Bernard Hopkins appeared on "The Arsenio Hall Show" last night, with host Arsenio Hall saying that if the 48-year-old world champion was a "basketball player or a football player your name would be on everyone's lips. Do people understand what it means that this man is still whipping young people's ass?" Hopkins: "Taking them to school … but it's fun doing it at this age." Hopkins said Manny Pacquiao could not defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. and added, "Give me half the money and I'd fight both of them" ("The Arsenio Hall Show," 12/18).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “More snow storms across New England and it is cold. It is so cold, A-Rod was adding hot sauce to his human growth hormone. … Scientists now say the universe may actually be a giant hologram and everything we see is just an illusion. Finally, some good news for Dallas Cowboy fans” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 12/18).

“Who is Charlotte?”

Charlotte is the title character from the children's novel "Charlotte’s Web" by E.B. White.