WPP is the lead investor in a group that is putting $250M into George Pyne’s new sports venture, Bruin Sports Capital, which now provides his firm with $500M in buying power. WPP and Bruin put the finishing touches on the agreement last night and made the announcement this morning. The announcement formally represents the launch of Bruin Sports Capital, which Pyne said will acquire, build and operate businesses with a focus on sports and entertainment, media, marketing and branded lifestyle. Bruin hired N.Y. investment bank Allen & Co. to assist in securing funds for the venture, and the initial round was conducted over a six-month period.

Pyne, the former President of IMG Sports & Entertainment, left the company in August, shortly after its sale to WME. Bruin will build both organically and through acquisitions, which could include sports marketing agencies, franchises, leagues and federations. WPP Founder & CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, who has long had an interest in sports business, said what attracted WPP to the investment was the opportunity to provide its global client base with sports media and sponsorship opportunities through Bruin. WPP was interested in IMG when it was for sale in '13, but Sorrell called it too expensive at the time.

The Sounders today are expected to officially name former Real Salt Lake VP & GM Garth Lagerwey as the team’s new President & GM. Lagerwey had been with RSL since '07 “prior to his contract running out on Dec. 31.” It is not known what Lagerwey’s hire means for Sounders minority Owner & GM Adrian Hanauer’s “role within the organization” (SEATTLETIMES.com, 1/5).

FIFA VP Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein today formally announced that he "will be a candidate for the FIFA presidency" at the organization's May 29 meeting in Zurich. The Jordanian Prince is the "first declared challenger" to incumbent Sepp Blatter and was "encouraged to run" by UEFA President Michel Platini. In announcing his candidacy, Ali said, "It is time for a change." Also announcing his intention to run was former FIFA staffer Jerome Champagne, a "longtime ally of Blatter" (AP, 1/6).

The 76ers have signed a five-year sponsorship deal with StubHub, a significant move since the league and most of its teams are aligned with Ticketmaster. 76ers CEO Scott O'Neil said the deal is at the top "Patriot Partner" sponsorship level, which includes radio, digital, courtside and LED signage, and in-game promotions. "StubHub made a nice commitment, but philosophically for us, this business will be won or lost with data and how you manage it, so we felt comfortable with a five-year deal. That's where sponsorship is going and we think StubHub sees that and treats data like gold," he said.

Scottish soccer club Rangers today announced that "they have rejected" a US$27.5M bid for the club from Suns Owner Robert Sarver. The club said the offer for a controlling stake did not "adequately value a controlling interest in the Company." However, Rangers' directors urged Sarver to "work with other backers to help find a solution" to the team's financial difficulties (AFP, 1/6).

Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard during pregame warm-ups last night "wore what is believed to be the white, home color scheme for his signature shoe," the adidas D Lillard 1. The announced date for adidas to unveil the shoes is Jan. 13, and previously, "only photographs of the black, away color combination had made their way into social media." Lillard "switched to a pair of gray-colored Crazy Lights for the actual game" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/6).

SiriusXM Radio today will debut two new sports-themed shows. Former soccer player/coach Rodney Marsh and veteran commentator Tommy Smyth team up for "Grumpy Pundits" on Tuesdays-Thursdays from 9:00-11:00am ET on soccer channel SiriusXM FC. Boxing trainer/commentator Teddy Atlas and journalist Tim Smith will star in "Going the Distance," airing Tuesdays on SiriusXM Sports Zone from 6:00-8:00pm ET (THE DAILY).

North Carolina men's basketball players during last night's home game against Notre Dame honored the memory of UNC alumnus Stuart Scott, who died Sunday. Players took the floor with "STU" patches on the right shoulder. Fans observed a pregame moment of silence, "waved 'STU' signs during the action and even shouted Scott's trademark 'BooYa' catchphrase to celebrate North Carolina 3-pointers" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/6).

USA TODAY examines the death of two young U.S. ski team members in a front-page, above-the-fold story, as Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle were killed in an avalanche at the Austrian resort of Soelden. U.S. men's ski team head coach Sasha Rearick said, "It's our worst nightmare come true. We've never had a death of one of our athletes from an avalanche." Rearick said that the team "will race as scheduled" in an FIS World Cup slalom event today in Croatia (USA TODAY, 1/6).

If you're heading to Dallas for the CFP championship, temperatures "will remain low throughout most of the week." However, there "doesn't appear to be a repeat of the Super Bowl ice storm that gridlocked Dallas-Fort Worth most of the week" in '11. There will be "chances of rain Friday through Sunday night, but temperatures are expected to remain above freezing when it arrives" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 1/6).

The Consumer Electronics Show officially begins today in Las Vegas, and the NBA last night in advance of the start of the conference said it will be part of Samsung’s new Milk VR virtual reality streaming video service. For more, see today's issue of THE DAILY (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).

In today’s Must Read, the BOSTON GLOBE’s Steven Syre looks at Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik reinventing himself as a real estate mogul under the header, “Post-Boston, Jeff Vinik The Toast Of Tampa” (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/6).

Heads-up on headlines: Washington Post front page: "Decision To Stream ESPN May Be TV Game-Changer" ... L.A. Times above the fold: "Inglewood Plan Doesn't Guarantee NFL's Return" (THE DAILY).

The NFLPA’s lawsuit against the NFL on behalf of suspended Vikings RB Adrian Peterson is "on the docket" of U.S. District Court Judge David Doty on Feb. 6 (USATODAY.com, 1/5).

Air Force reportedly is “close to hiring” Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AD Jim Knowlton to the same position. Knowlton would succeed Hans Mueh, “who is retiring after 10 years as Air Force’s athletics director” (USATODAY.com, 1/5).

Electronics manufacturer Hisense has been named the title sponsor of the Feb. 28 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race will be named the Hisense 250 (Atlanta Motor Speedway).

A crowd of 19,004 attended last night’s Canada-Russia World Junior Championship hockey final at Air Canada Centre. Canada defeated Russia 5-4 (CP, 1/5).

“There is going to be a stadium built here” – Hollywood Park Land Co. Senior VP Chris Meany, on Rams Owner Stan Kroenke’s plan to build an 80,000-seat football stadium on the site of the former horseracing track (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 1/6).

“I do think in this day and age, with modern times where we have technology that can take out the human factor in certain key situations in big games, that we should use that technology to do so” – Lions coach Jim Caldwell, on potential pass interference calls not being subjected to a replay review (AP, 1/6).

“Chip Kelly needs to coach the football team. You have to have a personnel guy that can make those decisions, whether it is on college players or NFL players. It’s a mistake in Philly” – NFL Network’s Rich Gannon, on the Eagles coach taking on a new role overseeing player personnel (“NFL Monday QB,” CBS Sports Network, 1/5).

"We’ll donate those to some Third World country and just move on. Nothing major” – ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley, on Ohio State’s official national championship T-shirts featuring “Ohio State vs Florida State” despite the school playing Oregon for the CFP title (“SportsNation,” ESPN2, 1/5).

Last night’s 11:00pm ET editions of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” both led with the multiplayer trade involving the Thunder, Cavaliers and Knicks, with ESPN following with Cavaliers-76ers, Thunder-Warriors and UNC wearing a patch for Stuart Scott in their game against Notre Dame. FS1 followed with Rockets-Bulls and Cavaliers-76ers, with the first non-NBA report being a preview of the CFP finale featuring Oregon-Ohio State.

ESPN’s Keith Olbermann did not air his “world’s worst” persons in sports segment.

Was told Monday that #Chargers owner Dean Spanos will try to block the #Rams from going to LA and believes he has 9 votes. We shall see.

— Jason Cole (@JasonPhilCole) January 6, 2015

Why do the Rams get first shot at LA? They left it.

— Ralph Cindrich (@RalphCindrich) January 6, 2015

Given record, logical for Knix 2 focus on future. But MSG gonna lose lot of fishnagel$ (as JD used to say) this yr. NYR best make playoffs

— Steve Zipay (@stevezipay) January 6, 2015

Following up on TV-to-coaching talk, Steve Kerr just told me: "I can tell you I never felt like this after I did a broadcast. Not close."

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) January 6, 2015

The results of this year's Baseball HOF voting will be announced at 2:00pm ET.

The city of Columbia, S.C., and Columbia Professional Baseball will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 10:00am ET for a new $37M minor league ballpark, to be called Spirit Communications Park.

CNBC will no longer rely on Nielsen to "measure its daytime audience, beginning later this year." The network has "retained marketing and research firm Cogent Reports for the task" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/6).

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Olympic Host Cities.”

“This European city hosted the northernmost summer games, also the first where Soviet athletes participated.”

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “I read that the Jets are expected to name a new head coach this week. The leading candidate is reportedly former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone. A lot of people are upset about the news, mostly Doug Marrone. … The NFL’s facing a lot of criticism after a controversial call made in last night’s game that helped the Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions. Some fans are saying the refs sounded like they didn’t even know what they were talking about. Look at the clip.” The broadcast then aired video of the referee announcing the call from Sunday night’s game with a voiceover that said, “Personal foul on the one dude in the blue-ish shirt who crossed the ground stripe with the brown balloon thingy” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 1/5).

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart said of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie watching the Lions-Cowboys game from Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones' suite, “I assume the phrase ‘back in the Cowboys owners’ box’ is some sort slang for snorting crystal meth and horse [EXPLETIVE] out of cowboy hats because that would be much more preferable than sitting next to Jerry Jones.” Stewart: “You lead a state, Christie, that’s half Giants fans, half Eagles fans and you’re groping the owner of the Dallas [EXPLETIVE] Cowboys? Why don't you just break a copy of ‘Born To Run’ over the head of a Hurricane Sandy victim, you backstabbing piece of [EXPLETIVE]. Not only do we not want to see you hugging Jerry Jones, I don't think Jerry Jones wants to see you hugging Jerry Jones” (“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Comedy Central, 1/5).

“What is Helsinki?”

Helsinki hosted the ’52 Summer Games.