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Friday 9:00am ET....Today's News....Stream-Powered

  • Sources: MLB Poised To Announce Deal To Stream Local Games
  • Johnson & Johnson Reaches Deal With MLS, U.S. Soccer Federation
  • NCAA Tournament Yields Slew Of Wild Finishes In Early Going
  • New Poll Finds Boston's Support For '24 Games Declining

Source: MLB Poised To Announce Deal To Stream Local Games

MLB in the coming days is expected to announce a deal with a "national distributor, like a wireless provider, to stream local games of every MLB team," according to a source. MLB is "currently the only major sport that does not stream games of local teams." MLB.com streams every game, but "blacks out local games to protect its teams’ deals with RSNs." The agreement is "expected to put pressure" on RSNs to "work out a similar deal with MLB" (N.Y. POST, 3/20).

Johnson & Johnson Reaches Deal With MLS, U.S. Soccer Federation

Soccer United Marketing today will announce that Johnson & Johnson has signed on as an official partner of MLS and USSF. The partnership includes the U.S. men's, women's and youth national teams. Activation begins with tonight's FC Dallas-Union game. J&J's consumer brands will be featured in field-level signage at matches played in the U.S. and will integrate the partnerships into their marketing plans, including ads, retail, grassroots and PR (THE DAILY).

NCAA Tournament Yields Slew Of Wild Finishes In Early Going

The NCAA Tournament Round of 64 continues today after the first day's early games yielded "complete and glorious mayhem." There were "four one-point games, matching the single-day record" for the tourney (USA TODAY, 3/20).

Meanwhile, the first day of games at Moda Center has "established that this will be the lowest attended NCAA Tournament held in Portland since the event returned" in '09. Yesterday's two sessions drew a total of 27,895 fans. Even if Saturday's two games draw a sellout, the crowds "will fall short of the previous two stagings" at the venue (OREGONLIVE.com, 3/19).

New Poll Finds Boston's Support For '24 Games Declining

A new poll from MassINC and Boston's public radio station finds that support for hosting the '24 Games "has fallen for the second straight month." Only 36% of 504 registered voters surveyed said that they support the idea, while 52% were opposed, with 13% undecided or refusing to answer. Last month, 44% of those polled by WBUR and MAssINC supported the bid, with 46% opposed. Mayor Martin Walsh has said that he "would want to see" 70% support by '17, when the IOC will choose a host (BOSTON.com, 3/19).

Special Events Planned For Edmonton Ahead Of Women's World Cup

The FIFA Women's World Cup begins June 6 with two games in Edmonton, and part of the the city's "Big Push" is today's announcement of a new kit for Team Canada. Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli: "The mayor is about to announce a special initiative. ... The Coca-Cola Trophy tour is coming into town. We have a lot of activities planned in Edmonton." Montopoli added that total ticket sales are at 625,000, with a goal of 1.5 million over 52 matches (EDMONTON SUN, 3/20).

Syracuse Official Giansante Says He Is On Administrative Leave

Syracuse Exec Senior Associate AD & Chief Communications Officer/External Affairs Joe Giansante said that he "has been placed on administrative leave," while a school spokesperson said that he "is no longer with the school." Giansante's "name has been removed from the SU athletics website." This comes a day after Daryl Gross resigned as Syracuse AD. Giansante was "one of Gross' most trusted employees," and he "helped the school renegotiate its deal with IMG last summer" (Syracuse POST-STANDARD, 3/20).

Churchill Downs Granted New License For Fair Grounds Slots

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has granted Churchill Downs a "new five-year license to run slot machines at the Fair Grounds" in New Orleans. The previous license had been set to expire April 18. Slot machines "help subsidize purses for races held at the Fair Grounds." In '13-14, the slots "made gross profits" of $46M. Fair Grounds President Tim Bryant said the current meet, now in its final week, has gone "extremely well." The track was "able to race purses this season after twice cutting them last year" (NOLA.com, 3/19).

Speed Reads....

FIFA has agreed to pay clubs worldwide $209M for “releasing players to the World Cup” in ’18 and ’22. The deal with the 214-member European Club Association almost triples the $70M FIFA “shared among clubs from 2014 World Cup revenues” (AP, 3/20).

Talladega Superspeedway announced that it would “add SAFER barriers to its existing barrier system in time for the NASCAR race weekend of May 1-3” (AL.com, 3/20).

NASCAR’s PR team last night “took home the trophy for In-House PR Team of the Year” at the PRWeek Awards (PRWEEK.com, 3/19).

beIN Sports runs a full-page ad in the N.Y. Times touting Sunday’s FC Barcelona-Real Madrid game: “Make Way For El Clasico. Make Way For Football” (THE DAILY).

Quick Hits....

“I feel like I should write myself a letter every year and seal it and open it the night before the first games and have it say, ‘Everything’s going to be OK’” – CBS’ Ian Eagle, on prepping for early-round NCAA Tournament games being his most challenging assignment of the year (NEWSDAY, 3/20).

“If there is one thing we could have done better in the last 10 years under my watch, is when we launched what we called ‘the new car.’ … We just didn’t get the collaboration we needed to get from the industry, the owners, the drivers, the engineers and car manufacturers” – NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France, calling the Car of Tomorrow the biggest mistake of his career (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 3/20).

“I don’t think it’s an over-riding concern for the league. I don’t think any of the teams are actively tanking, and we have new rules that address the situation” – NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, on teams tanking in an effort to have the chance to draft marquee prospects Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel (EDMONTON SUN, 3/20).

“It wasn’t something I took lightly. It wasn’t a decision that was made flippantly” – NWSL Flash F Abby Wambach, on her decision to take the NWSL season off in order to focus on this summer’s FIFA World Cup (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 3/20).

Night Moves....The Madness Of March

Last night’s 1:30am ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” led with Georgia State-Baylor, UAB-Iowa State and UCLA-SMU NCAA Tournament games, followed by Nuggets-Rockets. The first non-basketball report was Bruins-Senators, 18 minutes into the telecast. Last night’s 1:00am ET edition of FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” led with Georgia State-Baylor, UAB-Iowa State, UCLA-SMU, Northeastern-Notre Dame and Texas-Butler. The first non-basketball report came 32 minutes into the telecast, on UFC fighter Ronda Rousey’s next opponent, Bethe Correia, in UFC 190.

ESPN’s “Olbermann” did not air last night.

Morning Hot Reads: Consistently Inconsistent

The WALL STREET JOURNAL notes, "Antidoping advocates have long criticized the inconsistent and opaque nature of drug testing in college sports. ... Now the criticism is coming from someplace new – atop the NCAA."

CHRON.com: "The Cubs remain a foil to the Astros. They’re not the first two teams to undertake a tear-down-and-rebuild plan, but the Cubs have the most similar timeline to the Astros, going through a somewhat parallel process while working under the same collective bargaining agreement."

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Today's Events....

Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago will host an event honoring USTA President & CEO Katrina Adams, the first African-American leader in the organization’s 134-year history.

In Other News....

GoDaddy Inc. has “set a price range for its IPO that could see it raise” as much as $418M and give it a market value as high as $2.9B. The company aims to offer 22 million shares to the public priced between $17-19 apiece. Go Daddy Founder Bob Parsons will receive a $3M services-agreement termination fee (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/20).

Spanning The Global....

The most-read Global stories today on SportsBusinessDaily.com:

1) Sky To Raise Prices After Record English Premier League Auction
2) Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger Calls For End To 'Outdated' Away-Goal Rule
3) TLA Worldwide Acquires Australia-Based Elite Sports Properties For Nearly $20M
4) Coca-Cola Hires RT Marketing For Rugby World Cup 2015, Euro 2016, Rio Olympics
5) Chelsea Ladies Manager Emma Hayes Says British Football Needs 'Rooney Rule'

Back Pages....

The Morning Buzz offers today's back page sports covers from some of North America's major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post N.Y. Daily News Newsday   Boston Herald Chicago Sun-Times 

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Literary Anagrams.”

“Vivian Darkbloom, a minor character in a 1955 novel by this foreign-born author, is an anagram of his name.”

Laugh Track....When I Get My Hands On You

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel: “Good news football enthusiasts, the NFL and Visa have just renewed their partnership through 2020 and they're working together to provide you with an upgraded fan experience. Visa also now has Visa Checkout, which makes it so easy to pay online you can do it using just one hand. But what do you do with the other hand? If you're an NFL player, you use it to do battle with my cousin Sal.” The show then aired a commercial featuring Saints QB Drew Brees, Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald and 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick arm wrestling Kimmel’s cousin ("Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 3/19).