The Chargers and Raiders hired former 49ers President & CEO Carmen Policy to oversee the potential football stadium project the two teams will share in Carson, Calif. The development comes on the heels of San Diego unveiling a stadium proposal designed to keep the Chargers in town. The Chargers have said they will focus on both the San Diego and Carson opportunities.

Policy, who has been out of the NFL for over a decade, described his role as part political and part overseeing the business of the new project. Asked how his hiring might be interpreted in San Diego, he declined to comment, saying one of his conditions for the job was he would not talk about other markets. This comes as the NFL owners meetings starting today in S.F. will have a heavy emphasis on the L.A. stadium projects.

See today's issue of THE DAILY for more.

The NFL owners begin their May meetings today in S.F., and while Deflategate will be the "primary topic of concern for the Patriots," the "rest of the league has plenty of other important business to attend to in the next two days." The owners "will vote on two proposals that were delayed from the last round of owners meetings in March – changing the extra point and the Patriots’ proposal to add more cameras on the sidelines for instant replay." The future of the NFL in L.A. "also will be a major topic." In addition, the league will narrow the list of finalists for the '19 and '20 Super Bowls (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/19).

Meanwhile, sources said that the NFL and Patriots are "engaged in 'back-channel conversations' to see if the two sides can resolve their differences without an appeal or possible litigation following the league's Deflategate punishment" (ESPN.com, 5/18).

The San Jose City Council today will vote on a lease extension for the Sharks at SAP Center through '25, with a year-to-year arrangement potentially through '40. The team and the city "will share costs of upgrades to keep the building competitive." This comes as a "number of cities inside and outside California," including S.F. and Santa Clara, are "planning state-of-the-art arenas." SAP Center opened in '93 and since then, 22 new NHL arenas have been built (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/19).

MLS Commissioner Don Garber today will visit St. Louis to meet with business leaders, public officials and representatives of the city's soccer community. The sessions will include Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Dave Peacock, who heads the governor's task force charged with planning a riverfront stadium for football and soccer (MLS). The visit "includes a fan-centric part of the day" with an afternoon rally at Ballpark Village (ESPN.com, 5/13).

The Dallas Marathon and three of the Metroplex’ pro franchises today will announce a new race series concept to recognize participants who finish four different running events in the same calendar year. The idea behind the RunDallas Race Series, organizers said, is to make corporate sponsorships more appealing by expanding the running calendar and to increase participation.

The races include the inaugural FC Dallas Footy 5K & Fun Run (July 11), the Medical Center Arlington Texas Rangers Labor Day 5K (Sept. 7), the Mavs Run This Town 5K in October and any of the concurrent Dallas Marathon, Half Marathon or Behringer Relay races on Dec. 13. The new series was developed under existing sponsorship contracts and does not generate additional revenue for the Marathon. The events benefit the teams' community charitable foundations.

California-based AlphaDraft, which operates daily fantasy games in the competitive video game space, has closed on a $5M seed round of venture capital financing, led by Metamorphic Ventures, a N.Y.-based firm focusing on early-stage tech companies. Also involved in the funding round were Upfront Ventures, which recently led a $3.5M Series A round for Draft, as well as Knicks F Carmelo Anthony's investment fund Melo7 Tech Partners and former NBA Commissioner David Stern, among others.

AlphaDraft seeks to take advantage of the surging interest in eSports. AlphaDraft Founder & CEO Todd Peterson said, "Just as fantasy football helped significantly expand interest in the NFL, we think this, too, will help deepen fan engagement to eSports. There will be a bit of education required at first, as a lot of gamers have never played fantasy sports. But this is a huge global opportunity."

Temple Univ. promoted Deputy AD Patrick Kraft to AD, replacing Kevin Clark, who was appointed within the school to the newly created position of Exec VP & COO (Temple).

Former Islanders Owner John Spanos Jr., “whose audacious effort to buy the NHL franchise in 1996 landed him in federal prison,” today is scheduled to go on trial for “an alleged scheme to defraud a company that provides laundry services to health care facilities” (AP, 5/17).

The Pro Football HOF today will "disclose results of an economic impact study" about the planned Hall of Fame Village. The first phase of the plan reportedly will cost $240-250M (CRAINSCLEVELAND.com, 5/14).

“We never considered removing Mark from calling this series” – ESPN Senior VP & Exec Producer Mark Gross, on Mark Jackson calling the Warriors-Rockets Western Conference finals. Jackson was fired by the Warriors last offseason (SI.com, 5/18).

“The tour is much different now. Greed rules. The prize money is obscene. A player no longer has to win to get rich. The tournaments have corporate names, the Tour staff takes charge of the tournament courses and eases them up to create lower scores” – Golf writer Dan Jenkins, on how the PGA Tour has changed over the past 25 years (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/19).

“As long as I’m here, we will not play in Tiger Stadium on a Thursday. I guarantee you that” – LSU AD Joe Alleva, on trying to keep the school’s home game against Texas A&M off of Thanksgiving (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 5/19).

“I accept what I did, and I understand there’s consequences for your actions. So I accept my suspension, and I’m not going to fight it” – Mercury C Brittney Griner, on her seven-game suspension in response to her arrest on allegations of assault and disorderly conduct (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/19).

Last night’s 11:00pm ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and the 11:00pm ET edition of FS1’s “Fox Sports Live" both led with Lightning-Rangers. ESPN followed with Cardinals-Mets, A’s-Astros and a preview of Rockets-Warriors Western Conference Finals. FS1 followed with Indians-White Sox, Angels-Blue Jays and an injury update on IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe.

ESPN’s Keith Olbermann called out his “world’s worst” persons in sports: Under Armour for issuing a “dreadful apology” for their “Band of Ballers” T-shirts that resembled the flag-raising on Iwo Jima. Olbermann also put on notice – in a three-way tie for third worst that has “never happened before” – a ball boy at a WTA match for falling while trying to get an umbrella for Maria Sharapova; Arizona State OF Johnny Sewald for catching a pitch that hit him and throwing it back to the pitcher; and Australian soccer Chair Frank Lowy falling off the stage while presenting the championship trophy. The second "worst" person in the world was a Phillies fan who took a home run ball away from an elderly woman.

YAHOO SPORTS: "The Selig Rule is a sham." In moving Dan Jennings from GM to manager, the Marlins "hired another white guy with zero managerial experience without bothering to interview another candidate." N.Y. TIMES: "Experience may no longer be required for managing in the majors."

In an opinion piece for the BOSTON GLOBE, Harvard government/sociology professor Theda Skocpol writes, "The twisting of workplace realities by attorney Ted Wells and the [NFL's] autocratic disciplinary system are equally problematic." Also in the GLOBE, a look at how the collapse of a dynasty is "greeted with delight" by many sports fans.

Also:

• Would it be advantageous to the Chargers to stay in San Diego?
• New ball design credited for more home runs in college baseball.
• Jon Cooper went from Wall Street career to coaching Lightning.
• Five big issues for CFL Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge to address.
• Travis Sawchik offers insight on how big data has helped the Pirates.
• PawSox co-Owner James Skeffington has led public projects in R.I.

BREAKING @1045espn programming news: @glrush3: "We've opted out of our contract with Paul Finebaum." Show ends in August on 104.5 ESPN

— James Haralson (@jamesharalson) May 18, 2015

I think the idea by @LETgolf to play Sunday through Wednesday is brilliant. Creating golf content when there is none makes perfect sense.

— Ron Sirak (@ronsirak) May 19, 2015

Steven Gerrard refuses to sign Galaxy uniform after Liverpool match http://t.co/NYsYIAsWNp ...Gerrard, you're doing MLS retirement wrong.

— Mike Foss (@themikefoss) May 19, 2015

Took my girls to see #PitchPerfect2. Pretty awesome movie. If the #Packers can have a cameo in it this former #cflcommish can love it

— Mark Cohon (@MarkCohon) May 19, 2015

.@SamanthaBusch & I welcome Brexton Locke Busch born 5/18 @ 9:45pm 7lbs 10oz n 21 inches. Mom n baby doing great! pic.twitter.com/fweUNTBaPe

— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) May 19, 2015

The Islanders will host a “Select-A-Seat” event at Barclays Center, where prospective season-ticket holders can choose a seat or section for next season.

MLB will begin hosting a two-day showcase for int'l prospects at Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City, Panama.

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Animated Movie Characters.”

“Her look was partly inspired by descendant Shirley ‘Little Dove’ Custalow McGowan and by model Christy Turlington.”

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “Republican presidential candidates attended a dinner in Iowa with 1,400 guests. I don’t want to say Republican voters are getting old, but half of those guests were baseball players who walked out of a nearby cornfield. If you caucus, they will come.” More Fallon: “During a charity boxing match on Friday, Mitt Romney lasted two rounds against Evander Holyfield and raised $1 million. It was just like Holyfield’s fight with Mike Tyson, except Romney chewed off his other ear talking about his 18 grandchildren. … Still not the worst boxing match we’ve seen his month” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 5/18).

CBS’ David Letterman said, “Mitt Romney, two-time Republican presidential hopeful, boxed former heavyweight champion of the world Evander Holyfield. Horrible moment when Romney bit off Holyfield’s other ear. … Holyfield won the fight and it’s not the first time Romney has been knocked out by a black guy” (“The Late Show,” CBS, 5/18).

Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Things I’ll Miss About Working At The 'Late Show'” and was read on-stage by 10 staff and crew members (“Late Show,” CBS, 5/18).

10) “Until I met Dave, I didn't know I could put my fist through a wall.”
9) “Because he's not tech savvy, Dave never notices when you steal jokes from Twitter.”
8) “Not having to wear high-heels to work.” (Read by female staffer)
7) “Not having to wear high-heels to work.” (Read by male staffer)
6) “Working with Hollywood's most well-known inseams.”
5) “Another three years and Dave was going to start paying me.”
4) “I'll miss looking forward to no longer working at the show.”
3) “Dave is the best boss in the world -- or so I'm required to say if I want my severance check.”
2) “The taping time of the show provided a consistent, reliable alibi.”
1) “Now who will I pretend to laugh at?”

“Who is Pocahontas?”