Celebrations are scheduled around the world today to begin the one-year countdown to the '16 Rio Games. IOC President Thomas Bach is visiting the host city and will start a countdown clock at the City of Arts cultural venue near the Olympic Village during a week-long celebration. In N.Y., NBC will turn Rockefeller Center into an Olympic festival during the four-hour “Today” show and will feature 12 hopeful Team USA members during the broadcast. The athletes will run the gauntlet of media interviews and appear in the evening at Yankee Stadium prior to the start of a Yankees-Red Sox game. Both NBC and the USOC have promised extensive online coverage of the day’s events (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).

“Today” promoted the Games heavily this morning, teasing the event in its opening segment with the headline “One Year To Rio!” Natalie Morales reported live from Copacabana Beach, and Matt Lauer said, “We’re throwing an Olympic-sized celebration on our plaza.” Morales said, “You can be sure that Rio wants to not only put on a good show, they want to put on a spectacular show. Everywhere we look, we’re seeing signs of progress.” Morales noted most of the venues “are halfway complete to being nearly complete," though some are "still major concerns.” Lauer added, “With every Olympics the question is asked, ‘Will the host city be ready?’ Rio’s obstacles and challenges have dominated some of the headlines” (“Today,” NBC, 8/5).

“Extraordinary” demand from automobile manufacturers and the addition of golf to the Olympic program has NBCUniversal confident it will eclipse $1B in ad sales during the ’16 Rio Games, NBC Sports Group Exec VP/Sales & Sales Marketing Seth Winter said. He added, “We have more capacity in the Olympics this go-around because golf will have a very, very significant presence on our networks. ... Expectations are to exceed London, and we're pretty much pacing right along with our London sellouts." Longtime Olympics broadcast rights holder NBC cleared $1B for the '12 London Games, and reported $850M in ad sales for the '08 Beijing Games. 

Olympics rights holders such as BMW, United, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, Nike and Coca-Cola all bought significant time during the initial sales phase that focuses on existing sponsors. Winter expects demand from the rest of the market to be robust between now and the Games. Aside from automotive, strong categories include packaged good, insurance, motion pictures and fast-food restaurants.

Tigers Owner Mike Ilitch yesterday dismissed team President & GM Dave Dombrowski, and “while the outcome wasn’t a shock, the timing was.” Tigers VP & Assistant GM Al Avila was tapped to replace Dombrowski (DETROIT NEWS, 8/5). The dismissal was “one of the more stunning announcements in recent Tigers history – if only for the timing.” Dombrowski recently traded P David Price and RF Yoenis Cespedes for young prospects in the run-up to the trade deadline (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 8/5). Within hours of his departure, Dombrowski’s name “had been linked” to the Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Mariners and Brewers (LATIMES.com, 8/4).

The NFL has set today as a deadline for five facilities to submit requests to be “a temporary site in case two teams were to relocate” to the L.A. market. L.A. Memorial Coliseum is “the only venue willing to house a team while a stadium was being built and has made it clear it wants one pro team.” The Rose Bowl and StubHub Center "declined to respond to the league" and Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium “have not given a definitive answer.” The NFL sees the lack of available sites as an “inconvenience” and not “something that would dictate the outcome of who would eventually move” (L.A. TIMES, 8/5).

Meanwhile, County Supervisors yesterday “bolstered San Diego’s efforts to build a new Chargers stadium” by approving $500,000 for attorneys and financial consultants that “will be needed if negotiations resume with the team” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/5).

In a rare disclosure of internal NFL proceedings, the complete June arbitration hearing for Patriots QB Tom Brady was disclosed yesterday as part of dueling lawsuits in federal court over his suspension. In fact, it was just one exhibit among 210 that were attached to the NFLPA's complaint filed late yesterday, a response to the NFL seeking to enforce its four game suspension of the star quarterback. The case, unlike most previous league labor litigation, is being heard in Manhattan federal court, and the judge overseeing the case, Richard Berman, clearly has a far greater bar to sealing documents than his counterparts in Minnesota, where NFL-NFLPA proceedings since the early 1990s were often cloaked in secrecy. Everything from Brady getting free cell phones, which he would then destroy, to the team's once-practice of preparing game balls in saunas was disclosed in the arbitration transcript. Reams of cell phone records were also included (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer). Read the full transcript.

The BOSTON GLOBE offers five takeaways from Brady's testimony and WEEI-FM looks at seven things they learned from transcripts of the Deflategate appeal hearing. ESPN.com extracts "some nuggets that stand out."

A contingent from the Triple-A Int’l League Pawtucket Red Sox and local officials today are scheduled to visit Durham, N.C., and Durham Bulls Athletic Park to “see the ‘transformative effect’ such a ballpark can have on a community.” Pawtucket Red Sox Managing Partner Larry Lucchino and advisor Dr. Charles Steinberg are expected to make the trip (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 8/5). The team released a list of 41 people that are joining Lucchino on the trip.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh “wants to ban the use of snuff and chewing tobacco in sports venues across the city.” The mayor is expected to discuss the proposal today at “a city park where he’ll be joined by public health officials, advocates” and former MLBer Curt Schilling. The proposal follows “passage of a similar ordinance” in S.F. Walsh plans to officially file the ordinance with City Council on Monday (AP, 8/4).

Billy Joel last night played "his 32nd and final show" at Nassau Coliseum, which starting today is “being prepped” for a $261M renovation. The crowd was “a raucous, rowdy love-in tinged with sadness for the soon-to-be-renovated arena – as well as for its beloved Islanders.” Joel wrapped up the three-hour concert with “Piano Man,” followed by five encores (NEWSDAY, 8/5).

Columbus, Ohio, politicians and business execs are "trying to broker a deal that would make the state capital a long-term home" to the Browns' training camp. Sources said that the city is hoping to "host a portion of camp for a five- to 10-year stretch" (CLEVELAND.com, 8/4).

U.S. Soccer has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with USWNT coach Jill Ellis (U.S. Soccer).
 
A federal judge has "reinstated a lawsuit filed by parents and others who say they paid extra for Riddell football helmets thinking the helmets would do a better job than others of preventing concussions" (NJ.com, 8/4).

“In my almost 40 years of practice, I think that was one of the most ill-advised decisions I have ever seen because it hurt how I viewed his credibility” – Attorney and NFL-commissioned investigator Ted Wells, on Tom Brady not complying with the Deflategate investigation (NEWSDAY, 8/5).

“I never said ‘PSI.’ I don’t think I even know what that meant until after the championship game. It was never something that even crossed my mind” – Tom Brady, during his hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, claiming he did not know the acronym for pounds per square inch (Mult., 8/5).

“I don’t know if it’s coming, but we’re going to keep studying it, probably at a more intense level than I’ve studied it in the past. We have to look at it harder” – Ohio State AD Gene Smith, on selling beer at football games (CLEVELAND.com, 8/4).

“I haven’t given myself a raise yet. But everything is working out well. I’m very decisive in my decisions” – UCF football coach George O’Leary, who is serving as the school’s interim AD, on his first month in the dual role (HARTFORD COURANT, 8/5).

“They say Ultimate Frisbee would be the first sport where athletes are disqualified for not testing positive for drugs” – NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, on the IOC officially recognizing Ultimate Frisbee as a sport (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 8/4).

I'm #DeflateGate fatigued. There are much more important issues in sports & news world. Hosts talk about it, I turn the channel. #makeitstop

— Ben Schlosser (@benschloss) August 5, 2015

Ilitch did right by Dombrowski here: Contract up in October, return was becoming less likely, now he can pursue other jobs.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 4, 2015

Buzz in the industry in recent weeks is that Dombrowski could end up in Toronto as next president of the "BlueJays but didn't foresee this

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) August 4, 2015

1st time reported -- @Sling had 169,000 "paid" subs at end of March 2015 - no word yet on end of June 2015 subs per $DISH 10Q cc: @WaltBTIG

— Rich Greenfield (@RichBTIG) August 5, 2015

Last night’s 11:00pm ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” led with Mariners-Rockies, followed by D-backs-Nationals, Mets-Marlins and Cubs-Pirates. The first non-MLB report was an injury update on Texans RB Arian Foster nine minutes into the broadcast. Last night’s 11:00pm ET edition of FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” led with Mets-Marlins, followed by D-backs-Nationals, Red Sox-Yankees and Dave Dombrowski leaving the Tigers. The first non-MLB item was a report on Deflategate eleven minutes into the telecast.

The Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE writes of Beijing landing the ’22 Games despite not having enough natural snow: “If the Olympic Games are to survive – and right now, the emphasis is on the if – a better idea might be to designate permanent sites for summer and winter.”

Also:

• Boston sounds off on demise of its ’24 Games bid.
• Toronto must learn from Canada’s previous Olympic hosts before '24 bid.
• English soccer team shutting out local media with new kind of defense.
• Writer offers glimpse into Lee Corso’s life before ESPN.

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “The Oxford English Dictionary.”

“As of 2013, this three-letter verb, common in sports, theater, and politics, has the largest entry in the online OED.”

“What is run?”