Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam today will "speak at a public memorial service" for the late Arnold Palmer at St. Vincent Basilica in Palmer's hometown of Latrobe, Pa. Other speakers will include PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, CBS' Jim Nantz and Int'l Golf Federation President Peter Dawson. Performers at the memorial service will include country music artist Vince Gill, the Coast Guard Color Guard and Brass Quintet and St. Vincent College singers (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 10/4).

Golf Channel today plans to spend its "entire daytime" covering the service for Palmer, the network's founder. "Morning Drive" and "Golf Central" will both be on site in Latrobe throughout the day, with coverage of the service starting at 11:00am ET. Following the service, the net will air the four-part documentary "Arnie." At 5:00pm, Golf Channel will show highlights from Palmer’s '60 Masters win (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 10/3). ESPN will televise the service "in entirety" beginning at 11:00am (TWITTER.com, 10/3).

USA TODAY's Josh Peter writes under the header, "What Made Arnold Palmer The King Of Charisma." SBJ Staff Writer John Lombardo and Exec Editor Abraham Madkour discuss Palmer's inimitable legacy and lasting impact on sports marketing.

The D-backs "cleaned house" yesterday, firing GM Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale and "seemingly doing the same with Tony La Russa, who could remain with the organization but will not wield the clout he had in recent years" as Chief Baseball Officer. This comes after the team finished the season 69-93, fourth in the NL West, marking "perhaps the most disappointing season in club history." D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall "intimated that the organization will seek to make one hire – a GM – rather than finding a new chief baseball officer or hiring a president of baseball operations" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/4).

About 400 people yesterday "cheered the prospect of building" a $1.9B, 65,000-seat domed football stadium in Las Vegas at "an event that was more pep rally than news conference." It featured an appearance by Pro Football HOFer Howie Long, who told the crowd that when the Nevada Legislature meets next week to consider the stadium proposal it "could become a part of history that the Raiders are attempting to make on the field this season" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/4).

The Virginia Beach City Council today will vote on whether to let developers take on $240M in debt to "build an arena they say would draw top musical acts and possibly major sports teams." The deal "needs the approval of at least nine of the 11 council members because it involves leasing city-owned land" to the developers for 60 years. The city has "agreed to keep the developer’s proprietary information confidential" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 10/4).

More than 150 delegates of the inaugural Sport At The Service Of Humanity conference and their guests are expected to attend a casual reception tonight at the Chorus Café, blocks away from St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican. While the event formally kicks off tomorrow, a number of the delegates have started to arrive. The reception is hosted by The Aspire Group, which helped organize and sell sponsorship around the event. Tonight’s gathering will be well-attended by members of the U.S. sports business community.

Aspire CEO Bernie Mullin, Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and former Coke marketing exec Scott McCune were among those that attended today’s opening press conference at The Vatican. Ackerman and McCune were part of the content committee setting up speakers and panels, and both will lead discussion segments over the three-day event. Guests are experiencing perfect weather, with bright blue sunny skies and temperatures in low 70s, and also seeing very manageable offseason crowds around Rome.

This comes amid a busy week worldwide for sports business conferences, with the two-day Leaders Sport Business Summit kicking off tomorrow in London, along with the NeuLion Sports Media & Technology Conference in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Sources said that UNLV AD Tina Kunzer-Murphy is "expected to stay in her position through spring and then possibly move to another job within the university." Kunzer-Murphy said that "nothing had been decided" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 10/4).

The Univ. of Nevada today will hold a press conference to announce plans for a basketball practice facility (RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, 10/4).

Anchor Jade McCarthy has singed a multiyear contract extension with ESPN. She is repped by Octagon VP/Sports Broadcast Tim Scanlan, who previously worked at ESPN (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

Watchmaker Omega runs a full-page ad in today's N.Y. Times touting its sponsorship of the '16 Ryder Cup in the wake of the U.S.' win (THE DAILY).

"I know (Pro Football HOFer) Harry Carson came out and said, 'Hey, I wouldn’t let my (grandson) play.' I hear (President) Obama say 'I wouldn’t let my kid play.' And those are the articles that you guys are writing. But nobody’s writing articles about the people that say, ‘(Expletive)!’ This is a great game" – ESPN's Jon Gruden, on the media's coverage of safety concerns associated with football (USA TODAY, 10/4).

"I actually forgot. I was so focused on the game I honestly forgot" – 49ers RB Mike Davis, on why he did not raise his fist during the National Anthem prior to Sunday's game against the Cowboys (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 10/4).

"LeBron says he and Hillary are all about the same thing: Taking forever to finally win something" – NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, on Cavaliers F LeBron James endorsing Hillary Clinton for president (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 10/3).

"Experts say LeBron's endorsement will help Hillary Clinton win Ohio and lose Florida" – TBS’ Conan O’Brien (“Conan,” TBS, 10/3).

Six months ago, the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE editorial board "emphasized that it needed five questions answered before it could urge anyone to support" the Chargers' plan for a new stadium. Even with Mayor Kevin Faulconer endorsing the proposal, "only half of one has been answered," and the other answers "won't be known until after the election."

The N.Y. TIMES examines baseball fan Ralph Carhart's mission to "connect with all 312 members" of the Baseball HOF by putting a single baseball "in the hand of every living member and visiting the grave of every deceased member."

Also: 

• Nationals players share their philosophies on dealing with trolls on Twitter.
• The MLB Rangers "pride themselves on investing in people," and it is paying off.
• Vocal athletes like Colin Kaepernick are "linked to the social activism" of Jim Brown.

Just a little something to think about. They want us to be politically correct while living in a politically incorrect world.... hmmmmm

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) October 3, 2016

Despite what Swansea fans may have read , Bob Bradley is not brash. He is a solid serious coach and bet he knows team inside out already.

— Ian Darke (@IanDarke) October 4, 2016

Faulty data source. Did not happen "The Yeezy Boost V2 Made More Money Than the Nike Air Force 1" https://t.co/PXhDme4RhL via @Footwearnews

— Matt Powell (@NPDMattPowell) October 3, 2016

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

“A 4th Century traveler gave one of the first descriptions of this day: ‘All the children … are carried … bearing branches.’”

Last night’s edition of “Jeopardy!” featured the category “Baseball in Uniform.”

$200: “Bob Feller left the Cleveland Indians for the Navy on December 9, 1941, two days after hearing this news on his way to a contract meeting.”
$400: “Say hey and name this Giants outfielder and one-time Army calisthenics instructor.”
$600: “Seen here as Navy Blue Jackets are Pee Wee Reese and Phil Rizzuto, two greats at this position.”

The introduction to CBS’ “The Late Show” last night featured host Stephen Colbert taking questions from the audience, with one audience member asking Colbert if he had seen the fan at the Ryder Cup heckling European players and then coming onto the green and sinking a long putt. While discussing the shot, the fan who made the putt, David Johnson, started yelling from the audience, “Start the show!” Johnson then came on-stage to play mini-golf into a cutout of Donald Trump’s face (“The Late Show,” CBS, 10/3).

Snowboarder Travis Rice appeared on NBC’s “Last Call,” with host Carson Daly noting Rice “has been called one of the most influential snowboarders of the last 20 years.” Daly said Rice is currently starring in the film “The Fourth Phase,” which “follows his epic journey around the north Pacific.” Rice said, “You can jump out a window of a four-story building if there’s three feet of powder on the ground and land. It’s good. It’s essentially a down comforter that covers this brutal rock terrain.” Rice talked about one point in the film in which he gets “swept over a cliff in an avalanche.” Rice: “It’s a heavy part of the film but it’s a reality that comes with doing what we do” (“The Last Call,” NBC, 10/4).

“What is Palm Sunday?”

Correct responses to the “Baseball in Uniform” category:

$200: “What is the bombing of Pearl Harbor?”
$400: “Who is Willie Mays?”
$600: “What is shortstop?”
$800: “Who was Ted Williams?”
$1000: “Who was Roberto Clemente?”