The Patriots and Falcons are headed to Houston for Super Bowl LI, and the "biggest sporting event in city history" will "showcase Houston as a thriving city and destination." The host region boasts "warm winter weather, 20,000 reserved hotel rooms, a 72,000-seat retractable-roof stadium," a nine-day fan festival at Discovery Green and a "no-fly zone over the entire city." A "perimeter will be established around NRG Stadium with law-enforcement personnel limiting unauthorized marketing to protect the game's sponsors" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/22). Two weeks out, the forecast for game day, Feb. 5, is "partly cloudy" and a high of 73 (WEATHER.com, 1/23).

Las Vegas sports books "opened the Patriots as 3-point favorites" over the Falcons, making the Pats the betting favorite in the Super Bowl for the "sixth time in the past 13 years" (LASVEGASSUN.com, 1/22). The average resale price of a Super Bowl ticket was $5,101 as of last night after the conference title games, according to SeatGeek. If prices hold, that would make it the most expensive Super Bowl ticket in SeatGeek's database dating back to the '10 season (THE DAILY).

Front-Page Headlines ... Boston Globe: "A Super Rendezvous With History" ... Boston Herald: "Super Heroes" ... Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Super Stomp." ... Houston Chronicle: "City Beefs Up Super Bowl Ground Game" ... Green Bay Press-Gazette: "Run And Done" ... Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Patriots' Day" ... The conference title games also dominated tabloid back pages.

The Patriots' latest Super Bowl appearance will represent a "showdown" with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, according to a BOSTON GLOBE front-page piece. After the team's AFC Championship win, Patriots Owner Robert Kraft said, "All of you in the stadium understand how big this win was. But we have to go to Houston and win one more." Amid Deflategate, Goodell has not come to Gillette Stadium in "two full years." Patriots radio analyst Scott Zolak during the third quarter was featured on the stadium videoboard "holding a yellow sign that read, 'Where is Roger?'" After that, "Where is Roger?" chants began emanating from the crowd (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/23). 

Brady-Goodell sets up a Super Bowl "ending worth watching" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 1/23). The game "could prove a weeklong nightmare for Goodell" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/22).

See more in today's issue of THE DAILY.

Funeral services for Royals P Yordano Ventura are set for tomorrow in his hometown of Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic. Royals GM Dayton Moore, manager Ned Yost and "other members of the club are expected to attend." Ventura was "killed in a traffic crash" in the Dominican Republic, the team confirmed yesterday (K.C. STAR, 1/23).

Meanwhile, Marlins President David Samson and President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill traveled to Cuba last week to attend a mass for Jose Fernandez in his hometown of Santa Clara. Samson said that he and Hill "spent two days in Cuba, during which time they not only attended the Mass," but also "visited the Little League fields where Fernandez learned to play baseball" (MIAMI HERALD, 1/21).

Last night's Bruins-Penguins game at PPG Paints Arena "had to be stopped with 6:26 remaining" in the first period when a "crater" in the ice developed near the Penguins' bench. When it "couldn't be fixed after a few minutes," officials "ordered that the first intermission begin then to give the ice crew a chance to patch the hole." Penguins officials said that there have been a "number of non-hockey events in the building recently, but none that would be particularly hard on the ice." The Penguins won 5-1 (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 1/23).

Meanwhile, Canucks G Ryan Miller "had reason to question the pitiful playing surface" yesterday at United Center during a loss to the Blackhawks. Miller: "This is the worst ice I've ever seen in my career. It was terrible and they've got to do something about it" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 1/23).

The Charlotte City Council today is expected to meet in closed session and "discuss a proposal to spend" nearly $44M toward a new soccer stadium. This comes after SMI President & CEO Marcus Smith, the prospective owner of a Charlotte MLS team, met with Mecklenburg County (N.C.) officials Friday to go over the "entire financing plan in detail." County commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing about the plan tomorrow, then "vote on the proposal Thursday" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/23).

The PGA Merchandise Show officially takes place Wednesday-Friday in Orlando, following tomorrow's Demo Day, and the event will feature "more than 1,000 golf companies and brands" within "nearly 10 miles of Show aisles." The show will utilize "one million square feet of interactive exhibit, production demonstration and industry presentation space." Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” will broadcast live each morning from the PGA Show floor and from Demo Day as well (GOLFWEEK.com, 1/12).

More than 4,000 basketball coaches throughout the U.S. starting today are taking part in the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Suits And Sneakers Awareness Week. Coaches will again dress for games wearing sneakers with their suits, part of the ongoing collaboration between the American Cancer Society and National Association of Basketball Coaches. In a special promotion that tips off this week and runs through the end of the college basketball season, fans can purchase a special pair of gold sneaker laces online or in stores from Shoe Carnival. The laces commemorate Lacey Holsworth, a young hoops fan who died of cancer in '14 (American Cancer Society).

Chinese President Xi Jinping today toured sites for the '22 Beijing Games, where he said that "money must be spent properly" and that "no 'grandiose' projects must be allowed" (REUTERS, 1/23).

New F1 owner Liberty Media Group this week will "unveil a boardroom shake-up." This will include the departures of all but one of the "existing independent directors on the board of F1's parent company," CVC Capital Partners (SKYSPORTS.com, 1/21).

The NFL yesterday announced the three finalists for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award: Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald, Giants QB Eli Manning and Panthers TE Greg Olsen (NFL).

"That game might have been Ryan's pinnacle, I don't know. But Jimmy can talk about what's going on with the Colts" – Patriots President Jonathan Kraft, on Colts Owner Jim Irsay firing GM Ryan Grigson. By "that game," Kraft meant the '14 AFC Championship, in which the Patriots beat the Colts 45-7 and which gave rise to Deflategate (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/23).

“He didn't plug any of his hotels or golf courses, so that's progress” – ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, on President Trump’s inauguration speech (“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 1/20).

The N.Y. TIMES writes terror threats in other countries have led some WNBA players to "question the costs of taking a second job overseas," and has "added urgency to efforts" to keep players in the U.S. in the offseason.

Also: 

• PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: "U.S. Soccer Can't Afford To Be Xenophobic."
• In deal with Alibaba, IOC "appears to be violating its own principles."
• Univ. of Toledo's athletic department is in "financial disarray."
• Dominance of Alabama football, Kentucky basketball rob SEC of intrigue.

Not sure the NFL sees the product damage being done when even network announcers are fuddled and fumble for minutes over the rules and refs.

— Steve Czaban (@czabe) January 23, 2017

Sports journalists can sympathize with the White House press corps. We've been dealing with fake crowd-size estimates for decades.

— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) January 22, 2017

Searching for an uber at 2:35 outside Gillette Stadium, I am following a trail of vomit to freedom

— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 23, 2017

Falcons owner Arthur Blank plans to take every employee in organization to Super Bowl. We're talking hundreds.

— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzAJC) January 23, 2017

Under Armour's Kevin Plank is attending President Trump's meeting with business leaders today. $UA

— Jess (@JGolden5) January 23, 2017

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com

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

Friday night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Women Singers.”

“What she calls her ‘Love of many Colors album,’ a 2016 release by this singer is her first No. 1 country album in 25 years.”

“Who is Dolly Parton?