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Wednesday 9:00am ET....Today's News....USSF Hopefuls' Stretch Run

  • USSF Presidential Hopefuls Descend On Coaches Convention
  • Mobile-Based Senior Bowl Extends With Title Sponsor Reese's
  • UFC, Monster Energy Agree To Multiyear Sponsorship Extension
  • Washington State Reportedly Will Hire FAU's Pat Chun As Next AD

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Today: How will Silver respond to the chippy NBA? And early numbers are in on Overwatch.

USSF Presidential Hopefuls Descend On Coaches Convention

The United Soccer Coaches Convention kicks off today at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Convention Center, and the five-day event "will serve as one of the last big stages" for USSF presidential candidates to "make their cases" ahead of next month's election. There will be "plenty of election voters among the more than 12,000 attendees." Seven of the eight candidates in the field are "scheduled for solo speaking sessions on stage at the convention," with USSF VP Carlos Cordeiro the "only one who isn't." Sources said that he "moved to get a slot too late in the process" (PHILLY.com, 1/16).

Mobile-Based Senior Bowl Extends With Title Sponsor Reese's

By Michael Smith

The Senior Bowl and title sponsor Reese’s have extended their agreement that kicked off in '14. The game in Mobile, Ala., highlights college football’s best seniors and junior graduates, placing them on teams coached by pro staffs. New this year, Reese’s and '18 Senior Bowl players will host a community event to build upon The Hershey Company’s ongoing partnership with the charity Feeding America. Reese’s Brand Manager Eric Bowers is making the sponsorship announcement today. The game is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, with coverage on NFL Network. Practices will air on both NFL Net and ESPN.

UFC, Monster Energy Agree To Multiyear Sponsorship Extension

By Mike Chupita

The UFC today announced a multiyear extension of its global partnership with Monster Energy, in which it will continue to serve as the “Official Energy Drink” of the MMA promotion. As part of this extension, Monster will continue to have center canvas and entrance logo placement inside the Octagon at events, and it will continue to serve as the official uniform sponsor of the Octagon Girls. The two brands also will work in conjunction on retail promotions during UFC events in select markets. The deal was completed in-house with Monster.

Washington State Reportedly Will Hire FAU's Pat Chun As Next AD

FAU AD Pat Chun "will become" Washington State's next AD. A press conference was scheduled for today but was "moved back to a later date after news broke" last night that WSU QB Tyler Hilinski "died of an apparent suicide." The school "hasn't officially named Chun as its new AD," but WSU president Kirk Schulz "has alluded to the hire on Twitter." Chun will become the "first Asian-American athletic director at a Power 5 school" (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 1/17).

Samsung Giving Out Special Phones Around Pyeongchang Games

By Ben Fischer

IOC TOP sponsor Samsung is issuing 4,000 limited-edition Pyeongchang Games phones to athletes, local Pyeongchang staff and IOC members/employees. The Galaxy Note 8 editions feature a white case and the Olympic rings, and they come preloaded with Pyeongchang 2018 wallpaper and “useful apps,” the company says. Paralympians will receive standard Galaxy Note 8 phones during their competitions in March.

  

Koreas Form Unified Women's Hockey Team For Pyeongchang Games

South and North Korea early this morning agreed to "form a combined women’s ice hockey team to take part in next month’s Winter Olympics," and the countries will "march together under a unified peninsula flag" at the Opening Ceremony. North Korea will send a "delegation of about 550, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration" (REUTERS, 1/17).

Durant's Thirty Five Media To Help Athletes Launch YouTube Channels

Warriors F Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Media plans to work with athletes and YouTube officials to help the sports figures launch their own channels on the video site. Thirty Five Media also will create new sports programming as a development partner of YouTube. The first channels launched in this effort will be for Seahawks CB Richard Sherman, T'Wolves C Karl-Anthony Towns and Warriors players JaVale McGee and Nick Young. Durant's YouTube channel will remain Thirty Five's flagship project (THE DAILY).

Speed Reads....

The Rhode Island Senate has "approved a proposal to provide public subsidies to help fund" a new ballpark for the Triple-A Int'l League Pawtucket Red Sox, but the legislation "faces an uncertain future in the House" (AP, 1/16).

The NBA today is "expected to complete its investigation" into the locker room incident involving the Clippers and Rockets following Monday night’s game at Staples Center (L.A. TIMES, 1/17).

NESN Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy said that he has "finished his latest round of cancer treatment." He "underwent five weeks of radiation treatment, following chemotherapy in August and surgery for lung cancer on June 26" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/17).

Prudential Center and the Devils yesterday launched their newly-enhanced website www.Prucenter.com (Prudential Center).

Quick Hits....

"Somewhere over half of NBC’s entire coverage package of the Olympics is going to be curling. It’s absolutely amazing" -- Pyeongchang Games curling commentator Kevin Martin, on the sport's rise in popularity over the past 20 years (EDMONTON SUN, 1/17).

"I've got more eyeballs on me. My platform's a lot bigger. I signed a bunch of Olympic sponsors and I have the LGBT audience watching me, and I want to do right by them" -- U.S. freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, on being one of only a few openly gay athletes on the U.S. Olympic team next month (AP, 1/16).

"I'll wake up on Thursday of the Masters and I'll be really grumpy. I'll probably avoid television at all costs until the 10th tee Sunday. And I'll watch. But it will be, within reason, the hardest day of my life" -- NBC's Jim "Bones" Mackay, on his transition into a media role after serving as the longtime caddie for Phil Mickelson (AP, 1/16).

"It’s going to mean more passing. It’s going to mean better battles between drivers, and you won’t get that anywhere else in the open-wheel racing world" -- Driver Josef Newgarden, on the new IndyCar aero package that is redesigned to make 20% less downforce (DETROIT NEWS, 1/17).

Morning Hot Reads: More Than Eight Men Out

YAHOO SPORTS writes under the header, "Here's Why Baseball's Economic System Might Be Broken." As industry insiders ponder the stalled MLB free agent market this winter, the "notion of teams working with one another to suppress free-agent prices" has "crept from paranoid delusion to entirely possible." But with "no smoking gun, it, too, is merely a theory."

USA TODAY writes in regards to the Larry Nassar case, USA Gymnastics let its "best and its brightest" be "abused by someone whose sole job was to safeguard their physical well-being." The N.Y. TIMES writes under the header, "The Center Of U.S. Gymnastics' Success Is Now A Haunted House."

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Today's Events....

F1 execs are holding a conference in London to "present their vision for the future to all current race promoters." F1 CEO Chase Carey, Managing Dir of Commercial Operations Sean Bratches and Managing Dir of Motorsports Ross Brawn are "expected to give presentations and answer questions" (MOTORSPORT.com, 1/16).

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will speak to City Year Milwaukee's AmeriCorps members at the organization's Mid-Year Summit.

A Lighter Buzz....

Following news of Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette's recent car accident, in which he avoided any injury, fans have had fun with some "comedic conspiracies" online ahead of Sundays AFC title game against the Patriots. One person "edited a scene from the movie 'Happy Gilmore'" with Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s "grinning face added over the driver of a VW Beetle as it hit a running man" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/17).

Today's 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 HeraldChicago Sun-TimesPhiladelphia
Daily News

Spanning The Global....

The most-read Global stories today on SportsBusiness Daily:

1) Adidas Launches Shoes That Double As Transit Passes For Berliners
2) Former McLaren F1 Chair Ron Dennis Treats Workers To Cirque Du Soleil Performance
3) Formula 1 Execs To Present Vision For Future In London On Wednesday
4) H+K Strategies Becomes La Liga's Public Relations Agency In Nigeria
5) Chelsea's £1B Stamford Bridge Plan Moves One Step Closer As Injunction Is Rejected

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Novels of the 1960s.”

“The line ‘once when you are born and once when you look death in the face’ follows this title of a 1964 novel and an action-packed 1967 film.”

Laugh Track: Just Dance

Actor/rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson appeared on TBS’ “Conan” last night where he was asked if he would ever appear on ABC’s "DWTS." Jackson said he "can dance," but when boxer and friend Floyd Mayweather Jr. appeared on the show Jackson “was like, ‘What are you doing? Why did you do it?’ But it's like pay-per-view and it's a big audience so it made sense for him for boxing.” O’Brien asked, “You think it was a mistake for him to go on ‘Dancing With The Stars?’” Jackson: “It just didn't feel cool.” O’Brien: “Have you told this to him in person?” Jackson: “I said it different. I was like, ‘Champ, what are you doing?’ He knew what I was feeling when he did it. It was a long time ago.” Jackson said if he did “bust a move” in a film it would be “maybe ‘Dirty Dancing IV.’” O’Brien: “Does it still take place in the Catskills?” (“Conan,” TBS, 1/16).

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski “taped a new PSA where he warns about the dangers of eating Tide detergent pods, which backfired when 10 seconds into the ad he ate a Tide detergent pod” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 1/16).