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Thursday 9:00am ET....Today's News....Auburn Goes Greene?

  • Auburn Expected To Hire Buffalo's Allen Greene As New AD
  • GoDaddy To Sponsor Patrick In Her Farewell "Danica Double" Races
  • Toyota Sponsoring Overwatch League As "Launch Partner"
  • North, South Korea To March In Opening Ceremony Under One Flag

Start your morning with Buzzcast, a 3-minute podcast on today's top stories.
Today: Auburn's big hire, Padres' big solar power bet and the WTA's big bang in China.

Auburn Expected To Hire Buffalo's Allen Greene As New AD

Auburn is expected to hire Univ. at Buffalo AD Allen Greene to fill its vacant position “pending approval of the school's board of trustees.” Greene, 40, would become the “third African-American athletic director in SEC history.” He has been both a Deputy AD and Senior Associate AD at UB and “has an accomplished background in fundraising.” Jay Jacobs in November said he was stepping down as Auburn AD (AL.com, 1/17). Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search was "used to help Auburn identify candidates" (OANOW.com, 1/17).

GoDaddy To Sponsor Patrick In Her Farewell "Danica Double" Races

GoDaddy will sponsor Danica Patrick in the "upcoming 'Danica Double' that will close out her racing career." Patrick has "no ride yet for next month's Daytona 500 or the Indianapolis 500 in May, but she now has the financial backing to pull it off." The company previously backed Patrick and followed her from IndyCar to NASCAR as a primary sponsor, but then "pulled out of racing after the 2015 season." GoDaddy CMO Barb Rechterman said, "Our goals are so well-aligned" (AP, 1/18).

Toyota Sponsoring Overwatch League As "Launch Partner"

By Ben Fischer

Toyota Motor North America has signed on as the newest sponsor of Activision Blizzard's Overwatch League, agreeing to become a "North American launch partner" for the first season. It is the carmaker’s first foray into esports, and the league’s first non-endemic sponsor. Terms are not known. Toyota, which gets North American exclusivity in the car category, plans sponsored content, streaming integrations and a vehicle presence at Blizzard Arena. The automaker was already mentioned on last Saturday's opening week OWL stream, but league officials would not confirm the precise nature of the arrangement until yesterday. Toyota joins HP and Intel in the Overwatch League sponsor portfolio. UEG advised Toyota on the deal.

For more coverage of the business of esports, visit our partners, esportsobserver.com.

North, South Korea To March In Opening Ceremony Under One Flag

North and South Korea yesterday agreed to "march together under a unified flag" during the Opening Ceremony at next month’s Pyeongchang Games. The announcement also "includes plans to organize a joint women’s ice hockey team" (L.A. TIMES, 1/18). Both countries' skiers will "train together at a resort in North Korea" before the Games. However, North Korea’s participation in Olympic competition "isn’t certain." It "missed the registration deadlines," and now it is up to the IOC to "approve the proposal" (VOX.com, 1/17).

NBC Sports President of Olympics Production & Programming Jim Bell said, "This recent temperature-cooling period has been a nice thing. And it also kind of makes it interesting. People are curious. There’s that added factor to it." Bell said the diplomatic thaw "has been most welcome, both by the world and our employees, who are in the world" (NEWSDAY.com, 1/18).

See more in SBD Global.

Labor Dispute Impacts Golf Channel's CareerBuilder Challenge Coverage

Golf Channel will air all four rounds of the PGA Tour CareerBuilder Challenge, which tees off today, but what the “broadcasts will look like is certainly in question.” The labor dispute between Golf Channel and the Int’l Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees that impacted Sunday’s final round of the Sony Open continues. A union spokesperson indicated that “negotiations have resumed, but that even an agreement this week might not be enough to help the CareerBuilder broadcast because many technicians didn’t travel to the desert for the week” (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 1/18).

Wagner Featured In Bridgestone Activation Despite Missing Olympics

By Ben Fischer

IOC TOP sponsor Bridgestone has launched a retail contest that uses U.S. figure skater Ashley Wagner in its key promotional video, marking her first project to be unveiled since she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team. Wagner stars in a video depicting a surprise visit to a children’s figure skating practice -- an illustration of the contest’s grand prize, a meet-and-greet with an Olympian. Other Bridgestone athletes also will promote the contest. Wagner was already attached to this project before the U.S. team for the Pyeongchang Games was selected.

USSF Candidate Kathy Carter Unveiling Plan For New Commission

SUM President and U.S. Soccer presidential candidate Kathy Carter today is announcing "proposals for a wide-ranging commission that would shape the immediate future of the American game." If she is elected, the plan will feature Casey Wasserman as the "commission's leader." The new entity would be "entirely independent, with no sitting member of U.S. Soccer’s board or administration permitted to take part." The group "would look at the structure of all levels of the sport, from grass roots soccer to national team performance" (USATODAY.com, 1/17).

Go Bowling To Title Sponsor August Cup Race At Watkins Glen

By Adam Stern

Go Bowling will entitle the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen in August. Financial terms of the multiyear agreement were unknown, but last year’s race sponsor I Love N.Y. paid $463,500, according to Empire State Development documents. Go Bowling had been title sponsor of fellow ISC track Kansas Speedway’s spring race.

Go Bowling will have a media buy on NBC and both digital and on-site activation, including two fully operational bowling lanes on the midway. Go Bowling is owned by Strike Ten Entertainment and has also served as the primary sponsor of cars during races in which it was the entitlement partner.

Facebook Lands Streaming Rights For Two Major Esports Properties

By Ben Fischer

Facebook has acquired the exclusive English- and Portuguese-language streaming rights to two major esports properties, the ESL Pro League and ESL One circuit. YouTube had previously had the English-language rights to the Pro League. The deals cover four seasons, or two years, of Pro League action, and one year of the ESL One tournament series. The league is owned by the World Esports Association, a group comprised of tournament organizer ESL and 13 teams in the U.S. and Europe. ESL One is owned by ESL, and its Facebook streaming will begin with the ESL One Genting tourney, which starts Jan. 26.

Kelley Blue Book Extends Hendrick Sponsorship For Three Years

By Adam Stern

Kelley Blue Book this morning will announce that it has extended its sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports for three seasons through '20. The vehicle valuation and information site, which has ties to team owner Rick Hendrick’s Hendrick Automotive Group empire, will serve as primary sponsor on Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevy for two races annually in those three years and as an associate sponsor for the full Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Speed Reads....

CAA Sports has signed USC QB Sam Darnold, the potential No. 1 pick in April’s NFL Draft, for representation. Agents R.J. Gonser, Jim Denton and Jimmy Sexton are representing him (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).

ESPN has signed Nicole Briscoe to a new multiyear contract and given her the additional role of hosting ABC’s telecast of the Indianapolis 500. Briscoe has been a "SportsCenter" anchor since January '15 (ESPN).

Last night's AHL Bridgeport Sound Tigers-Charlotte Checkers game was played at an "empty Bojangles' Coliseum thanks to inclement weather" in the Charlotte area (ESPN.com, 1/17).

Quick Hits....

"At some point is good that the players speak between each other about what we want or what we don't want. That's all. Not about union or not union. Forget about this. Just speaking about what's the things that are right on the tour, what's the things that can be better" -- Rafael Nadal, on a recent players-only meeting in Australia and talk of reform led by Novak Djokovic (TENNIS.com, 1/17).

"People don't realize, I was really going to get a house (in Western New York), I was going to move there; I was really, seriously, changing my life" -- Jon Bon Jovi, in a "Howard Stern Show" saying that he would not have moved the Bills had he been successful in his '14 bid to buy the team (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/18).

Morning Hot Reads: Bet The Overwatch

The WASHINGTON POST examines Overwatch League ownership under the header, "What Do Owners Of The Patriots, Rams, Grizzlies And Flyers Have In Common? A Big Bet On Esports." The audience for esports has "surged in recent years and major investors have followed, including owners of traditional sports franchises seeking to reach a young audience traditional sports increasingly miss."

Also:

Twitter Me This....

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

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

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was "Special Days."

"A 1954 act amended a 1938 one by striking out this word & replacing it with 'Veterans.'"

Spanning The Global....

The most-read Global stories today on SportsBusiness Daily:

1) Simona Halep Playing Aussie Open Without An Apparel Sponsor
2) EPL Side Newcastle United's Sale To Amanda Staveley Nears Collapse
3) WTA Moves Finals To Shenzhen In Deal With Gemdale Valued At $1B
4) Revenues Across Europe Hit €18.5B In '16, UEFA Study Finds
5) Irish Sponsorship Market Expected To Grow By 12% In '18