Turner Sports has struck a promotional partnership with Google to help drive awareness of the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament. Beginning today, Turner Sports' digital products for the tournament, including March Madness Live; a tournament-related on-demand YouTube channel; and the Capital One-sponsored bracket challenge, will be promoted on areas such as Google Trends and a NCAA March Madness page on the Google+ social network. A link on the Google Trends page will bring fans to Turner's entire suite of NCAA digital products. The partnership will also create Google+ Hangouts online conversations with Turner Sports and CBS Sports on-air talent covering the tournament.

Basketball HOFer Phil Jackson on Friday signed on to become President of Basketball Operations of the Knicks. His deal "is for five years and is expected to pay him" $12M annually but "does not include an ownership stake," according to sources. Jackson "will take over the running of the Knicks' basketball operations department" from team President & GM Steve Mills. A formal announcement is slated for Tuesday at 11:00am ET at MSG (ESPN.com, 3/14). N.Y. tabloids went with the headlines “New Jax City” in the N.Y. POST and  “Got Their Phil” in the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. It was also on the front-page of the N.Y. TIMES under the header, "Knicks Turn To Jackson To Resuscitate The Team" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/15).

Comcast Sports Southeast is "shutting down June 1" after a 15-year run. Station GM Mark Fuhrman on Friday "informed the 20 full-time employees who will be losing their jobs," according to a source. The "primary reason" the net is shutting down is ESPN's SEC Network. Without SEC conference games, CSS "will lose a major source of programming, revenue and viewership." CSS also "runs Sun Belt Conference games that will have to find a new home" (AJC.com, 3/14).

Meanwhile, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson expects that the Sun Belt Network "will continue" despite CSS shuttering operations. CSS "carried some of the Sun Belt Conference's games." It is "unclear" what CSS' shuttering "could mean for broadcasting Sun Belt football games this Fall" (AJC.com, 3/14).

The Dodgers and D-Backs left this weekend for Australia in advance of next weekend's MLB Opening Series at Sydney Cricket Ground. It is "an opportunity" for the teams and the league to "grow their brands in an international market in which baseball is said to be emerging." MLB Senior VP/Int'l Operations Paul Archey said that he "expects the two regular-season games to be played in front of sold-out, or near sold-out, crowds" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 3/16).

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said, "The people there are psyched up about us coming, and we're psyched about going there. It'll be a cool experience. It's a once in a lifetime deal for us" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/16).

A game-tying, disputed penalty kick call against the MLS Red Bulls last night against the Rapids "was a key moment in the match," however the notion of MLS and its referee affiliate reaching a quick resolution on their labor dispute accordingly "seems remote" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16). For MLS, if "more questionable calls continue to occur, [the] impetus on ending the lockout of the regular referees will increase" (EMPIREOFSOCCER.com, 3/15).

Meanwhile, the Professional Referees Organization and the Professional Soccer Referees Association are "in 'intense mediation sessions for approximately 23 hours over course of 2 days,' ref union says." There likely will be no updates until Tuesday (TWITTER.com, 3/14).

Nationals Principal Owner Mark Lerner on Friday during CSN Washington's Wizards-Magic broadcast said that it is "unlikely that a retractable roof will be added to Nationals Park." Lerner: "I don’t believe it’s going to happen. We inquired. We’re always looking to do things that are unique. It was a way to have more events in Nationals Park. It was an idea we were throwing around in a room. It wasn’t that we specifically asked for it. We were just talking about it" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/15).

The city of L.A. on Friday sued Time Warner Cable, alleging that the company "stiffed the city on franchise fees over four years" through '11. The city seeks nearly $10M in fees and said that the money "could have helped ease its budget problems during the financial crisis." TWC is currently embroiled in carriage negotiations with other cable companies over its new Dodgers RSN, Time Warner Cable SportsNet L.A. (L.A. TIMES, 3/15).

The special two-game Yankees-Marlins Spring Training series in Panama City, Panama, kicked off last night with "roughly 27,000 ... jammed into Rod Carew Stadium," as the Marlins won 5-0 (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/16). The final game of the series is set for today (THE DAILY).

The Yankees prior to yesterday "last played outside North America" in '04, when they "opened the regular season with two games in Tokyo" against the Rays. Yankees President Randy Levine "stressed the importance for the Yankees to stretch their reach far and wide around the world." He added, "It’s extremely important. We’re an international brand, we have Yankees fans all over the world and our players enjoy this. We always seem to do it. We’re going to try to come back here and go other places" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/16).

A crowd of 19,324 attended UFC 171 last night at American Airlines Center (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/16).

Five cities -- Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; and Oslo -- on Friday "submitted their bid files" to the IOC to host the '22 Winter Games (SI.com, 3/14).

Friday's Dodgers-Cubs Spring Training game at Cubs Park in Mesa, Ariz., drew a Cactus League-record crowd of 15,191 (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/15).

The Flyers yesterday "unveiled a statue" of former coach Fred Shero outside Xfinity Live (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/16).

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott yesterday announced that the Univ. of Washington in '15 "will meet Texas in a non-conference men's basketball game in China" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 3/16).

"We’re reaching times now where consumers either cannot or will not consume three hours of any broadcast. What I’ve talked with engineers and producers about is that I could see a day where we’re packaging things in a different way" – Stars play-by-play announcer Ralph Strangis, on the changes in how audiences consume radio broadcasts (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/16).

"They look disgusting. You look like a volleyball team." – Cavaliers G Jarrett Jack, on adidas' sleeved NBA jerseys (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/16).

"I sense that when I travel around the league. Everybody’s asking me about the Knicks and hoping that they can get better, because they know it’s good for the NBA really. If New York, Chicago and (Los Angeles) have good teams, it’s good for the league. There’s more interest in the NBA" –  Basketball HOFer Walt Frazier, on the correlation between major-market teams' success and interest in the NBA (BOSTON HERALD, 3/16).

"There is so much coming at these kids. If a kid takes something he's not supposed to take or he is enticed into something, it's the colleges that are put in harm's way" – Univ. of Florida men's basketball coach Billy Donovan, on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's desire to raise the league's minimum age to 20 years old (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/16).

Writer Matt Zemek: "Raftery, just now, describing a patient center: 'He takes two hours to watch 60 Minutes.' Oh Raft, how I love thee. Live forever, please."

SI's Richard Deitsch: "Virginia has to overcome three of Krzyzrewski's guys today (Bilas, Vitale and Jay Williams). Tough assignment."

USA Today's Jeff Gluck: "Get to a TV! Forecasts were wrong and it’s not a washout. Race starting soon! This PSA brought to you by the National Weather Service."

SI's Grant Wahl: "Sometimes wish Tim Leiweke would run every MLS club for 2 months each. Could get league to a new level in less than 4 years."

CBSSports.com's Jeff Borzello: "There was just a serious mascot scuffle between the Great Dane of Albany and the Seawolf of Stony Brook. Event personnel had to separate."

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

The ARIZONA REPUBLIC's Beth Duckett notes several cities and tourism agencies in the state "plan to kick in" at least $2.5M to Arizona's Super Bowl Host Committee in advance of Super Bowl XLIX, and in exchange, they "expect to receive marketing and promotional efforts meant to attract tens of thousands of visitors for the weeklong extravaganza, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Arizona's economy."

The BOSTON GLOBE's Bob Hohler writes more than three decades on from a point-shaving scheme involving Boston College's '78-79 men's basketball team, the incident "still affects the accused" and current players. The scandal occured when former BC player Rick Kuhn "fell in with the notorious 'Goodfellas' gangster Henry Hill in a plot to manipulate the outcome of BC basketball games for corrupt gamblers."

Elsewhere:

• Casual sexism in the NHL is a "constant hum that teams not only tolerate, but generate."
• For one Univ. of Maryland beat reporter, last week marked a "goodbye to Greensboro."
• The Astros work to help their Latin American players "assimilate into American culture."
• College football currently "has no soul, long ago having sold it to television networks."
• MLB teams are making decisions "entirely different from those central to 'Moneyball.'"
• Boston Univ. forced to investigate bullying complaints against women's hoops coach.