Today's Bills game marks the team's first with Terry and Kim Pegula as team Owners, and prior to the kickoff at Ralph Wilson Stadium against the Patriots, the Pegula family was welcomed by a "standing ovation" during an on-field ceremony. A video presentation introduced the Pegulas to the crowd, narrated by ESPN's Chris Berman. Terry Pegula addressed the crowd and said, "I must say there aren't too many times in life when I'm happy being second at anything. But to follow Ralph Wilson, I'll accept that." The Pegula family joined the Bills' "pre-game huddle." The catchphrase "One Buffalo" was "being pushed" throughout today's pregame (BUFFALONEWS.com, 10/12).

During the new owners' introductory press conference on Friday, Terry Pegula said, "We will gradually proceed to plan and design a stadium for the Buffalo Bills. You know, these things take time. It takes time to get this stuff organized" (ESPN.com, 10/10).

At last week's NFL owners meetings, "several owners" indicated that they want Commissioner Roger Goodell's role "to be modified so that the commissioner would not decide on the initial player punishment but rather yield to a neutral arbitration panel chosen by the union and league," according to a source. Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith will "both be present when the two sides meet" Tuesday in N.Y. to "discuss how to handle player personal conduct incidents." Goodell's modified role would have him act as "the appellate officer or appoint a designated hearing officer if a player appeals his disciplinary action administered by the panel" (ESPN.com, 10/12).

Meanwhile, ESPN's Adam Schefter cited a source as saying that NFL attorneys "declined the NFLPA's request" to have Goodell testify in front of U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, who is hearing and deciding the appeal of Ray Rice's indefinite suspension. Schefter: "Judge Jones could compel him to do so. But the last thing the NFL wants, sources say, is to have Goodell's word matched up against Ray Rice's, who has told people he told the commissioner nothing but the truth" ("NFL Countdown," ESPN, 10/12).

Coyotes ownership group IceArizona on Friday announced that it will sell a 51% share of the franchise to Philadelphia-based hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway, who "will be the second owner in the last 14 months if the sale is completed." Barroway agreed to pay $152.5M for his stake in the team. Coyotes President & CEO Anthony LeBlanc said that the "value of the team" was $305M. LeBlanc: "There's been no discussions of movement of the franchise with (Barroway). It's not going anywhere" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/11).

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will join Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown tomorrow to announce that the '16 NHL Draft "will be held in First Niagara Center." Buffalo "has hosted the draft twice previously," in '98 in the arena and in '91 in Memorial Auditorium. The city also "will be home to the NHL Scouting Combine" in '15 and '16 (BUFFALO NEWS, 10/11).

Rentschler Field on Friday drew a crowd of 36,265 for Landon Donovan's final game for the U.S. men's national team in an "emotional evening choreographed by U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati." The "feel-good festivities had been threatened until the 11th hour by raw feelings poisoning the relationship" between Donovan and U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, but the two "negotiated a detente in the late afternoon before this event" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/11).

While both men "were polite after the game," some of Donovan's comments "were less-than-subtle reminders that he'd been helping build U.S. soccer long before Klinsmann" (ESPNFC.com, 10/11). The "close friendship of Donovan and Gulati was obvious and essential to making the event happen" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/11).

NASCAR said that it "was disappointed for its fans" after the start of last night's Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 was not televised on ABC. With the TCU-Baylor game running long on ABC, the first 25 laps of the race were shown online on ESPN3. ABC and ESPN "planned to move the race to ESPNEWS," but a Cavaliers-Heat preseason game went into OT. NASCAR started the race "about seven minutes after the scheduled green flag." NASCAR in a statement said, "We do all we can with the networks to avoid delays when live sports run late." An ESPN statement read in part, "We started the race on ESPN3, which is available to 95 million homes" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 10/11).

The Cubs yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for Wrigley Field's expansion and restoration, which they are now calling "The 1060 Project." In addition to team Owners the Ricketts family, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, and former Cubs players Milt Pappas and Kerry Wood were on hand. The event was attended by more than 350 people (Cubs). The ceremony "was dotted with humor and concluded with ceremonial digs with shovels." Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts: "The fact is there were a lot of days I was concerned that we would never get to here" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/12).

The L.A. City Council Economic Development Committee on Friday "agreed that AEG should be given additional time to try and land an NFL team" for its proposed $1B stadium, "even as the city continues to look at possibilities for improving and expanding the Convention Center." The committee recommended the agreement with AEG "be extended for at least six months and possibly a year." Meanwhile, three architectural firms will be "submitting their visions" for the L.A. Convention Center. AEG "has agreed to provide $750,000 to fund the work and an analysis of the proposals" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/11).

Nielsen on Friday acknowledged that it "had been reporting inaccurate ratings for the broadcast networks for the last seven months, a mistake that raises questions about the company’s increasingly criticized system for measuring TV audiences." Sources said that the error "wound up benefiting one network, ABC, while negatively affecting the others" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/11).

Nielsen said that the difference in what was misattributed was less than 0.05 of a ratings point "for about 98% to 99% of broadcast and syndicated TV shows" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/11). While Nielsen said that cable nets and local TV stations "were not impacted," the error "is a blow for the company that supplies data to advertisers" (REUTERS, 10/10).

Nassau Coliseum last night "hosted its 43rd and final Islanders home opener," as the team will move to Barclays Center next season. The Coliseum, which opened in '72, "is the second-oldest arena in the NHL" behind MSG, and its seating capacity of 16,170 "is the league's second smallest" behind MTS Centre (NEWSDAY, 10/12). Last night's game, a 4-3 win against the Hurricanes in front of a sellout crowd, "felt like the right way to kick off this last go-round for the Coliseum" -- with a win, "a whole mess of noise and the promise of something exciting still to come" for the team this season (NEWSDAY, 10/12).

A crowd of 110,633 last night "packed Kyle Field" to watch Ole Miss-Texas A&M, "the biggest crowd to attend a football game of any level in Texas" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/12).

Toyota prior to yesterday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway "unveiled a remodeled Camry it will race next season." It "closely resembles" the '15 consumer model Camry (AP, 10/11).

Contrary to reports last week, a source said that the Nets are "currently reviewing 'multiple' proposals" from Dodgers parent group Guggenheim Partners "about a possible merger of corporate assets" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/11).

A group of "about a dozen protesters gathered outside" of a Scottsdale, Ariz. sports bar that hosted a Redskins fan rally last night to demonstrate against the team's nickname (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/12).

Organizers were expecting about 45,000 participants for today's Bank of America Chicago Marathon (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/12). See a profile of Chicago Marathon Exec Dir Carey Pinkowski.

"Survivor's Remorse," the series produced by Cavaliers F LeBron James, was "picked up for a second season by the Starz cable network" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 10/12). Starz runs a full-page ad promoting the series in today's N.Y. Times (THE DAILY).

"We'll own this. ... The lights are still on out there, so they would really like to have them off. Pedro (Martinez) is soaking up the moment" – TBS’ Ernie Johnson, during a brief delay to the start of Royals-Orioles ALCS Game 1 caused by lights on the TBS on-site set (“Royals-Orioles,” TBS, 10/10).

"I was talking in general over 30 years and the way things have evolved and (how) things looked at as venial (sins) back then are mortal (sins) now ... I was embellishing a point" – Former Bears GM Jerry Angelo, attempting to clarify comments made last week saying "hundreds and hundreds" of domestic violence incidents went undisciplined during his time as a team exec (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/11).

"A name that I hear popping up more and more in a variety of contexts and locations throughout Los Angeles, is Michael Ovitz ... because he seems to want to be very involved with the movement of a team back into this market" – CBS Sports Network's Amy Trask, on potential investors involved in landing an NFL team in the L.A. area (“That Other Pregame Show,” CBSSN, 10/12).

"The tide is turning. ... Players are going to be paid. Now whether it happens in five years or 10 or 15, I have no idea. But there’s no way we’re going to make this kind of money and never pay the players" – ESPN's Jay Bilas, on the future of compensation for college athletes (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/12).

"I only got five minutes, eh? This is what you call phasing a guy out, you know what I mean?" – "Hockey Night in Canada" host Don Cherry, on his role as part of the TV franchise's latest iteration on Rogers Sportsnet (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/12).

"I just know it was going to be hard and difficult, and I didn't want to be that guy kind of in the middle between two different regimes" – Former D-Backs GM Kevin Towers, on why he declined another role within the organization (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/11).

"Thanks for the warm welcome. I can’t imagine the welcome when we actually don’t finish in last place" – Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, at a season-ticket holder event Friday (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 10/10).

"A lot of money is now funneled through e-sports. When I negotiate a contract with one of my players now, it’s my lawyer talking to his lawyer. It wasn’t like that two years ago" – Gaming organization Team Curse Owner Steve Arhancet, on the growth of e-sports as an industry (N.Y. TIMES, 10/12).

"Police in New Jersey are saying that someone broke into the Yogi Berra museum and stole several pieces of the Yankee great's memorabilia. The suspect was described as 5 foot 7, white, and definitely Billy Crystal" – "SNL" Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost, during last night's parody newscast (“SNL,” NBC, 10/11).

The N.Y. Times offers an interactive map using data based on Facebook "likes" to estimate the "boundaries of fandom" for 84 college football teams.

The N.Y. TIMES' McIntire & Bogdanich offer a lengthy front-page piece under the header, "At Florida State, Football Clouds Justice." The "towering presence of Florida State football cast a shadow over justice in Tallahassee." An examination of records and witness interviews show that Tallahassee police on "numerous occasions have soft-pedaled allegations of wrongdoing by Seminoles football players."

Elsewhere:

• Leafs President Brendan Shanahan does not pretend "to have all the answers."
• McDonald case "Illustrates Potential Conflicts Of Interest Between Cops, Teams."
• CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "Orioles' Success Story Part Of Andy MacPhail Legacy."
• The "troubling trend of criminal activity triggered by sports" on college campuses.
• BOSTON GLOBE: "How One Couple Beat The Cable Company."
• Why the NFL does not promote Domestic Violence Awareness month.
• N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE on how the NFL will "weather its current storm."

Sources: #Nationals assistant general manager Bryan Minnitti leaving club.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 10, 2014

Guy running cab line at St. Louis airport: "What are you in town for? Baseball? Hockey? Protests?"

— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 11, 2014

Belichick in a suit. Strange to see. Seems like a nod to passing torch from Ralph Wilson in Buffalo.

— gregg rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) October 12, 2014

Was Bud Selig fulfilling promise he once made to attend Wrigley renovation groundbreaking? With ALCS/NLCS on, commish at Clark and Addison.

— David Haugh (@DavidHaugh) October 12, 2014

It was wicked cool how much Matt tackling Brad looked like an episode of @CopsTV

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) October 12, 2014