Rutgers AD Julie Hermann “is out” after meeting with university President Robert Barchi today, according to a source. Another source said that Hermann was “expected to be asked to resign, and her oversight over the football program was the chief reason for her ouster.” It “marks an abrupt end to the 2 1/2-year tenure of Hermann, who has made national headlines for a series of gaffes while also being lauded by Barchi for her fundraising efforts” (NJ.com, 11/29). Hermann, the first female AD in Rutgers history, had “survived a series of public missteps” prior to her dismissal (APP.com, 11/29). Rutgers also fired football coach Kyle Flood (TWITTER.com, 11/29).

Shares of Disney "dropped the most in three months Friday" after the company reported ESPN "lost 3 million subscribers in a year, reviving concerns about shrinking demand for traditional pay-TV packages and dragging down U.S. media stocks." Subscriptions to ESPN fell 3.2% to 92 million at the "end of October." ESPN’s subscriber totals had "hovered around 100 million for years." The report "put a number on the extent of ESPN’s declines," after Disney Chair & CEO Bob Iger "told investors in August that the channel had experienced 'some modest' subscriber losses." The decline "equates to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue and helps explain why ESPN has made cost-cutting personnel moves over the past year" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/27).  

Newly hired ESPN Public Editor Jim Brady, who will serve for 18 months in the role formerly called ombudsman, wrote in his first post that the title change "reflects a greater orientation toward ESPN's consumers" even though the internal critic portion of the job is "still very real and very important." Brady: "I wanted to shift more of the focus of this column toward representing the public’s views, perceptions and questions about ESPN and its products." ESPN has set up Twitter and Facebook accounts for the position to "simplify the exchange between the public editor and ESPN consumers," with the goal of allowing viewers to "flag anything you believe warrants compliments, criticism, investigation or explanation" (ESPN.com, 11/25).

​​

​

Fans have "descended" on Winnipeg for today’s Grey Cup, and while the game "officially became a sellout Friday afternoon, there were still plenty of tickets available online, some at bargain prices." A smattering of the 36,634 tickets for the game at Investors Group Field "were still available via Ticketmaster at noon Friday." Today's forecast "called for temperatures just below freezing at game time" (CP, 11/27).

New York State Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez said that he would "make a ruling 'very soon' on whether to grant" Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's injunction request "to ban FanDuel Inc., and DraftKings Inc., among others, from accepting money from New York residents." The two daily fantasy sports operators "appeared in court Wednesday to argue vigorously" the plan to "shut them down in the state." The companies asserted that they should "be allowed to operate until the matter is settled at trial." Mendez "extended" what was "supposed to be an hour-long hearing" for an additional hour. New York "delivers the biggest contingent of daily fantasy players, accounting for 12.8% of players." Mendez, who asked only two questions during the hearing, said that he "understands there is skill involved in picking a fantasy lineup." But he added, "You are relying on someone else to play the game" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/27).

CBS drew 32.5 million viewers for Panthers-Cowboys in the late afternoon window on Thursday, marking the net’s most-viewed Thanksgiving Day game since reacquiring NFL TV rights in ’98. The game also was up 2% from Eagles-Cowboys on Fox in the same window last year. Panthers-Cowboys was up 11% from CBS’ Bears-Lions in the early window last year (29.4 million viewers). Fast-national figures for the Lions’ 45-14 win over the Eagles in Fox’ early afternoon window were not available at presstime.

In primetime on Thursday, NBC finished with 27.8 million viewers for the Bears’ 17-13 win over the Packers, marking the NFL’s best Thanksgiving primetime audience since launching the window in ‘06 and NBC’s second-best NFL regular-season audience since getting NFL rights prior to the ’06 season. Bears-Packers also is up 21% from Seahawks-49ers last year in the same window.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz' campaign "developed logos modeled on those used, respectively, by the SEC and the Big 12 Conference, and was planning to deploy them through a Snapchat filter it had bought and scheduled to be available to users" at seven games involving those conference’s schools Friday and yesterday. But the Big 12 yesterday sent a letter to Cruz' campaign saying that its "Big 12-style logo causes the conference 'serious legal concerns.'" Meanwhile, the SEC said the conference communicated its "concerns about their use of the mark." Snapchat images and filters at yesterday's games "did not carry the logo, as it had been shown on a sample image" provided Wednesday (USATODAY.com, 11/28). The SEC previously asked fellow Republican candidate Jeb Bush to change a campaign logo modeled after the conference's mark.

Cal-Berkeley will face Hawaii in the Sydney College Football Cup in Australia on Aug. 27 with the game "to be played" at the 83,500-seat ANZ Stadium. The schools were "given an exemption to start the season a week early and the game will be UH's first on foreign soil" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 11/29). The trip will mark the "second straight year a Cal team has played" in Australia, as the men's basketball team traveled there for an exhibition tour in August (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/29). 

Sources said that the Rams "will not be penalized for mishandling concussion protocols last week" in regard to QB Case Keenum (ESPN.com, 11/29).

The Int'l Tennis Federation and BNP Paribas announced that they have renewed their partnership for an additional five-year period, commencing in '17 through '21 (ITF).

The crowd for yesterday's Northwestern-Illinois football game at Soldier Field was "announced at 33,514, but appeared to be far smaller" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/29).

“The season is complete and I want to make it very clear and positive that Les Miles is our football coach and will continue to be our football coach. Okay?” – LSU AD Joe Alleva, on Miles remaining the school’s football coach after speculation that he would be fired (NOLA.com, 11/28).

“It’s a matter of time. I’m not sure how much time, but I’m pretty sure the women need to be taken seriously” – Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, on when a woman will become an NBA head coach (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/29).

“The problem is, while the NFL is making some moves to their game, they can't make the youth game safe, and yet they're marketing it to so many children, spending tens of millions of dollars to get our kids to play, when we really shouldn’t be hitting our kids in the head” – Concussion Legacy Foundation Exec Dir Chris Nowinski, on the league’s safety efforts (“This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” ABC, 11/29).

“Each year, I knew I was getting closer and closer. Finally, this past fall and winter -- I think it’s time. I don’t want somebody else to tell me it’s time. I would rather do it myself” – Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, on deciding the ’16 season will be his last in the booth (L.A. TIMES, 11/28).

“It's a different challenge. People think it's easy to play there. Believe me, it's more difficult than playing in the Premier League because of the travel” – Impact F Didier Drogba, on the competition level in MLS (REUTERS, 11/26).

The N.Y. TIMES' Robert Weintraub wrote under the header, "With TV Proposal, Ahmad Rashad Married Sport and Pop Culture." When the sportscaster proposed "through an intermediary on live television, before an estimated 40 million viewers" in '85, it was "among the most memorable and unusual moments in the history of Thanksgiving football broadcasts -- and pop culture at large."

The WASHINGTON TIMES' Thom Loverro in a Q&A asked former Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino about his role with the team going forward. Lucchino said, "I still have my ownership stake in the team and I still have an office at Fenway. I will still be involved in league issues and strategic issues, but the old days of 24/7 that are an absolute requirement for a senior baseball executive are behind me." Meanwhile, the BOSTON GLOBE's Kevin Paul Dupont writes Boston sports "aren't as Irish as they used to be."

Elsewhere:

• Hurdles to an NFL stadium in L.A. include "pollution, airspace, traffic concerns."
• Those who know Lions President Rod Wood tout "people skills, work ethic and vision."
• Addicts are "absent from the cacophony of voices" debating whether DFS is gambling.
• Joe Gibbs discusses Kyle Busch's NASCAR Sprint Cup title, his team's first since '05.
• A "wave of discounted despair" confronted Philly sports fans on Black Friday.
• FIFA has "donated" luxury watches initially given to soccer officials "to charity."
• Different from front offices, chaplains for sports teams "focus on players as people."

If only Case Keenum were wearing purple cleats when he suffered his brain injury, Roger would have someone to fine.

— Travis Waldron (@Travis_Waldron) November 29, 2015

Honor your father, former NFL legend, with a note on your eye black that's a fine... Put a backup QB's life in danger...no problem!

— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) November 29, 2015

Attended my first-ever @premierleague match today. Villa Park experience was amazing. Fan passion off the charts. pic.twitter.com/wtbY3c6fSU

— Dave St. Peter (@TwinsPrez) November 28, 2015

Love seeing ad for Concussion movie heading straight into Redskins preview. Good times.

— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) November 29, 2015