LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan Friday approved 16-year-old golfer Lexi Thompson's petition to allow her "to receive membership next year on the LPGA." Whan said of Thompson, who earlier this month won the Navistar LPGA Classic: "Her ability to handle the success and disappointment inherent to this game testifies to a level of maturity that I believe makes her capable of handling the emotional rigors of professional golf." LPGA age restrictions require golfers between the ages of 15-18 to "petition for early membership consideration" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/30).

Shortly after the announcement, Thompson took to her Twitter feed: "Sooo Happy :) Thx for all of the Support! Excited to be a full @LPGA member!!!" CBSSports.com's Steve Elling: "The Lexi tweet is funny. Her age is evident in the number of exclamation points used in two sentences." GolfChannel.com's Jason Sobel before the decision tweeted, "Mike Whan would do some good PR for himself if he makes announcement in a 'Let Lexi Play' t-shirt." Golf World's Ron Sirak: "By granting Lexi membership beginning in 2012, she misses no tournaments. Was not in Asia events and will play Titleholders."

WNBA sponsors are lining up activation plans behind the league's championship, which begins Sunday between the Atlanta Dream and the Minnesota Lynx. Boost Mobile, which signed this summer as the league's "marquee partner," while parent Sprint took wireless rights for the NBA, is presenting partner for the finals. Both teams will wear Boost logos on their uniforms as they have done since the deal was finalized. Boost is sponsoring a “WNBA Top 15 Moments" program, a selection chosen by fan vote to honor the league's 15th anniversary. adidas will host its "Basketball Finals Nights" during Game 2 in Minnesota and Game 3 in Atlanta, and give fans wearing local youth basketball apparel to the game free T-shirts.

EA Sports' “The Sims Social” will be presenting live chats for fans with select players from the Dream and Lynx. EA Sports also hosted a "Prove Your Fandom Playoffs Challenge" contest where fans were able to upload photos of themselves demonstrating their passion for the WNBA. The winner of this contest, as determined by fan votes, gets a trip for two to a Finals game. Jamba Juice will continue to support "Team Up for a Healthy America" campaign, which encourages fans to submit their pledge to lead a healthy and active lifestyle and be entered to win a chance to win gift cards to NBASTORE.com and equipment for their schools and organizations. Sanofis Aventis' "Dribble to Stop Diabetes" program will present WNBA FIT Clinics in Minneapolis and Atlanta for 100 local children in each city during the week of the Finals.

The NFL and NFLPA on Sunday will launch A Crucial Catch, their third annual breast cancer screening reminder and fundraising campaign. Initiatives will include game balls with pink ribbon decals, pink equipment for players, pink coins used for the coin toss, pink sideline caps for coaches, pink ribbon pins for coaches/execs, pink goal post padding and breast cancer awareness track jackets for cheerleaders. Pink merchandise will be available on NFLShop.com and at stadium retail stores, Dick's Sporting Goods, Hatworld and Lids, with a portion of proceeds going to breast cancer charities (NFL).

The Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday will play their "first game in a new home," the recently renovated BC Place. The move gives the Whitecaps an "opportunity to reboot a disappointing first season" in MLS, in which the club is currently last in the Western Conference. The venue features a "retractable roof that is unique to MLS and has been touted as the largest in the world." Another highlight is the four-sided center-hung scoreboard, the largest side of which is "second only in size to the video screen at Cowboys Stadium" (OREGONLIVE.com, 9/28).

The Soccer Stadium Alliance, a collection of soccer stadiums that are lobbying the music and entertainment industry to book more acts, has added Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester, N.Y. The stadium, which seats 13,700, is the home of the USL Pro Rochester Rhinos. The stadium is the first USL venue to join the alliance, and joins MLS venue Crew Stadium in Columbus, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver, Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, Livestrong Sporting Park in K.C., PPL Park in Philadelphia, Jeld-Wen Field in Portland and BC Place in Vancouver. The Alliance launched in August and is currently in discussions to book its first tour.

Crowd Seats, a daily deals site providing deep discounts for sports tickets, has hired Ken Troupe as a senior advisor. Troupe, Senior Dir of Ticket Sales for the MLB Rangers from '96-'07, is responsible for partner development with pro and college teams. Troupe has also been a ticket sales consultant for the Astros, Stars and NFL Giants. Since launching its first daily deal Aug. 19 for the Dodgers, Crowd Seats has sold 55 tickets for a savings of $1,615, said company founder Justin Cener. The L.A.-based firm has also offered ticket deals for the Angels, MLS Chivas USA and Santa Anita Park. Crowd Seats discounts run 50-90% off the tickets’ original value.

Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy on Saturday will "spend his bye week visiting the ESPN campus" as a guest studio analyst during college game broadcasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Gundy will appear on the Texas A&M-Arkansas halftime show; the pregame, halftime and postgame shows for the ABC game in the 3:30pm ET window; and the halftime show of the 6:00pm ET Clemson-Virginia Tech game. Gundy also will be on ESPNews, ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Radio throughout the day (THE OKLAHOMAN, 9/29).

Kevin Harvick Inc. has informed the state of North Carolina that it plans to lay off 103 employees. The advance notice, required by the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, was "not unexpected" after KHI's earlier announcement that it would close its shop (SCENEDAILY.com, 9/29).

The Blue Jackets on Friday announced a deal making Kia the presenting sponsor of the Kia Ice Crew, the 16-person team charged with keeping up ice conditions during breaks in play and intermissions at Nationwide Arena (Blue Jackets).

Sporting News on Friday announced that it is merging Sporting News Magazine with Sporting News Yearbooks to create a monthly version of Sporting News Magazine. The new format will focus on single-sport previews. Sporting News is owned by American City Business Journals, the parent company of SportsBusiness Daily (THE DAILY).

The Northwestern Univ. athletics department has announced a partnership with secondary ticket marketplace Gold Coast Tickets. The deal marks Gold Coast Tickets' first collegiate marketing partnership (Northwestern).

CPI Security Systems on Saturday will launch a new consumer giveaway promotion in conjunction with the ACC Network game of the week in football. Fans can visit a special Facebook page and enter to win a trip to the Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship on Dec. 3 in Charlotte (Raycom Sports).

Kentucky State Fair Board officials announced that the original Cardinal Stadium in Louisville will be transformed into the Snow Ball Park. The inaugural winter entertainment attraction will open Nov. 25 (Kentucky State Fair Board).

"I will put our business operations up against anybody. ... But I can't say I'd put my cars up against anybody, because I put them up against everybody every weekend and come up short" – NASCAR team Owner Michael Waltrip, on his team's on-track struggles (THATSRACIN.com, 9/29).

"All these people across the country are going to ... get this perception of me that's totally unfair and untruthful. So I'm very upset" – Former MLB manager Art Howe, on his portrayal in the film "Moneyball" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/29).

ESPN's Amy Nelson: "Rangers announced Cooper Stone, son of Shannon, the fan who fell to his death earlier this year, will throw out the first pitch today. ... 6 or 7 years old, I believe."

FoxSports.com's Jason Whitlock: "Pearlman is selling books. SI is selling magazines. Sweetness is pushing daisies. It's called capitalism. It's not pretty or fair."

Celtics Dir of Interactive Media Peter Stringer: "Hey @darrenrovell looking forward to another edition of #sbgameon tonight. Two requests: Broadcast in real HD & more of my pal @ErinSharoni."

Warriors Exec Dir/Marketing Kyle Spencer: "Packing up & finding some very random career artifacts. Tie between Diogu ball & Cohan game ball for media guide in '99."

If you see a tweet we won’t want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

Partnership Activation Founder Brian Gainor offers up one of the images from the Nets' Barclays Center marketing campaign featuring Jay-Z. Gainor tweeted: "Lets see this replicated w/ other teams/owners! (Cuban, Jordan, Jones)."

SATURDAY

The Univ. of South Carolina football team, in a partnership with the Wounded Warriors Project (WWP) and Under Armour, will wear special uniforms for its game against Auburn. The jerseys will be auctioned online next week with proceeds benefitting WWP's "Believe in Heros" campaign.

SUNDAY

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Bicycling magazine will hold a mass-participant bicycle ride in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The magazine is based out of Emmaus, Pa., located outside of Allentown. Called the “Bicycling Fall Classic” the event includes 50-mile, 25-mile and 10-mile bicycle rides alongside the magazine’s editors and staff. All the rides will finish with a commemorative lap around the Trexlertown velodrome. The event previews the magazine’s 50th anniversary issues, which hits newsstands on Oct. 4. (Fred Drier, SportsBusiness Journal).

CBS Sports' Tim Brando invites ProFootballTalk.com editor Mike Florio to call into his radio show to discuss the Vikings' stadium situation and the possibility that the team could relocate to L.A.

Watch The Clip

1,000,000 – Number of Olympic-themed stamps the U.K.'s Royal Mail service is printing an hour ahead of the '12 London Games (LONDON TIMES, 9/30).