Tiger Woods today announced a deal to endorse Rolex, "his first major endorsement" since his public controversy two years ago. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, "although it is believed to be longer than five years." Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said that "Rolex would be the first of a 'couple of announcements' related to endorsements," including a golf bag deal that he added was "likely to be announced in as early as six weeks." Woods' previous watch deal ended when Tag Heuer parted ways with him two months ago (AP, 10/5).

Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will serve as color analyst for the first two games of the ALCS on Fox with Tim McCarver out "due to what is expected to be a short-term health issue." Francona, who parted ways with the Red Sox last week, will work alongside play-by-play announcer Joe Buck. McCarver is "scheduled to undergo a minor heart procedure Thursday, but is expected back for Game 3" (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/5).

Sources said that the NBA and NBPA this coming weekend "could land" on a split of basketball-related income of 51% to players and 49% to owners, "down from the 57 percent that players received" under the previous CBA. The league yesterday "floated an idea for a compromise with a 50-50 split" of revenues, but that was "not a formal offer." The union was "willing to go down to 52 percent, meaning, essentially, the two sides were just two percentage points apart" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 10/5).

General Mills will remain a sponsor of Richard Childress Racing, "moving into a role" with the No. 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevy driven by Jeff Burton in '12. Cheerios has been the primary sponsor of Clint Bowyer's No. 33 ride for the past three seasons, but that brand "won't be sponsoring Burton in 2012." Instead, the Wheaties brand will advertise "in 'key races' in what's termed a multi-year 'co-primary' partnership." General Mills "had been with Petty Enterprises" prior to sponsoring RCR (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/5).

Starting today, fans buying tickets to the '12 PGA Tour Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, "will receive a link to buy Presidents Cup tickets at the discounted prices of $165 for a grounds pass and $285 for a Captains Club ticket that will get them on the grounds and into a VIP venue." The normal prices are $207 and $357, respectively. The offer is valid through March 1, and the PGA Tour "won’t start selling Presidents Club tickets to the public until next June." Meanwhile, the price for a weekly patron badge and daily ticket pack for the Memorial "will remain unchanged at $155" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/5).

Reebok's Sports Licensed Division today announced a partnership with Champs Sports, establishing the chain as the "pinnacle retail destination" for Reebok's NHL apparel in Canada and the U.S. Champs Sports will create stores within the store. The new areas will feature men's and women's jerseys, apparel and headwear. To help promote the launch of the partnership, Reebok and Champs Sports has launched a sweepstakes with prizes including tickets to the '12 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic (Reebok).

The IMG Sports Marketing Symposium began today with a keynote address from former Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett. He discussed the trials of overseeing marketing for Kodak during a time when the company was losing billions. Hayzlett: “When I stepped in we were doing the Olympics, NASCAR, the Rose Bowl, the PGA Tour. I put a mirror up to the mouth of every property to see it was alive.” Hayzlett said the first thing he did was send an employee to the IOC to let them know they were not renewing the $50 million annual partnership. “That’s not an easy decision to make when you were the original sponsor of the Olympics back in 1896. But in the four years I was at Kodak I never met anyone from the IOC.”

The first panel of the day was titled “Chief Marketing Officers: Navigating the Ever-changing Marketing Landscape.” Much of the discussion focused on how to use social media as a cost-effective way to interact with consumers. Scotts Miracle-Gro CMO Jim Lyski said: “Social to me is really just about enabling word of mouth on a large scale.” Samsung Electronics America CMO Ralph Santana said that for the ’12 London Games, the company will launch “a program that’s called The Genome Project.” Santana: “It’s a Facebook app that will … literally build for you a family tree that will show you how you are connected to different Olympic athletes.”

See a full agenda for the conference, and get highlights and updates from the sessions via SBJ/SBD's running blog and Twitter feed.

Sporting News this week features Rangers DH Michael Young, TCU's SuperFrog mascot and Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban on the cover of its Best Sports City 2011 issue with the copy, "Don't Mess With Dallas."

SI this week features an image of Lions WR Calvin Johnson catching a touchdown against the Cowboys with the header, "The Hungry Lions." Bruins G Tim Thomas appears on a regional cover in New England and Canada with the header, "NHL Preview ... Can The Bruins Defend The Stanley Cup?" Univ. of Alabama DT Josh Chapman appears on a regional cover in the Southeast with the header, "Ram! Jam! 'Bama!"

Sporting News	Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated	Sports Illustrated

ESPN today announced a one-year deal for State Farm to become the title sponsor of the inaugural Champions Classic men's college basketball event that debuts Nov. 15 at MSG. The inaugural State Farm Champions Classic will feature Duke-Michigan State and Kentucky-Kansas (ESPN).

Virgin Atlantic today announced that it will continue its sponsorship of the NFL Int'l Series, which this year will feature a Bears-Buccaneers game at Wembley Stadium. Virgin Atlantic's sponsorship will include activitations in the U.K. and the two teams taking chartered Virgin Atlantic flights to London for the game (Virgin Atlantic).

The Jaguars need to sell more than 8,000 tickets by 1:00pm ET tomorrow "to avoid a TV blackout" of Sunday's game against the Bengals. A team official said that the ticket sales staff "has seen little movement since the Jaguars lost" to the Saints last Sunday (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/5).

Liquid Nutrition has added Lightning C Vincent Lecavalier to its roster of endorsers as the supplement store franchise plans to expand into the South Florida market (Liquid Nutrition).

"Are we allowed to show this on morning television?" – ABC's George Stephanopoulos, after images from ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue were shown during "Good Morning America" ("GMA," ABC, 10/5).

"There is a FIFA executive committee this month and we are hoping something will come out of that but I wouldn’t hold your breath" – FA Chair David Bernstein, on not expecting FIFA President Sepp Blatter to make major reforms when he unveils measures to tackle wrongdoing later this month (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/5).

Golf magazine's Paul Mahoney: "So Tiger signs Rolex deal. Their watches must be slow - time caught up with Tiger two years ago."

Sporting News' Brian Straus: "Sepp Blatter follows only 3 active players on his Twitter account. Two of them are Landon Donovan and Freddy Adu. (Other is Kaka.)"

NBC's Dan Hicks: "Looking forward to emceeing 10th Anniversary First Tee of Metropolitan NY event tonight. Pres Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg & others supporting."

ESPN Senior Talent Producer Jason Ramono: "Finalizing details on @HulkHogan visit to Bristol next week. Pumped The Hulkster is coming here. #TNAWrestling #ESPNCarWash."

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

Pocono Raceway President  Brandon Igdalsky posted this photo of the track's repaving project with the help of NASCAR's beloved Orange Cone.

UFC promotes Saturday's fight card, headlined by Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard, with this online video dramatizing the debate among fans over the two fighters' last bout, which ended in a draw.

Watch The Clip

TNT's Shaquille O'Neal will appear on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" at 12:30am ET.

$4.7M – Amount the Univ. of Michigan is slated to receive for opening the '12 football season against the Univ. of Alabama at Cowboys Stadium (ANNARBOR.com, 10/3).