Outback Steakhouse will renew its sponsorship of Stewart-Haas Racing and become a two-race primary sponsor in '14 and '15 of the No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick. The company has been the primary sponsor of Stewart-Haas' No. 39 car driven by Ryan Newman in 2-3 races since '12, but Newman is leaving the team after this season and being replaced by Harvick. Outback joins Harvick’s other major sponsor Budweiser on the No. 4 car.

Outback will continue to offer the same promotion with Harvick that it ran with Newman. Each time Harvick finishes a race in the top-10, its steakhouses will offer a free Bloomin' Onion to customers the Monday after the race. In a statement, Outback CMO Mike Kappitt said the “Bloomin' Monday” promotion had been “incredibly successful.”

ESPN and the ATP World Tour have finalized a long-term deal for expanded coverage of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Sony Open in Miami and the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The agreement will result in more than 44 hours of televised coverage, including the first time both the men's and women's championships will air from the South Florida event (ESPN).

Meanwhile, this morning's draw ceremony for the '14 Davis Cup determined the U.S. will host Great Britain in a first-round meeting Jan. 31-Feb. 2, with the USTA to determine a site for the event at a later date (Mult., 9/18). The N.Y. Times' Christopher Clarey wrote on his Twitter feed, "Davis Cup struggles for attention in USA as it is. Now next year's great 1st rd between USA & Britain clashes with Super Bowl weekend" (TWITTER.com, 9/18).

Some retirees who had filed two lawsuits last month against NFL Films, but were then ordered by a federal judge to withdraw their claims while a similar case settled, appealed that decision today to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In '09, six players led by Fred Dryer sued NFL Films for allegedly using their images without their permission. Counsel for the retirees reached a preliminary settlement in March, though hundreds of retirees, including the original six, have opted out of the $50M deal.

Last month many of them filed new claims against the NFL. But the federal court judge, overseeing the Dryer settlement, Paul Magnuson, ordered the cases withdrawn until the settlement is closed. The appeal, filed by players in the now withdrawn Culp v. NFL case, challenged that decision in a two-page notice of appeal filing in the Minnesota federal court this afternoon.

The Broncos today announced plans to open a Ring of Fame Plaza on the south end of Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The plaza will be formally unveiled Sept. 27 in an event that is open to the public. It will feature 24 steel pillars honoring inductees into the team's Ring of Fame, with each pillar adorned with a bronze likeness sculpted by Brian Hanlon. The plaza will remain open at all times and will have subsequent additions commemorating team and individual accomplishments (Broncos).

California-based gaming developer Sports Technology Applications today announced the release of "MLB Victis," a free mobile predictive game. Similar to other entrants in the category such as PrePlay, "MLB Victis" involves users predicting the outcome of every major occurrence in live, real-life games, and awards points on the accuracy of those picks. "MLB Victis" carries an official license from MLBAM, as does rival outfit PrePlay. STA's license with MLBAM, however, actually predates the one PrePlay holds.

STA is involving former Padres P Trevor Hoffman and former MLB Senior VP/PR Rich Levin in the "MLB Victis" effort, and has also aligned with league licensees Majestic, New Era and Louisville Slugger to provide merchandise for player prizes. "We're excited to have competition out there in the marketplace and think it validates the space," said STA Head of Studio Matt Pangborn. "There has been a lot of predictive games out there, but we think nobody's done it 100 percent correctly yet."

STA plans to expand eventually from baseball into predictive games for other sports. "MLB Victis" has been released for Apple's iOS platform and will also be out soon for Google's Android.

The Lightning will host the Blues in an preseason game tonight at Amway Center, marking "another step toward the Lightning's goal of developing a stronger fan base in Central Florida." This is the third consecutive year that the team has scheduled an exhibition at the Orlando venue, and team Exec VP/Marketing & Communications Bill Wickett said that future games "will be decided on a yearly basis." As of yesterday afternoon, 4,600 tickets had been sold. Amway's hockey capacity is 8,053 (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 9/18).

Meanwhile, the Coyotes tonight will host an intrasquad scrimmage at Jobing.com Arena "to benefit the families of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters who died battling the Yarnell Hill fire June 30." Tickets are $5, and "all proceeds will go to the families of the firefighters" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/18).

Mets P Matt Harvey this afternoon apologized for an interview on “The Dan Patrick Show” in which he constantly plugged Qualcomm’s Fantasking services instead of talking about his elbow injury. He wrote on his Twitter account, “I’ve had a few rough outings on the mound, that was a rough outing on the radio this morning. Been an exhausting couple of days. Apologies to @dpshow and @Qualcomm.” Harvey was making the media rounds, including appearances on CBS Radio’s “The Jim Rome Show” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter” (THE DAILY).

As Harvey was discussing his decision to do rehab instead of surgery on his injured arm, he said, "I strongly believe that that's going to work and pay off but today, I'm here talking about Qualcomm and hoping I can help them out as much as possible." Host Dan Patrick then said, "Well, I'll let you get the pitch in there ... in a moment." Patrick then asked Harvey whether he was afraid of getting Tommy John surgery and dealing with the injury. Instead of addressing those issues, Harvey said he "did all those answers yesterday, and maybe at the appropriate time we can talk a little bit more about that, but obviously today is about Qualcomm" ("The Dan Patrick Show," 9/18).

The NHL Jets have agreed to a contract extension with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. Terms of the deal were not released (Jets).

Longhorn Network will exclusively air 25 Texas basketball games during the '13-14 season, including 11 men's games and 14 women's games (Longhorn Network).

The Falcons and Kayem Foods today announced a multiyear sponsorship and licensing agreement to serve Kayem Franks and Sausage at the Georgia Dome during Falcons home games (Kayem Foods).

SI this week features Yankees P Mariano Rivera on the cover with the headline, "Exit Sandman" (THE DAILY).

"If I was representing any one of those other cities, I would be right behind them with my hand out" – Lee County (Fla.) Commissioner Frank Mann, who worries about the precedent that would be set if the county awards Ft. Myers $4M to renovate Harborside Convention Center to attract the Nationals to City of Palms Park (Ft. Myers NEWS-PRESS, 9/18).

"It was hard in one way to say 'no,' but in another way, it's a no-brainer" – Cher, on turning down an offer to perform in the Sochi Games Opening Ceremony due to Russia's anti-gay law (REUTERS, 9/18).

"The Tour needs to put a stop to it. Our fans are great, but they just need to keep those phones off and hung up and be fans" – Golfer Billy Horschel, on fans calling in rules violations that they see on TV during golf broadcasts (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 9/18).

"The Dan Patrick Show" Exec Producer Paul Pabst: "Nationwide bailing on NASCAR's 2nd series...time for NASCAR to bring in relegation. Bottom 3 drivers in Sprint Cup go down..top 3 go up."

"Late Show" writer Eric Stangel: "Waiting for the NCAA to announce they've hired disgraced boxing judge CJ Ross to come fix college sports."

Grantland's Mallory Rubin: "Finally getting a crab cake helmet decal? RT @testudotimes: Terps set to debut new #Maryland Pride uniforms Saturday."

NFL.com's Judy Battista: "Today, Andrew Luck used 'ethos', 'integral' & 'ad nauseam' in his press conference. Colts might have to issue dictionaries with media guides."

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

The Red Sox' official Twitter feed is posted this image with the hashtag #GetBeard on the day of its "Dollar Beard Night" promotion. Tickets to tonight's game against the Orioles are $1 for any bearded fan.

Gillette's new "Training Tracks" video for its Clear Gel Deodorant depicts NFL players creating a rhythmic music track with their workout routines. Featured athletes include Broncos CBs Champ Bailey and Kayvon Webster; Bengals RBs BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Bernard; and Steelers OG Mike Golic Jr.

Former NFLer Brad Culpepper and his wife Monica will participate on CBS' "Survivor: Blood vs. Water," which premieres at 8:00pm ET.

Dodgers Special Advisor to the Chair Tommy Lasorda will appear on CBS' "Late Late Show" at 12:35am ET.

NASCAR drivers Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya will appear in an episode of Cartoon Network's "Annoying Orange" at 8:00pm ET.

$740M – Amount of donations and pledges to Texas A&M Univ. during the fiscal year from Sept. 1, 2012, to Aug. 31, 2013. The amount is nearly $300M higher than A&M's previous top year. A&M System Chancellor John Sharp in an e-mail to donors "attributed the success to the university's move" to the SEC and a "government contract to develop vaccines in College Station" (Bryan-College Station EAGLE, 9/17).