Nationwide has expanded its deal with Hendrick Motorsports to become the primary sponsor of the No. 88 Chevy driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a majority of races in the '15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The insurance company will increase its primary sponsorship to 21 races, including the Daytona 500, for each of the next three seasons. The revised deal increases the number of primary races by nine in '15 and eight in '16 and '17. Nationwide will preview a new paint scheme at Saturday's Federated Auto Parts 400 in Richmond (Nationwide).

The No. 88 car's primary sponsorship for '15 breaks down as 21 for Nationwide, five for PepsiCo, one for Kelley Blue Book and 11 unannounced (TWITTER.com, 9/5).

The Clippers named RPA the team's new agency after a review "that came on the heels of the scandal" around former Owner Donald Sterling. RPA will be responsible for "strategy, creative, media planning and buying, digital and social marketing, as well as branded entertainment." Ultimately, the agency will be asked to produce "work that helps reposition the team's brand." The review was conducted by California-based Pile & Co. HeilBrice (ADAGE.com, 9/5).

Penn State debuts new video boards at Beaver Stadium Saturday for the school’s game against Akron. The two screens situated in the two end zones were produced by Lighthouse Technologies in conjunction with ANC Sports Enterprises at a cost of $10M. ANC Sports is responsible for installing, integrating, operating and creating content for the new boards. The two screens combined have a total of 10,285 square feet of video space. The north end board is slightly larger than its south end counterpart. Both boards are 16-millimeter surface-mount technology producing some of the highest quality images in today’s sports market. The new screens replace 14-year-old boards.

Wake Forest officials this week announced the addition of the Top Hat Tavern at BB&T Field, which will "sell beer and wine to the general public at football games." There will be a "limit of three drinks per person." Soft drinks and water "also will be available" at the tavern. WFU is part of a "growing trend of alcohol sales at football games, joining more than 30 other" FBS teams. The team's next home game is Saturday night (JOURNALNOW.com, 9/4).

Tulane on Saturday opens Yulman Stadium, its new football venue, with a home game against Georgia Tech. The 30,000-seat stadium, built at a cost of $72M, "is sold out" for its first contest (MYAJC.com, 9/2). Tulane on Friday afternoon was scheduled to "dedicate Benson Field, named after Saints owner Tom Benson and his wife, Gayle, as well as host a student pep rally and fireworks show leading up to Saturday’s game" (WGNO.com, 9/4).

LSU officials expect a crowd of "more than 99,000 people" for Saturday's game against Sam Houston State at Tiger Stadium, marking the "opening of a nearly 10,000-seat addition" to the venue. The LSU athletic department and area law enforcement will introduce a new traffic plan (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 9/5).

Marshall will hold a ribbon-cutting for its new $24M indoor football practice facility Saturday afternoon. The event is "invitation-only for the more than 1,000 contributors to Marshall's VISION Campaign, which was the sole source of funding." The formal title of the facility will be announced at the ceremony. Alumni guests will include former NBA coach Mike D'Antoni and former NFLer Chad Pennington (Huntington HERALD-DISPATCH, 9/4).

Two MMA events at Connecticut casinos will overlap Friday night: the "UFC Fight Night 50" card at Foxwoods on FS1 and the "Bellator 123" event at Mohegan Sun on Spike TV. UFC President Dana White said, "It's the way it worked out. (Fox) decides which way you're going to go." Bellator MMA President Scott Coker: "I think the situation was a coincidence. They were working on a date, we didn't know and vice versa. The bookings are done way in advance" (HARTFORD COURANT, 9/4).

The estate of late NFLer Junior Seau plans to file a motion in Pennsylvania federal court to remove his claim against the NFL and litigate it in California state court, said Steve Strauss, an attorney for the family. Strauss announced earlier this week the Seau family would opt out of the preliminary concussion settlement, saying it wants to know what happened to their father, who killed himself.

However, the Seau claim is at the mercy of U.S. District Court Judge Anita Brody, who has set Oct. 16 as a date for opt-outs of the settlement to come in. After that date, Strauss said, he would file to move the case, though Brody could rule no new lawsuits can commence until final settlement. Strauss said he would then want to begin discovery and deposing league officials, something that has not occurred to date. Next week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in an appeal from another group of players opposed to the settlement to which that Brody gave her preliminary approval.

San Jose State and the Northern California Lexus Dealers have signed a multiyear deal whereby Lexus will serve as presenting sponsor of the Lexus Gold Room, Lexus Suite Level and Lexus Parking Lots are Spartan Stadium. Lexus also will sponsor a social media pod at home games that serves as a photo booth for fans (SJSU).

A “sellout crowd of 70,000-plus is expected at Sun Life Stadium” Friday night for a Brazil-Colombia men’s friendly (MIAMI HERALD, 9/5).

Ohio State and Safelite AutoGlass have inked a five-year deal that will feature the first-ever sponsor logo on OSU’s field goal net at Ohio Stadium (OSU).

NFL Giants P Steve Weatherford has signed a deal with compression sportswear brand SKINS (SKINS).

The NFL Giants announced the launch of the team's female fan club, The Giants Women's Club (Giants).

“It felt good. … We felt we were on the right track, and the audience seemed to think so as well” – Ron Shelton, who directed the film “Bull Durham,” on the premiere of “Bull Durham” the musical (EW.com, 9/5).

“Soccer is a beautiful game and I think America is going to discover that. But not at the expense of baseball I don’t believe” – Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino, on the growth of soccer in the U.S. (Bloomberg TV, 9/5).

“It’s a tribute to the quality of guys we have. We just don’t have a lot of turds here” – Chargers LB Jarret Johnson, on the team not having a player suspended for violating NFL policy since ’12 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/5).

CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla: “Nike trading at highest level since IPO in 1980.”

Globe & Mail’s James Mirtle, on the Maple Leafs’ use of analytics: “I don't even know why the Leafs are bothering with this revisionist history. Looks silly.”

MMQB’s Peter King: “I would expect some leaders among NFL players are calling the union today, urging them to expedite the completion of a new drug policy.”

Sporting News’ Bob Pockrass: “Bojangles deal with Darlington, which was 2012-2016 will now go through 2019. #nascar.”

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

The official feed of CBS Sports PR posted this image of execs and NFL broadcasters ringing the Opening Bell at the NYSE today to celebrate the inaugural season of "Thursday Night Football" on CBS.

A-B InBev has “decided to outsource U.S. media buying to an agency, putting in doubt the future of its in-house media unit.” The brewer has not picked “an external partner, but expects to complete its ongoing agency review in October” (ADAGE.com, 9/5).

NBA.com posted this video showing Cavaliers fans reading LeBron James' essay, as told to SI's Lee Jenkins, announcing his return to Cleveland. Watch the full video.

FRIDAY

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will appear during Stand Up To Cancer's nationally televised fundraising telecast airing live across major networks at 8:00pm ET. The telecast will feature the debut of a vignette featuring several MLB All-Stars.
 
LLWS female P Mo'Ne Davis will appear on NBC's "The Tonight Show" at 11:35pm ET.

Fox' Terry Bradshaw will appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" at 11:35pm ET.

14 – Approximate number of hours between the time broadcaster Dan Hicks signs off from Saturday night’s Michigan-Notre Dame telecast in South Bend and comes back on the air on Sunday to cover the PGA Tour BMW Championship from Cherry Hills Country Club outside Denver (NBC).