Pacers President Larry Bird is "stepping down, ending his second tenure running the franchise’s basketball operations," and Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard "will replace Bird as the franchise’s top basketball decision-maker," according to sources. Bird is "planning to remain with the organization in a consulting role." His "contract is expiring at season’s end, which could allow him to become a candidate elsewhere" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/28). The Pacers "declined comment, noting that Bird has a scheduled news conference on Monday" (INDYSTAR.com, 4/28).

The $193M renovation of Philips Arena "could soon kick off," as plans were filed Thursday in Atlanta for the "first phase of the project." The renovation would "include the interior demolition of 100,000 square feet and the interior renovation of the North Club and Owner’s Suite." The project will "add new amenities on every level of the building, 360-degree connected concourses at all levels, improved sight lines and state-of-the-art video." Renovations are "expected to begin this summer" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/28).

Nickelodeon is returning to Chicagoland Speedway as the entitlement sponsor of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in Sepember as part of another two-year deal with ISC. The Viacom-owned net is bringing back its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the theme for the second straight year, and the race will be called the Tales of the Turtles 400. Nickelodeon Senior VP/Sports Marketing & Development Anthony DiCosmo said that the net considered switching to other franchises, but decided to keep with TMNT because the TV show is bringing back many old characters in its fifth season. Nickelodeon two years ago promoted SpongeBob Squarepants at the spring Kansas race.

DiCosmo said of TMNT, “It just fits in NASCAR: It’s about excitement, energy, a brotherhood, multigenerational -- just the right fit.” Around 10 drivers over the weekend are expected to run TMNT-themed paint schemes. Track President Scott Paddock added, “It’s great to have continuity with a title sponsor. ... When you’ve got brands like Monster Energy and Nickelodeon investing in the sport and bringing in a younger audience, that’s a great thing.”

DiCosmo added that Nickelodeon, which has a co-branded product line with NASCAR and a show on its Nick Sports platform, has begun renewal talks with ISC. Nickelodeon works with Victory Management Group for NASCAR marketing.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday addressed the possibility of allowing NFL players to smoke marijuana, saying, "We’ve been studying that through our advisors. To date, they haven’t said that this a change we think you should make." Goodell added, "You still have to look at a lot of aspects of marijuana use. Is it something that can be negative to the health of our players? Listen, you’re ingesting smoke, so that’s not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long-term" (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 4/28).

A "sold-out Wembley Stadium" on Saturday will host the Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight boxing title fight. An "additional 10,000 seats were added" at the venue to "accommodate the post-war record crowd of 90,000." In the U.K., the fight "could break pay-per-view records for Sky Sports, which benefits from affordable pricing." The event will cost US$25, "up slightly from Sky Sports’ usual" price of US$22. In the U.S., the fight will air live on Showtime at 4:15pm ET, with an HBO re-broadcast at 11:00pm (WSJ.com, 4/27).

The Raiders on Saturday morning will host "Raiders Draft Day," an NFL Draft party at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign on the Strip. The 129th player selected will be the "first one chosen by the Raiders during their first public event in Las Vegas since announcing their move to Southern Nevada" in '20. Team alumni, cheerleaders and local officials are "expected to take part" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 4/28).

MLL announced that Twitter will live stream the "MLL Game of the Week" during '17, which includes 15 regular-season contests and two playoff matches (MLL).

Utah-based dairy brand Cache Valley Creamery has partnered with Real Salt Lake for the '17 season on a variety of contests, family-friendly events and gameday experiences at Rio Tinto Stadium (Cache Valley Creamery).

"I know a lot of people have been pointing at myself and Chase (Elliott) and (Ryan) Blaney, just to name three. That’s pretty cool to be in that category and hopefully we all have a lot of Junior’s fans kind of dispersed to cheer for us and don’t just leave the sport totally” – NASCAR driver Kyle Larson, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s impending retirement (FOXSPORTS.com, 4/28).

"My results have spoken for everything that I should speak for" – Tennis player Maria Sharapova, on reaching the semifinals of the WTA Porsche Grand Prix in her first tournament back from a doping suspension (AP, 4/28).

Dale Jr.: "I was worried people were going to be upset and angry, like, 'What the hell?'" But has found response to be positive.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) April 28, 2017

PGA gives penalty shot for slow play at Zurich, 1st since '95. Carballo got 1 bad time BCambpell the other. Team counts as 1 player. Bizarre

— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) April 28, 2017

First slow-play penalty on the PGA Tour in 22 years, meaning it’s possible that the next to get penalized for this has not yet been born.

— Jay Coffin (@JayCoffinGC) April 28, 2017

SMI removing seats since start of 2017: 7,000 at Charlotte, 17,000 at Kentucky, 12,000 at Loudon. Premium hospitality/RV areas likely.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 28, 2017

If I'm @TheSupremeTaco, I call my agent and tell him to spend 24 hours shopping me to every Tex-Mex joint in Dallas. Get a bidding war going

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) April 28, 2017

Production staff with the draft themed menu. Well done pic.twitter.com/dCuLE9jBhi

— trey wingo (@wingoz) April 28, 2017

Saturday

Rutgers in a 3:00pm ET ceremony will rename one of its original basketball courts after the late Jim Valvano, who played at Rutgers and was an assistant coach there. The court is at College Avenue Gym, nicknamed "The Barn."

NASCAR driver Austin Dillon stars in this lighthearted ad for the sanctioning body's national youth platform, Acceleration Nation. The spot debuted Friday online and will being airing this weekend during coverage of the Richmond races on Fox and FS1.

$200M – Amount Colby College (Waterville, Maine) will spend on a "state-of-the-art athletic center on campus" that will be the "largest in the New England Small College Athletic Conference" (CENTRALMAINE.com, 4/27).