Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby "will continue" in the role through June '25 under a contract extension announced Friday. The deal will take Bowlsby through the "end of the Big 12's next round of television negotiations." The conference's contracts with ESPN and Fox run through '25, with "critical talks on extension likely to begin a couple of years sooner" (DALLASNEWS.com, 9/22). Conference realignment talks are "expected to gain steam" perhaps as early as '23, in between the Big Ten ('23) and Pac 12’s ('24) grant of rights expiration dates. The Big 12 last season "experienced record revenue distribution," doling out $34.5M to its 10 schools, a 15% "increase from the previous year" (NORMANTRANSCRIPT.com, 9/22).

ESPN and Nielsen are reimagining how TV ratings are reported, and starting Tuesday plan to release a new figure that incorporates both traditional TV and streaming. This deal is unique because ESPN no longer will sell advertising off of the traditional TV rating that has been part of the business’ currency for decades. ESPN President of Global Sales & Marketing Ed Erhardt said that all of the net’s ad clients have agreed to one number that incorporates TV and streaming; and more than 50% have signed deals that include out-of-home viewing. “It’s a process,” Erhardt said during a Friday conference call. “We feel pretty good about the progress that we’ve made.” ESPN will stop putting out ratings numbers that separate traditional viewing and streaming viewing.

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The Braves are "officially bidding" to bring the MLB All-Star Game to SunTrust Park. The event "already is committed" to DC and Cleveland the next two years, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said sites for the '20, '21 and '22 games "might be announced simultaneously." Braves CEO Terry McGuirk: "We’ve been active in town. We’ve been active politically inside baseball among the ownership group. And we’re constant at it." McGuirk said that the Braves "have targeted two years, seeking to land one of them." Asked if the targeted years are '20 and '21, Braves President of Business Derek Schiller said the team is “not at liberty to talk about it” (AJC.com, 9/21).

An RFP shows that Cal plans to hire an outside consulting firm to assess the athletic department’s budget situation and "develop recommendations for a long-term sustainability model given the stadium debt service and the ever-escalating costs of intercollegiate athletics.” The deadline for agencies to submit bids "was last week." This step "came at the recommendation" of Cal's Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics. The RFP shows that Cal athletics is "projected to have an operating loss" of $16M for FY '17 (MERCURYNEWS.com, 9/22).

Leavine Family Racing VP Jeremy Lange called Wednesday’s signing of Kasey Kahne the biggest moment in the one-car NASCAR team’s history, and execs have already hit the market to start selling Kahne to potential sponsors for ’18. Kahne is coming over from Hendrick Motorsports after this season to replace Michael McDowell in the No. 95 Chevy. While he has struggled on the track in recent seasons, Kahne has 18 wins at the Cup Series level and retains a sizable fanbase. That makes the move a potential marketing coup for the relatively small LFR.

Lange: “Kasey gives us a stronger opportunity to land mainstream partners. … This gives us credibility in the garage on the sponsor level to have conversations with brands that are going to RFP or want to leave other teams. … We are a tremendous value in the sport (now). Our business model lends itself to us being competitive with our pricing.”

Arkansas football will wear "Cowboys-themed" Nike uniforms for Saturday's game at AT&T Stadium against Texas A&M. Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, an Arkansas alum, "got emotional when talking about the tribute." Jones: "When I think of actually putting a helmet on like this, I think of the days that I'd put on that Razorback helmet. ... At my age if I put this thing on I might run the ball a little bit out there" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/20).

Cowboys replica unis.
In Razorback red.
In the house he built. pic.twitter.com/p1UAu1Hqm9

— Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) September 17, 2017

Fox Sports will introduce several VR coverage features for Saturday night's Notre Dame-Michigan State game. On the Fox Sports VR app, the so-called "social virtual reality" feature will allow users to watch the game with other groups of fans while verbally communicating and interacting with each other via their in-app avatars. Fox Sports also will debut 360-degree Skycam views as part of its VR production package. Fox is again collaborating with LiveLike on its VR suite, which carries presenting sponsorship from Wendy's (Fox Sports).

The Sparks and Lynx tip off the WNBA Finals Sunday in Minneapolis, and playoff games to date have averaged 7,905 fans. This is the highest-attended WNBA postseason (minus the Finals) since the '11 average of 8,343, and it represents a 12% increase from last year's average of 7,032 (THE DAILY).

AT&T-owned DirecTV and U-Verse are "nearing a deadline on a new contract" with K.C.-based KCTV-CBS, putting carriage of Sunday's Chiefs-Chargers game "in jeopardy." The two TV providers "will drop" the Meredith Corp.-owned station on Friday "if they don't reach a deal" (K.C. STAR, 9/22).

Adidas’ Sports Licensed Division “plans to lay off 79 employees and close a warehousing and distribution facility” in Mattapoisett, Mass., beginning Oct. 20 as “part of a broader restructuring of its business” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/22).

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer on Friday announced a plan to allocate $30M in public money toward a $200M development that "would include a standalone professional soccer stadium." USL club Louisville City FC is looking to join MLS (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/22).

Shares of Finish Line "bounced around Friday morning" after the retailer reported "poor results for its latest quarter and downgraded its outlook for its next fiscal year" (IBJ.com, 9/22).

Omega has signed on as the official timekeeper of the '17-18 Volvo Ocean Race (Omega).

"One of the things that we want to amplify going forward are the sounds of the sport, because they are viscerally moving to fans and critically important in all the research that we do" -- F1 Managing Dir of Commercial Operations Sean Bratches, on working on a new microphone to attach to cars to amplify sound for TV viewers (REUTERS, 9/22).

"We’ve been very competitive, and ... we’re going full steam ahead with the P6 campaign. ... It isn’t built on fluff and just words. It’s built on real achievement" -- AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco, on the conference's "Power 6" initiative (WASHINGTON POST, 9/22).

"When you're trying to find somebody late and you need a home game, sometimes it takes a little more negotiating to reach an appropriate figure" -- Louisville Senior Associate AD/Media Relations Kenny Klein, on paying Kent State, a late schedule addition, $1M for the game Saturday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 9/22).

"You can go to certain places on the Mainland and you can’t have access for $100,000 into some of these events. Here, we value $5,000, $10,000, $2,000 sponsors. Our goal is to continue to be broad based" -- ESPN Senior VP/College Sports Programming & Events Pete Derzis, on the relatively low cost of sponsoring events in Hawaii vs. the continental U.S. (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/21).

"At some point, you have to get a sensible payroll, and I think everyone pretty much knew this was gonna happen" -- Former Tigers manager Jim Leyland, on the team entering a rebuild after years of having one of MLB's higher payrolls (DETROIT NEWS, 9/22).

Technology & complicated metrics have taken over baseball. Yet a trip to the Home Depot for extended netting is complicated? Pure nonsense.

— Matt Yallof (@MattYallofMLB) September 22, 2017

Wondering why ESPN took GameDay to NYC? Take a look @ tweets/pics via TV media feeds. PR, Biz play. NYSE, Mad Ave appeal etc. #sportsbiz

— Kathy Connors (@KMCConsults) September 22, 2017

Just turned on ESPN and @Finebaum is proclaiming the excitement level in Nashville for Vandy-Bama...behind him is a throng of 5 people.

— Mark Packer (@MarkPacker) September 22, 2017

People curious about stakes in 1st Laver Cup. Winning team members get 250K each. Losers get 0 but do get qualifying fees, based on ranking

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) September 22, 2017

Ed Wade, former phillies and astros gm, was recently let go by the phillies. he had been working as a scout for them in recent years.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 22, 2017

Saturday

The second annual "NBA Hackathon," a two-day event on basketball business and analytics, begins at the Skylight Modern in N.Y.
 
Former MLBer Kirk Gibson and former Michigan State football coach George Perles will hold a 3:00pm ET news conference at MSU to discuss their efforts in raising funds for Parkinson's research.

The Players' Tribune this week released the first two videos in its new online series "This Season," a collaboration with Yahoo Sports. The videos feature Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette and Ravens S Tony Jefferson.

Saturday

NASCAR driver Joey Logano will appear on NBC's "George To The Rescue" home improvement show (local showtimes vary). See a preview of Logano's appearance.

Sunday

Landon Donovan will make his MLS broadcast debut, providing color analysis for the Sporting KC-Galaxy match on FS1 at 8:00pm ET. 

Members of USA Swimming and USA Gymnastics will compete on ABC's "Celebrity Family Feud" at 8:00pm ET.

$686,700 -- Projected earnings for the state of Missouri from a tax on daily fantasy sports that was passed last year. Though the amount is "far short of the millions" that Gov. Jay Nixon "envisioned when he proposed the regulations, the number could grow" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 9/22).