MLB owners today unanimously approved the $1.2B sale of the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria to a group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. Sherman will be the designated control exec for the Marlins and hold a 46% equity share, while Jeter is slated to be CEO and hold 4%. The vote was conducted via conference call and is contingent on the closing of the sale, which is expected within the next week.

The sale closing means the end of a tumultuous 15-year run with the Marlins for Loria that included the '03 World Series title and playing host to this year’s All-Star Game, but also a complicated transfer of his prior ownership of the Expos and many battles with the MLBPA, South Florida politicians and fellow MLB owners over his financial management and development of Marlins Park.

President Trump this afternoon continued his fight against the NFL, saying the league is “in a very bad box.” Speaking to reporters briefly before heading to Indiana for a tax reform rally, Trump said, “You cannot have people disrespecting our national anthem, our flag, our country, and that’s what they’re doing. In my opinion, the NFL has to change … or their business is going to go to hell” (CNN, 9/27).

Also today, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions "doubled down on his defense" of Trump's remarks on the NFL protests. Appearing on "Fox & Friends," Sessions said, "People should stand. I think it should be a formal rule of the league. ... They'll have to make that decision but should be able to say to the players, if you're on our field and play our game paid by us, you should respect the flag and the national anthem" (THEHILL.com, 9/27).

Fox Sports and the Big 12 today announced that the conference's football Championship Game will be played Dec. 2, with pregame coverage beginning at noon ET on the Fox broadcast network ahead of a 12:30pm kickoff. The title game from AT&T Stadium will kick off a day of sports on the network that also includes an Ohio State-Wisconsin men's basketball game at 5:00pm and the Big Ten Football Championship Game at 8:00pm (Fox Sports).

Amazon will produce a pregame show for its home page before it streams tomorrow night’s Bears-Packers “TNF” game. Hosted by former NFLer Tiki Barber and Australian chef Curtis Stone, the show will attempt to peddle NFL merchandise customers can by from Amazon -- from serving trays and glasses to grilling tools and jerseys. Amazon also announced the names of the commentators who will work the service’s alternate feeds during the game. The U.K. English feed will include Ross Dyer on play-by-play for the first three games and Derek Rae for the final eight games. Tommy Smyth will be the analyst. Meanwhile, the Spanish feed will feature Amando Quintero on play-by-play and Oscar Benitez as analyst; and the Brazilian Portuguese feed will have Flavio Pereira on play-by-play with Nilton Batata as analyst.

YES Network on Friday afternoon will experiment with several new production elements during its coverage of Blue Jays-Yankees, including live stock market and business news updates from sister operation Fox Business, and text crawls and other graphics with N.Y.-area weather forecasts, traffic information and the expected time of sundown that day. The 1:00pm ET start time on Friday arrives just before the beginning of Yom Kippur that evening and is expected to draw a large audience of at-work viewers and those watching through the Fox Sports Go app. YES will begin promotion of the Friday matinee and new production features during tonight’s coverage of Rays-Yankees on WPIX-TV.  

Auburn is offering "full refunds for men's basketball season tickets if fans no longer want them in light of the federal charges against assistant coach Chuck Person." Person was among 10 people arrested yesterday on "federal charges as a result of a joint investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office into corruption" in college basketball. The school on Monday had announced it "sold out of its season ticket allotment for the fourth straight year" (AL.com, 9/27).

With Nike reporting “mixed earnings” late yesterday for Q1 '18, shares today were down about 2.3% at presstime (THE DAILY). Nike posted its lowest quarterly sales growth in “almost seven years.” Barclays Retail Analyst Matthew McClintock said as “more of that innovation” from Nike “ramps up and gets more distribution, we will see better sales.” But Jeffries analyst Randy Konik said his firm sees a “distribution problem” for Nike, because as they attempt to go more “direct to the consumer, they have a wholesale problem where they have to reduce exposure to the wholesale channel of distribution, which is going to create an issue for margins, earnings and revenues” (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 9/27).

A source said Justin Timberlake "is finalizing" a deal to perform at next year's Super Bowl halftime show (USMAGAZINE.com, 9/27).

The Red Sox will raise '18 ticket prices by an average of 2.5%. Prices will rise between $1 and $5 for certain sections, while others will remain unchanged (Red Sox).

The Kings today announced they have extended the contract of VP/Basketball Operations & GM Vlade Divac (Kings).

The Univ. at Buffalo will name its new $18M indoor training facility the Murchie Family Fieldhouse "after a major donation from the family" of N.Y.-based Lackawanna Products Owner and UB alum Tunney Murchie (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/27).

"Maybe I’ll get in trouble for saying this, we don’t plan on going over there anytime soon. ... Somebody else can do that job" -- Ravens coach John Harbaugh, on the team potentially returning to London after losing to the Jaguars 44-7 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (Baltimore SUN, 9/27).

"I would imagine so" -- Texans DE J.J. Watt, on if the team will again lock arms during the national anthem Sunday at NRG Stadium (CHRON.com, 9/27).

“Man, you guys are just catching on" -- Knicks F Michael Beasley, on corruption in college basketball recruiting (TWITTER.com, 9/27).

The FBI isn't playing. Agent Andy Miller's agency raided and computer taken. Nike EYBL employees and documents subpoenaed.

— Jerry Meyer (@jerrymeyer247) September 27, 2017

The history of young black assistants falling on their swords for prominent white college basketball coaches is the real 30 for 30.

— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) September 27, 2017

This is going to end with Big Baller Brand being the only clean sneaker company.

— Rush the Court (@rushthecourt) September 27, 2017

Steve Stricker and Nick Price announce that each team will donate $170,000 ($10K per player/captain) to Hurricane Harvey/Irma relief effort.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) September 27, 2017

New Web schedule has some welcome changes: released now vs Jan, Bahamas/Ohio events B2B, no event vs US Open, Boise during PGAT bye week. +1

— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) September 27, 2017

Pretty chill commute to the @PresidentsCup. @nywatertaxi pic.twitter.com/o9Ry4gnVgL

— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) September 27, 2017

Some of EPL club Chelsea's players took part in the latest trickshot video from well-known YouTubers Dude Perfect.

$307M -- Latest projected cost for Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium renovations. Documents presented this week to the Arizona Board of Regents for approval show the upgrade is "expected to cost an additional" $38.9M (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/27).