The NCAA today unveiled a "series of policy and rule changes" that it "hopes will clean up college basketball." The NCAA BOG and D-I BOD will begin "allowing elite high school basketball recruits and players to be represented by agents who are certified by the NCAA while still playing," so players can "enter the NBA draft and return to school if undrafted." The NCAA also is "overhauling its process for investigating and adjudicating complex cases involving its rules." Two independent groups will be "appointed to oversee and resolve complex cases, which might involve academic misconduct, major penalties or adversarial behavior." NCAA President Mark Emmert said that the organization would continue to work with the NBA, NBPA, apparel companies and USA Basketball to "come up with more solutions" (ESPN.com, 8/8).

ESPN’s Pablo Torre said, “We are seeing the erosion of that bright line that separated amateur and professional” (“High Noon,” ESPN, 8/8).

The Braves' Q2 revenue "increased just slightly" to $182M, compared to $176M in the April-June quarter of '17. Meanwhile, "profits surged" 129% from $28M to $64M. In the period, the Braves released highly-paid 1B Adrian Gonzalez and P Scott Kazmir before the start of the '18 season. Baseball operations revenue was "essentially flat" at $172M, while "revenue from development operations -- the Braves are the developer of The Battery Atlanta adjacent to SunTrust Park -- rose" from $3M in '17, when the development was opening, to $10M in '18. Braves parent company Liberty Media said that the team took in $4.6M in revenue for "each game played at SunTrust Park" in Q2 (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/8).

The Magic today revealed plans to celebrate their 30th anniversary season in '18-19, when the team will "employ a new logo and intermittently wear a throwback jersey during the upcoming season." The jersey will utilize "almost the exact same design as the pinstriped blue jersey the Magic wore on the road for four seasons" in the '90s. The “Orlando” script across the front will feature a "silver star in place of the letter 'a.'" A Magic official said that "it hasn’t been determined how often the team will wear the jersey during the upcoming season." The 30th anniversary logo "includes the same blue basketball image and cascading stars that were used in the franchise’s first logo" in '89 (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 8/8).

Join us for the 2018-19 season as we celebrate 30 years of #PureMagic presented by @FloridaHospital! Go back in time & relive all the Magic moments from our inaugural season in 1989, the "Heart and Hustle" years, our NBA Finals runs and more! pic.twitter.com/i3lwaKo72C

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) August 8, 2018

The NBA today released its schedule of select games to open the '18-19 season. Highlights include the Oct. 16 opening night doubleheader on TNT featuring 76ers-Celtics at 8:00pm ET followed by Warriors-Thunder at 10:30pm. LeBron James will make his Lakers debut two days later on TNT in a 10:30 tilt against the Trail Blazers. ESPN gets its regular-season slate started with a doubleheader on Oct. 17, with Pelicans-Rockets in the early window, followed by Mavericks Suns. ESPN will also have the Lakers in Week 1, as the team plays host to the Rockets on Oct. 20. Meanwhile, NBA TV will open its season with Raptors-Wizards on Oct. 20 at 7:00pm (THE DAILY).

The 49ers and concessionaire Levy Restaurants are creating a new food and beverage area in the outer concourse of Levi’s Stadium for the upcoming NFL season. The Touchdown Terrace aims to better activate and flow more fans through the outer ring of the Santa Clara stadium. That could help alleviate choke points and shorten lines at other food stands. 49ers VP/Stadium Operations and Levi's Stadium GM Jim Mercurio said, “Introducing the Touchdown Terrace enables us to create an attractive fan environment out of a previously underutilized area of the stadium while adding concession points of sale designed to improve line speed throughout the venue." The 49ers and Levy are bringing in local restaurants for the new food area and will have a bracket-style food dish competition where fans can vote on their favorite items.

Upstart MMA promotion Professional Fighters League has received a $28M "equity investment from a group that includes" Monumental Sports & Entertainment Founder, Chair & CEO Ted Leonsis, Riot Games co-Founder & CEO Brandon Beck, MGM Worldwide Television Group Chair Mark Burnett, actor Kevin Hart and self-help celebrity Tony Robbins. The PFL has a one-year deal with NBCSN for "carriage of its fights." Burnett "aims to develop a range of programming around PFL, starting with a 'Challengers Series' that would be an elimination-style competition" for the chance to join the league (VARIETY.com, 8/8).

The Chargers today released a statement that Faye Spanos, wife of team Owner Alex Spanos, has passed away at the age of 92 (Chargers).

Caribou Coffee

Player Tokens as part of an exclusive partnership with the MLBPA unveiled a new crypto-collectible service featuring 73 past and current All-Stars and players from all 30 MLB teams (Player Tokens).

USA Triathlon has renewed its partnership with NormaTec that will keep the company as its exclusive recovery partner through '21 (USA Triathlon).

Vikings sponsor Caribou Coffee has a new Vikings Blend limited release, available in 10-ounce ground bags in the coffee chain's Minnesota locations (Caribou Coffee).

"I guess I can take direction. I'm coachable" -- Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, on his upcoming appearance on the Comedy Central show "Detroiters" tomorrow night (FREEP.com, 8/8).

“For fans who are less enthused about our conference, I say, let’s take care of ourselves. We won one football game and six basketball games -- let’s take care of that” -- New Charlotte AD Mike Hill, on fan complaints about the school being in Conference USA (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/8).

Just walked a handful of holes. Talked with a few players and caddies. The unanimous decision? “This is such a PGA Championship course.” Obvious, maybe, but still serves as a fair description. Wide fairways, tree-lined, moderate rough, big greens. Such a PGA Championship course.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) August 8, 2018

Like the new rule by the NCAA allowing players to hire agents - especially if it allows them to return to school if they don't get drafted. BUT why not make the rule apply to football as well??

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) August 8, 2018

If you're wondering whether or not this is the deadest time of the sports year, First Take opened with a 10 minute debate on the NBA's Christmas schedule.

— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) August 8, 2018

The LA Rams will offer a free stream of their preseason games on https://t.co/sZsQbpXHX8 in Los Angeles, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In addition, the stream will be available in all markets receiving CBS or UniMás’ broadcast across California, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) August 8, 2018

You’d think after the season they had a year ago, #Pacers would get a sniff of national TV. Think again. A year after just 1 national TV game, Indiana once again an afterthought.

— Matt Glenesk (@MattGlenesk) August 8, 2018

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

Ahead of Friday's release of "Madden NFL 19," EA Sports released this trailer showcasing the video game's story mode, dubbed "Longshot 2."

$110-120M -- Amount ACC schools are expected to spend collectively toward the launch of the ACC Network, “four times what SEC schools spent to get ready for that conference’s network launch” in ’14 (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/6 issue).