The Triple-A Int’l League Pawtucket Red Sox and the city of Worcester, Mass., have “signed an agreement that clears the way for the … team to move to the city and play in a stadium that will be built” near Kelley Square. A developmental blueprint calls for a “ballpark, an apartment building, a hotel and retail space.” It is “due to be completed by March 2021” and will cost the city $86-90M (TELEGRAM.com, 8/17). The team has been in Pawtucket since ’73 and plans to continue to play at McCoy Stadium “for the next two seasons” (PROVIDENCEJOURNAL.com, 8/17).

Red Sox Chair Tom Werner said officials at the MLB team “love the PawSox in Rhode Island.” However, he added PawSox Chair Larry Lucchino “felt that this was a good thing for his franchise … to move it to Worcester.” It is expected that the team “will be renamed the WooSox” (WCVB.com, 8/17).

ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro on Friday said the network will not broadcast the national anthem on a weekly basis during the upcoming NFL season, staying consistent with how it has handled the anthem in recent years. Pitaro during an event for members of the media at the company’s Bristol HQ said, “They (the NFL) have not asked, but as a courtesy we let them know what our plan was.” Pitaro stressed that ESPN was “not a political organization.” He said, “We are going to always cover the intersection of sports and politics, sports and culture. … When someone takes a knee, if we think it’s newsworthy, we’re going to cover it.”

He said the new “MNF” team of Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland did a “good job” in their debut Thursday night for Jets-Redskins. Pitaro, who noted he was “very involved” in the audition process for structuring the new team, said he thought the team “settled in nicely in the second half.” Pitaro: “Happy with last night, but we want to improve every night and week.”

Meanwhile, Pitaro said he is pleased with the early results on the network’s four-month-old streaming platform ESPN+. Without revealing any specific subscriber numbers, Pitaro said ESPN was “very heartened” by the conversion rate from users who tried the app for free and eventually went on to pay the $4.99 monthly fee. He noted ESPN+ has benefited in recent weeks from high-profile MLS games and Top Rank boxing matches. Pitaro expects the coming football season to only ramp up subscriber numbers.

Mike Lupica, the "most well-known byline" in the N.Y. Daily News sports department, "is out" at the newspaper. Esther Newberg, who reps Lupica at ICM, confirmed the longtime columnist has left the paper. Lupica's name "did not appear among the 98 staffers who were let go in late July," but his byline "had not appeared in the paper since mid-July." Lupica, who has written several young-adult books, apparently is "ready to step into writing adult thrillers full time for Penguin, as the author for a revival of the Sunny Randall detective series" (NYPOST.com, 8/17).

Lupica "hasn’t published at the Daily News since the July 23rd cuts, but he has written nine stories at MLB.com, posted podcast interviews ... and appeared on about a half-dozen episodes of the Sports Reporters podcast" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 8/17).

Saturday's CFL Montreal Alouettes-Edmonton Eskimos game at Commonwealth Stadium "may have to be rescheduled" due to "smoke from British Columbia wildfires." Eskimos Coach Jason Maas said, "I’ll let that be up to the league, how they’re going to handle that, but we’ll do whatever they say." The Eskimos earlier this week were "chased inside to practice in the confines of the indoor fieldhouse" because of the smoke (Edmonton SUN, 8/16). A decision "won’t be made until it’s clearer what the weather conditions will be" Saturday night (GLOBALNEWS.ca, 8/15).

The Edmonton Marathon is also slated for this weekend, with the main race Sunday and ancillary events Saturday. Organizers are "confident a change in the weather will help a record-breaking field of runners" numbering about 5,000, with an "estimated 10,000 spectators who will line the course through the city" (EDMONTONJOURNAL.com, 8/16). 

Eleven Sports is “debating whether to stream” Cristiano Ronaldo’s Serie A debut match live to U.K. audiences from the kickoff, according to a source. If it does, the broadcaster will be “flouting a rule that bans live Saturday soccer coverage in England and Scotland” between 2:45 and 5:15pm. Juventus’ match against AC ChievoVerona begins at 5:00pm U.K. time. The custom “dates back” to the '60s, and most media organizations “still respect the blackout” (BLOOMBERG.com, 8/17).

WWE hosts SummerSlam on Sunday at a sold-out Barclays Center, and the company has lined up plenty of promotional events and content around its second biggest annual event, which will stream live on WWE Network. On Friday afternoon, WWE's Bobby Lashley, Carmella and Shinsuke Nakamura will ring the Closing Bell at the NYSE. Also on Friday, Nia Jax, Titus O'Neil, Dolph Ziggler and announcer Charly Caruso are part of the "Be A Star" anti-bullyingrallyat the Boys & Girls Club of Kips Bay in the Bronx. The event is being held in partnership with Cricket Wireless, whose CMO Tiffany Baehman will also be on hand.

On the media side, NextVR will broadcast the two-hour "SummerSlam Kickoff Show" Sunday at 5:00pm ET, marking the first live WWE event in the VR format. Fans can watch via the NextVR app or the Oculus Venues app. NextVR cameras will be placed on the turnbuckles during SummerSlam itself, with a VR highlight reel making its way to NextVR app later this month.

Meanwhile, WWE's Big Show on Saturday was named a Special Olympics Global Ambassador.

ESPN has re-signed NFL analyst Andrew Hawkins to a new deal that will see the former NFLer "expanding his role" with the net. Hawkins will continuing hosting "SportsCenter on Snapchat" on Monday and Tuesday mornings, and he will remain a co-host of the ESPN Radio show "Operation Football" during the NFL season alongside Randy Scott and Field Yates. Hawkins will contribute to various ESPN studio shows as well (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 8/17).

The Bucks have hired Katie George as a new sideline reporter for broadcasts on FS Wisconsin. George also will contribute to Bucks.com and other team social channels. She comes to the Bucks after spending more than two years at WDRB-Fox in Louisville (Bucks).

NFL reporter Kimberley Martin is joining Yahoo Sports after serving at the Washington Post's beat writer for the Redskins. In addition to writing for the Post, Martin previously worked at the Buffalo News and Newsday (Coyne PR).

Telecom company Rokit has signed a multiyear deal with the Chargers to be the team's official wireless partner and title sponsor the playing field at StubHub Center during Chargers games (Chargers).

The Alliance of American Football will hold its "first leaguewide training camp" in San Antonio beginning in January. The league did not disclose the eight sites it plans to use (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/17).

"Over the last three, four months it’s started being on my mind, like man, do I need to find other things to do and think of other things to do. I just finally made that decision" -- NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne, on retiring as a full-time Cup Series participant after the '18 season (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/17).

"Forgetting numbers, just the atmosphere of the games has been incredible" -- MLL Dallas Rattlers D Matt Dunn, whose team plays the Denver Outlaws in Saturday's league title game in Charleston, S.C. The Rattlers in their first year since relocating from Rochester averaged 4,779 fans (DALLASNEWS.com, 8/15).

"I played for the Dallas Cowboys for 15 years. I understand it gets hot in the kitchen" -- ESPN's Jason Witten, on receiving criticism for his work in the booth during his "MNF" debut Thursday night (THE DAILY).

Greg Papa joining the 49ers television coverage.

— Ann Killion (@annkillion) August 17, 2018

Oxnard weather was fine. But the cement wall where the stands used to be on the (west?) side of the 2 fields wiped out about half the seats. Also those attendance totals are fake anyway. https://t.co/kxjaIeyC80

— Tim Cowlishaw (@TimCowlishaw) August 17, 2018

Anyone going to the #NJDevils Beach Bash tomorrow that wants to say hello or has any Qs about @TheAthleticNYC, I’ll make it easy for you to spot me. Even if wearing a black shirt to the shore in mid-August is probably not the greatest idea.

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) August 17, 2018

Only the Patriots. First round pick carted off field in game vs Eagles. Belichick not asked about it at presser, postgame or today. Isaiah Wynn torn Achilles. Out for year #patsmediacartel

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) August 17, 2018

Thanks to @WoodfordReserve for dropping off all the Bourbon from a few months back! Was a special day letting me create my own barrel to have. Think I’m good on Bourbon for a while 😳😂 pic.twitter.com/qqhJTOMUu4

— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) August 16, 2018

Friday

Rockets G James Harden kicks off his second JH-Town Weekend in Houston, which will include a comedy show, celebrity softball game and celebrity basketball game at Texas Southern's H&PE Arena. All proceeds go to scholarship programs run by Harden's charity, 3 The Harden Way.

In these excerpts from a recent podcast with Theo Von, Lakers President Jeanie Buss talks about inheriting the team from her late father. She also discusses posing for Playboy in '95.

Friday

MLB Network for the fourth consecutive year will air a special game telecast presented by its "MLB Now" studio show, and for the first time it will be for a night game. The roundtable game presentation of Mets-Phillies will feature Brian Kenny, Joe Girardi, Jon Heyman and Mike Petriello.

$150,000 -- Minimum cost of the Michigan men's basketball team's trip to Spain. The team departs Friday on the trip, which is being "funded by private supporters" through the Michigan athletic department (MLIVE.com, 8/16).