The league on Friday unveiled the trophy that will go to winner of its inaugural Finals seriesNBA 2K League

Knicks Gaming and Heat Check Gaming will meet Saturday for a best-of-three series to crown the winner of the inaugural NBA 2K League season. The league’s 115-seat studio in N.Y. figures to be full for the event, and NBA 2K League Managing Dir Brendan Donohue said the Finals will be promoted across all social media channels in an expanded form. Donohue said, “You’ll see all fresh, new content that we’re actually capturing all week long with the Heat and with the Knicks that we’ll share for the first time exclusively on Twitch during the Finals.”

Donohue noted that much of the social content will “fall under the umbrella of sponsorship inventory.” The league has partnered with Mache Custom Kicks to have six NBA 2K League shoes made for a Twitter giveaway on @NBA2KLeague. One shoe was dished out Thursday, one will be given out Friday and the remaining four will be given during the Finals broadcast.

Donohue is quick to point out that the league’s audience primarily connects with it digitally. While the NBA 2K League’s Twitch viewership does not stack up with that of Riot Games’ League of Legends Championship Series or Blizzard’s Overwatch League, Donohue has an optimistic outlook on viewership for the Finals and believes the league is “just scratching the surface.” “We continue to see consistent growth every single week,” Donohue said, “and so being this is our final week of the season, we expect to have our best week of the year.”

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The Mets are "closing in on a deal to air the games" on WCBS-AM next season and for the "foreseeable future." If the deal goes through, WCBS "will have outbid" WOR-AM, "which has tried to retain the Mets." While it is "very possible" that game broadcasters Howie Rose and Josh Lewin "would make the move with the team, it does open the possibility for change." The Yankees "had been on WCBS before taking the Mets’ place on the FAN four years ago" (NYPOST.com, 8/24).

Alabama AD Greg Byrne has received a "three-year contract extension and raise." Byrne is now set to receive $980,000 in base salary this year, "a $55,000 bump from the figure he was set to earn in his original deal with the university." Byrne's pay is "scheduled to increase" to as much as $1.13M in '24-25, the "final year of the extended agreement." Byrne's base salary in '17-18 "was the second-highest" among ADs in the SEC. It would now "top the league and be ranked eighth nationally based on the previous academic year's numbers" (AL.com, 8/24).

Ryen Russillo has reached a new agreement to remain with ESPN and expand upon his current role. He will continue with his weekly "The Russillo Show" podcast, in addition to appearing on select studio shows such as "SportsCenter," "The Jump" and "Get Up!" Russillo also will periodically contribute to The Ringer (ESPN). The Ringer on Friday announced that the "Dual Threat With Ryen Russillo" podcast will debut Wednesday. Weekly installments will "focus on the NFL and NCAA football" (THERINGER.com, 8/24).

Friday night’s Galaxy-LAFC rivalry match at StubHub Center will feature a Twitter-powered camera, the first time that this social activation will be used during a pro sporting event. The Tweet Cam, done in partnership between MLS and Twitter, will be powered by the hashtag #LALookIn. Between 7:00-11:00pm PT, tweets that use that hashtag will trigger an on-site camera in the northeast corner of the arena which will deliver real-time photos from the pitch back to Twitter user. MLS is the first of the major sports leagues to partner with Twitter on this technology.

Nursing mothers in attendance at U.S. Bank Stadium now "will be able to breast-feed or pump without missing the on-field action" beginning with Friday night's Seahawks-Vikings preseason game. The Mothers' Room is "near section 122 on the main concourse" of the Minneapolis venue, and the 154-square-foot room "will be available for other events at the stadium as well." The room "can accommodate up to four women with two private nursing areas and a changing table" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/24).

With the MLB and MLBPA's Players' Weekend initiative upon us, baseball players, teams, writers and others tied to the game are posting custom jerseys and gear all over their social media feeds. Here is a small sampling:

#PlayersWeekend pic.twitter.com/TK4sVWcDL1

— Hank Aaron (@HenryLouisAaron) August 24, 2018

Looks like I’ve got the right cleats for #PlayersWeekend pic.twitter.com/9uUjTpdLzg

— Andrew Miller (@a_miller48) August 24, 2018

Well, well, well. Looks like they gave me my own #PlayersWeekend jersey. Any guesses on what my nickname is? pic.twitter.com/m3VEOyglP8

— Wally (@Wally97) August 24, 2018

 

No one is doing @mlb’s #PlayersWeekend better than @reds 2B @sgennett2! 👏3️⃣ #Baseball #MLB #NASCAR

A post shared by NASCAR (@nascar) on Aug 24, 2018 at 7:32am PDT

Even though its technically #PlayersWeekend, we think our @foxsportsmidwest broadcasters’ nicknames deserve some shine too!

A post shared by St. Louis Cardinals (@cardinals) on Aug 24, 2018 at 10:51am PDT

IMG College signed a 10-year extension with the Univ. of Delaware through the '27-28 academic year. As part of the deal, a new 16-by-9-foot center-hung video board will be installed at Bob Carpenter Center, where UD plays basketball (IMG).

F1 has brought New Balance on board as a "presenting partner" for its official esports competition, the F1 Esports Series (ESPORTSOBSERVER.com, 8/24).

The Panthers for Friday night's preseason home game against the Patriots will wear black pants with blue jerseys for the first time in team history (Panthers).

This isn't Madden. This is real life. pic.twitter.com/mH4oUQXtJG

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) August 24, 2018

"New York, it’s a certain energy here, and Thursday night needs that energy and I think we’re going to bring that energy to ‘Thursday Night Football.’ We have a field outside. We’re going to go outside with the fans and incorporate them in our show" -- Fox analyst Michael Strahan, on the net's NFL pregame show, which is moving from L.A. to N.Y. this year (NEWSDAY.com, 8/24).

"They're nervous. I don't know if they're following me or not" -- Phil Mickelson, on his kids' reaction to him joining Twitter this week (TWITTER.com, 8/24).

"There’s just a sense of: ‘We don’t have the payroll that other teams do. And we don’t have the cool stadium with a lot of cool stuff going on. And we haven’t been able to keep our players…But we’re given the opportunity to just be the A’s, so nobody cares’” -- NBC Sports Bay Area's Dallas Braden, on the A's success this season (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/24).

"You want to look good on the court, you want to feel good about yourself and we're doing a great job not only being powerful women, strong women, but also very fashionable" -- Tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, when asked by CNBC's Sara Eisen about the sport's current "fashion moment" ("Closing Bell," CNBC, 8/23).

I just looked directly at Tony Finau’s shirt-hat combo and now I’m getting those flashy dots when I blink.

— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) August 24, 2018

Half the conversations I have with anyone in sports or media touches on The Athletic.

None, absolutely NONE, of those people get it or think it’ll work, while The Athletic laughs and says “yes, those are the idiots we’re disrupting.”

— Kevin Draper (@kevinmdraper) August 24, 2018

NASCAR will allow rain tires for the ROVAL in Charlotte.

— Ed Hardin (@Ed_Hardin) August 24, 2018

One of good thing to come out of this week is I now know about the setting to automatically delete old text messages.
Who knew?

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) August 24, 2018

Yesterday, 2017 #USOpen finalist @KAndersonATP and Grand Slam winner @CaroWozniacki rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange! 🔔🎾

📸: @NYSE pic.twitter.com/95ummb2PKP

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 24, 2018

Friday

MetLife Stadium hosts the third annual Jets Tackle Bullying Educators ahead of the Giants-Jets preseason game. More than 200 attendees are expected.

Saturday

Tennis players John Isner and Lucas Pouille will face off in a public match at Brookfield Place in N.Y. Other demonstrations and games will be held at the Prince-sponsored event, which is from 1:00-6:00pm ET.

The WTA Connecticut Open created this lighthearted PSA featuring a handful of star players to explain the addition of a serve clock and warmup clock at U.S. Open Series events.

5.2 -- Overnight rating on Fox for Thursday night's Eagles-Browns preseason game that ended with a final score of 5-0. The rating was Fox' best for a preseason game since '12 (THE DAILY).