The Dolphins today broke ground on a new practice facility near Hard Rock Stadium, with the "plan of moving their training base" from Nova Southeastern Univ. in '21. The $135M-plus facility is in conjunction with Baptist Health, which purchased the naming rights and "will open an adjacent facility for public medical care and rehab." It also will "consolidate the organization's football and business operations" (PALM BEACH POST, 8/21). The new facility will be "roughly twice the size of the Dolphins' current home." The practice bubble is being replaced by a "permanent full-size indoor facility adjacent to two outdoor practice fields" (MIAMI HERALD, 8/21).

dolphins

The Sounders named Peter Tomozawa President of Business Operations and the "12th member of the team's new ownership group" alongside his wife, Donna LeDuc. Tomozawa’s executive position "mirrors the Sounders’ leadership format on the soccer side" with GM & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey, "both reporting to majority owner Adrian Hanauer." Tomozawa most recently served as VP & Exec Dir of Partnerships & Board Relations for L.A.'s '28 Games bid. He is also an investor in the Golden Knights and several English soccer teams (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/21).

The Wild have hired Penguins Assistant GM Bill Guerin as their new GM, giving him a "multiyear contract." Guerin "spent the past eight years" with the Penguins, the last five as Assistant GM. Wild Owner Craig Leipold, advisor Mike Modano and President Matt Majka "formed the Wild's search committee." Guerin replaces Paul Fenton, who was fired on July 31 (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/21).

DraftKings is rolling out its "first-ever in house ad campaign for TV, out-of-home and digital" ahead of the NFL season. DraftKings had "worked with a number of agencies for its previous ad campaigns," most recently Deutsch, N.Y., but "opted to bring creative in-house so the company could be more agile." One spot -- dubbed “Making it Reign” -- plays on the "thrill of victory and agony of defeat by showing how real-world users reacted to winning or losing in actual tournaments that DraftKings had previously hosted" (ADAGE.com, 8/21).

ESPN is lining up its BlimpCast feature for coverage of the Sept. 2 Notre Dame-Louisville football game at Cardinal Stadium. Throughout the game, on-air personalities Marty Smith and Ryan McGee will be providing live commentary from inside the Goodyear Blimp, which this year became an honorary inductee to the College Football HOF. The BlimpCast will air on ESPN3 and the ESPN App. ESPN debuted the feature as part of its MegaCast coverage of last season's CFP title game, with Matt Barrie and Elle Duncan in the airship for Clemson-Alabama.

BlimpCast, including Smith and McGee as commentators, was originally planned to roll out last year for the early-season Virginia Tech-Florida State game, but rain prevented it.

The XFL's unveiling of its eight team names today garnered its share of reaction on Twitter. The MMQB's Albert Breer: "The XFL nicknames are great. Even better? The explanations." The Athletic's Chris Vannini: "'Rippling with heat.' 'Enter their den and be dominated.' 'This is your darkest fantasy.' The XFL is #SensualFootball." SI's Jimmy Traina: "The XFL is trying to scare the shit out of everyone with their team names." The Ringer's Rodger Sherman: "The XFL's new Seattle team logo is basically just UAB's logo, which in turn is basically just Trogdor." Mashable's Al Perringen: "You could tell me half of those XFL team names were in the Overwatch League and I would believe you."

Most of the takes were lighthearted, but Overwatch League analyst Christopher Mykles claimed the Dallas Renegades "just straight up stole" the name and logo of the Renegades esports team. Mykles: "That was my creative vision. ... In this case it has to deal with active US trademarks in the competitive space. It is also the formatting of the logo and text. This will be a lawsuit, I am pretty sure."

Rams

Casa Mexico Tequila signed a one-year partnership with the Rams giving the company the exclusive marketing rights at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The partnership includes the Casa Mexico Sky Deck, which will sit atop the new Scholarship Tower, offering 360-degree views (Casa Mexico).

Coffee drink brand Forto announced that Shaquille O'Neal will become an investor in the company and the face of the brand (Forto).

Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment has reached a deal for exclusive rights to represent Miami Univ. (Ohio) athletics in negotiating corporate sponsorships and media sales (Miami Univ.).

The sale of USL club Tulsa Roughnecks FC to a local ownership group headed by brothers JW, Kyle and Ryan Craft was "completed July 31." The Double-A Texas League Tulsa Drillers "had been the soccer club's majority owners" (TULSA WORLD, 8/21).

Fox Valley Pro Basketball, the developer of the G League Wisconsin Herd's Menominee Nation Arena, has "voluntarily filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/21).

"As a player who has had to sit across from these owners and push them to realize why these issues are important and why we should use the NFL platform to highlight them, having Jay-Z next to you makes our argument a little but stronger -- gives us a little more leverage to have some backing outside of just players" -- Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins, on Jay-Z's involvement with the NFL (USA TODAY, 8/21).

"No worries, O.J., if you don't like a player, you just cut him” -- Comedy Central’s David Spade, after O.J. Simpson recently tweeted that he was apprehensive about his upcoming NFL fantasy draft (“Lights Out,” Comedy Central, 8/20).

Hate to admit this but I came into Hard Knocks with pretty much zero interest in the Jon Gruden persona anymore. But seeing him needle both of these backup QBs is fully enjoyable for me.

— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) August 21, 2019

This feels obvious, but YES, winning a major should get you into the Tour Championship, even if you miss every other cut all year.

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 21, 2019

Warriors will make their Chase Center debut against the Lakers in TNT, the NBA announced.

— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) August 21, 2019

Apologies to the colleagues I lumped in here who shouldn't be lumped in here. The quarrel is exclusively with one reporter. Poor form from me ...

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 21, 2019

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

Thirty anglers hit the water this morning for the Shotgun Round of the inaugural #REDCREST Presented by @venmo. Check out how launch went this morning: https://t.co/yEI1pBGAaQ

Watch the MLF NOW! live stream: https://t.co/ByTaklhLNL pic.twitter.com/hcgdDje1zy

— Major League Fishing (@MajorLeagueFish) August 21, 2019

GolfTV promotes its new Tiger Woods-focused show, "My Game," which went live on the Discovery platform this week.

Episode 1 of My Game: Tiger Woods is here.💯

Watch it for free and subscribe for the full series: https://t.co/tWo8lG0yYX pic.twitter.com/CoK143CtO8

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 20, 2019

6 -- Number of college basketball conferences in 1919, the year Loyola Chicago chaplain Sister Jean was born on Aug. 21. There are currently 32 college hoops conferences. In the 1918-19 season, 119 schools competed independently, according to info from Sports-Reference.com (THE DAILY).