A source said that Phil Jackson has reached an "agreement in principle to oversee the Knicks basketball operations and 'president' will be in his title." Contract details could be finalized "by week's end before Jackson officially returns to the organization that drafted him" (N.Y. POST, 3/12). Knicks Owner James Dolan reportedly has "solicited the help" of Basketball HOFer Bill Bradley to "serve as an intermediary in the club's negotiations" with Jackson. The two sides have had "preliminary discussions about Jackson possibly owning a minority stake in the team" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/12).

The inaugural American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament begins today at FedExForum in Memphis, and AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said organizers "expect some pretty good crowds." Aresco: "We've had good advance ticket sales. There were still tickets left in the upper seating areas." He said of the venue: "We wanted to have a really good scene in the first year of our tournament, our inaugural year. And we thought the attendance there would be better than any place we could possibly put it with the possible exception of Hartford and that is a real basketball hotbed" (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 3/12).

Tickets to the Big East men's basketball tournament, which starts today at MSG, "were made available to the public for the first time since 2003." Commissioner Val Ackerman said that this was a "result of six fewer teams participating than in some recent seasons." But "sales have been sluggish." The average price for a ticket to the championship game on the resale market was down 18%  from last year, according to TiqIQ VP/Data & Communications Chris Matcovich (N.Y. TIMES, 3/12).

Also today, the A-10 men's tournament begins at Barclays Center. The arena and the conference are working with the organization Most Valuable Kids to "reallocate unused tickets to underprivileged children" (N.Y. POST, 3/12). The ACC hosts its FanFest today through Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum Pavilion, coinciding with its men's tournament (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/12).

Competitor Group Inc. has named David Abeles as its new CEO, ending a three-month search to fill the position. Abeles previously served as TaylorMade-adidas Golf Exec VP & GM. He replaces former CEO Scott Dickey, who left the company in December. CGI also has hired a new CMO, Keith Kendrick, and a CFO, Barrett Garrison, to round out the company’s executive roster. Abeles said he hopes to grow participation and national sponsorship at Rock 'n' Roll running events. He also hopes to grow the Rock 'n' Roll 10K race in Brooklyn into a half or full marathon.

NHL GMs will meet again today in Boca Raton after they agreed yesterday to "formally recommend three minor changes" to the league's Competition Committee "for consideration at its next meeting" in June. The GMs "couldn’t reach agreement on changing the length or general format of regular-season overtime – or on expanding the use of video replay." They will recommend "that the hash marks on the faceoff circle be separated by two more feet." They are expected to "endorse the idea of teams switching ends for overtime." Also under consideration is a "proposal to clean the ice before overtime" (L.A. TIMES, 3/12).

The Palm Beach County (Fla.) Commission yesterday "gave its endorsement to trying to craft a deal" with the Astros and Nationals that "could include building" a $100M Spring Training facility for both teams. The county already has a publicly financed Spring Training ballpark, Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, that houses the Marlins and Cardinals. Supporters of a new venue "contend that landing more teams would help insure that spring training continues in Southeast Florida." Early plans call for the teams to pay 5-10% of construction costs (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 3/12).

The PGA of America BOD today announced the creation of a PGA Task Force to grow the game through non-traditional means. PGA of America President Ted Bishop said, “There is nothing that I have been part of to-date that is more important and has greater opportunity.” Below is a list of Task Force members (PGA of America).

The Red Sox plan to start selling Fenway Franks hot dogs "outside the ballpark, at a Lansdowne Street concession stand." Boston’s Zoning Board of Appeals yesterday "gave unanimous approval for the stand, which will also serve other food and nonalcoholic beverages." The opening date and hours of operation "have not been set," but the team plans "to have it up and running this season." The stand "will be contained within the ballpark structure" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/12).

USA Today Sports Images and MLS today are launching mls.fanphotos.com, an official online photo product store for fans. The site is a partnership between USA Today Sports Images and MLS with Brand Affinity Technologies, which has operated similar online photo stores with the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB. Brand Affinity has the rights to create products in eleven categories, including reprints, greeting cards, mugs and other photo-enhanced items.

The CFL Ottawa RedBlacks have signed a contract with Richmond to "hold a preseason training session" next month at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center. The expansion team brokered the deal through SMG (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 3/12).

The D-Backs-Dodgers season-opening series in Australia “will not use the new expanded instant replay system” (MLB.com, 3/11).

Tackle box manufacturer Plano Synergy has agreed to become a supporting sponsor of '14 Bassmaster events (B.A.S.S.).

A sellout crowd of 10,525 last night attended the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal pitting Liga MX club Toluca FC against the MLS Earthquake at Buck Shaw Stadium (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/12).

A “standing room-only” crowd of 3,953 attended last night’s Florida State-Central Florida baseball game, “the biggest crowd ever to watch a baseball game at UCF.” Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston pitched the final inning and two-thirds for FSU to pick up the save (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/12).

“Clearly, the NBA sucks right now. The NBA is the worst it’s ever been. I feel bad for the fans because they are not getting a quality product” – TNT’s Charles Barkley, who feels players spending at least two years in college before entering the draft would improve the league's on-court product (SI.com, 3/11).

“If Aereo should work, if they should win, which we don’t think will happen, we can go OTT with CBS” – CBS President & CEO Les Moonves, threatening to move the net off the airwaves and onto the Internet if Aereo’s TV streaming service prevails before the Supreme Court (BOSTON HERALD, 3/12).

“It becomes very difficult when there is a travel involve and you are going city to city and playing back-to-back games” – NHLPA Special Assistant to the Exec Dir Mathieu Schneider, on players being opposed to a proposal to extend overtimes to cut down on the number of games decided by a shootout (CP, 3/11).

“We’ve got faith in the Buffalo airport that they’ll stay open at least for a little while, or don’t cancel flights the whole day” – Bills GM Doug Whaley, on a snowstorm forecast for today possibly altering the team’s plans for hosting free agents (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 3/12).

Last night's 1:00am ET editions of ESPN's "SportsCenter" and FS1's "Fox Sports Live" led with the Dolphins trading T Jonathan Martin to the 49ers, followed by other NFL free agency news. Despite the NFL being in the offseason, the league's power is once again on display, leading both broadcasts despite college basketball conference tournaments heating up and the NBA stretch run in full force. Both broadcasts followed their NFL coverage with several NBA highlights.

ESPN's Keith Olbermann called out his "world's worst" persons in sports: Brewers RF Ryan Braun for stating that people should move on from his PED scandal and "it's everyone else's fault." Also drawing Olbermann's ire were Minnesota State Rep. and "registered moron" Pat Garofalo for his tweet about NBA teams folding resulting in an "increase in streetcrime," and Knicks Owner James Dolan for making sure Knicks season-ticket holders "can avoid seeing any of the complaining rabble," i.e. the fans planning a protest of the team next week.

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel: “How hot is Wichita State? Big Ten Network is rebroadcasting the Shockers 2013 Elite Eight victory over Ohio State. Kind of strange.”

Broncos VP/PR Jim Saccomano: “Broncos jumped into free agency aggressively. Never a surprise when John Elway is leading a drive!#fb”

Sporting News’ Troy Machir: “Some people enjoy NYC during the fall or around xmas. But if I could spend one week in NYC, it'd be Tournament Week. Every. Single. Time.”

Blog VCURamNation’s official feed: “And another shout out to @RIRInsider President, Dennis Bickmeier for his donation to send VCU students to Brooklyn. … Much respect to @HermieSadler and @Elliott_Sadler for donating $500 to help send VCU fans to Brooklyn.”

NFLer Brandon Spikes: “It’s been real, it’s been fun. But it hasn’t been real fun lol. Thank u to the cities of New England & @Patriots for an amazing run. #PoWwW”

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

The ARCA Racing Series this afternoon will launch its newly redesigned website at ARCAracing.com.

Baseball HOFer Cal Ripken Jr. will throw out the first pitch and sign copies of his new book, "Squeeze Play," at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla.

The Univ. of Maryland Senate Exec Committe will hear a bill proposal allowing the sale of alcohol at athletic events.

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Novel Titles.”

“The title of this 1951 novel comes from the hero’s fantasy of rescuing children falling from a cliff.”

U.S. slopestyle skier Devin Logan appeared on TBS' "The Pete Holmes Show" last night wearing her Silver Medal from the Sochi Games. Host Pete Holmes said, "Have you considered melting the medal down in fear of werewolves?" Logan replied, "No, but I think this would be a great weapon though. Feel how heavy this is." Holmes held the medal and said, "That's heavier than I'd like." Holmes talked about Logan's previous appearance on the show before the Olympics where she and Holmes practiced her tricks on a trampoline: "I was like a funny guy and came in and loosened you up on the tramp, we tramped it up. How much of that do you think helped you win a Silver Medal? This would be a good time to let America know." Logan said, "America, I would not be here with the Silver Medal if it wasn't for this man" ("The Pete Holmes Show," TBS, 3/11).

NBC's “The Tonight Show” last night aired a video clip of a father going after a baseball during a Marlins Spring Training game and allowing his young son to roll down a hill in a toy wagon and almost run into the outfield fence. NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “It wasn’t even a home run. What are you going to tell your kid? ‘Hey son, the reason you're in a cast is dad really wanted that ground rule double ball, and it was a Spring Training game. It didn't even count for anything. Now come on over here, the cast will be off by the end of next summer’” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 3/11).

Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Thoughts I’ve Had 4,000 Times.” CBS’ David Letterman said, “Tonight is our 4,000th show here on CBS. … We’ve polled the staff and … they’ve had recurring thoughts over the run of the show." The list was presented by 10 longtime “Late Show” staffers (“Late Show,” CBS, 3/11).

10) “Another Top Ten List? Really?”
9) “Maybe today I’ll get to meet Dave.”
8) “He’s coming – hide.”
7) “Any openings at ‘Wheel of Fortune?’”
6) “What is Dave sobbing about now?”
5) “Someday I’ll be holding cue cards in front of the camera.”
4) “What is this headset for?”
3) “That balcony ain’t gonna hold up much longer.”
2) “Stop fussing with your tie, jackass.”
1) “I should have never left Canada.”

“What is 'The Catcher in the Rye?'”