MLB is "seriously weighing a move from five to seven playoff teams in each league" starting in '22. In this concept, the team with the best record in each league "would receive a bye to avoid the wild-card round and go directly to the Division Series." The two other division winners and the wild card with the next best record "would each host all three games in a best-of-three wild-card round," meaning the bottom three wild cards "would have no first-round home games." The division winner with the second-best record in a league "would then get the first pick of its opponent from those lower three wild cards, then the other division winner would pick, leaving the last two wild cards to play each other" (N.Y. POST, 2/11).

The NHL and NHLPA "will meet formally" today and tomorrow in Toronto to discuss a new CBA, their first such meeting since agreeing to not opt out of the current CBA last September. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly believes that last summer’s talks, which "led to both sides’ decisions not to exercise the re-opener clause, have laid the foundation for more positive discourse" (FORBES.com, 2/10). NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr said that he doubted the issue of Olympic participation "would be raised" during the talks this week (AP, 2/11).

The Magic have won approval from the Orlando City Council for the "purchase of a parking lot the team plans to transform into a 'state-of-the-art' training facility." The $5.1M deal "provides the Magic control of a city block to build its facility, which also will have an orthopedic clinic that will be open to the public." Along with the 2.58-acre parking lot, the Magic already "own a neighboring 1.2-acre grassy plot,." Eventually, the Amway Center will be "essentially connected to the training facility by a half-billion-dollar Sports + Entertainment District on Central Boulevard across the street, with commercial space, as well as apartments, hotel rooms and retail units" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/11).

NAPA Auto Parts has signed a multiyear extension with Hendrick Motorsports to continue as anchor sponsor of the No. 9 Chevy driven by Chase Elliott. As part of the extension that will be announced this morning, NAPA will continue to serve as primary sponsor for 26 races annually, now through the '22 NASCAR Cup Series season. Financial terms were not released, but such a commitment typically would run into the low eight figures annually. NAPA has sponsored Elliott since the '14 season.

Bleacher Report today will formally roll out plans for its free fan activation event at NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, marking the third straight year that the Turner Sports brand has created the pop-up venue. A centerpiece for what is being dubbed “B/R CHI 2020” will be a transparent basketball court on the second story of the structure, which will serve as a stage for clinics, games and music acts on Sunday. B/R CMO Ed Romaine told THE DAILY that the company is expecting 2,500-4,000 fans from 12:00-6:00pm CT.

Romaine noted this is the largest footprint yet for the All-Star activation, which will be at Saffron Rails on Goose Island. It also is the largest roster of brands yet for the event, with 13 on board including Mtn Dew, Ruffles, Adidas, State Farm, Tissot, Gatorade, Intel, Remy Martin, Metro PCS, Wilson and Coors. One sponsor that is new to the B/R event is fashion brand Perry Ellis, which has not had a serious foray into sports in around a decade. Perry Ellis VP/Marketing & Communication Vincent Panzanella: “We do a ton of research to make sure we’re on the pulse of what’s happening with ‘our guy.’ Where he works. Where he plays. What we found is that ‘our guy’ loves sports, particularly the NBA.”

More on activation plans in today's issue of SBD.

bleacher report

NBC Olympics has signed mobile video content creator NowThis to help build hype heading into the Tokyo Games this summer. The deal calls on NowThis to create at least 30 episodes featuring Team USA Olympians and hopefuls between March and the start of the Games in July. It is the latest in NBC’s strategy of finding incremental reach for its Olympic broadcasts by contracting with independent media more likely to be seen by younger viewers, following deals with Snap and Twitter.

NBC has the option to run NowThis video packages on its own digital and linear platforms. Each episode will be between 3-5 minutes and live within existing NowThis franchises: "Seen"; "I Have a Question"; "Her Stories" and "Opinions." Like with Twitter and Snap, NowThis will stop running the programming under its own brand once the Games start to maintain a consistent NBC voice, the network said. NowThis will produce similar content for the Tokyo Paralympics, which begin in late August, but in that case will also continue to produce episodes during the Paralympics. In '14, NBCUniversal News became an investor in NowThis.

The PGA Tour has "fired back" at golf instructor Hank Haney and his lawsuit, "filing a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to dismiss Haney's case." Haney is seeking damages "for the harm the PGA Tour caused when it improperly intimidated, enticed and threatened Sirius XMRadio, Inc. to suspend and ultimately terminate Haney’s radio broadcast on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio station." The Tour contends that Haney and his legal team could not demonstrate the Tour "unjustifiably interfered" with Haney's business and/or contractual relationship with Sirius XM. Haney was originally suspended from his show in May for what the PGA Tour and SiriusXM said were insensitive comments about women's golf (GOLFDIGEST.com, 2/10).

Tough Mudder’s bankruptcy trustee is "racing to save the company’s endurance event business with a sale to rival Spartan Race," a deal that the company’s owners "previously balked at closing." Bankruptcy trustee Derek Abbott has filed papers that say the sale to Spartan Race is "market-tested and ready to go despite the refusal of owners William Dean and Guy Livingstone to follow through with it." Abbott is asking a judge to "sign off on a sale of the Tough Mudder assets to its rival, warning that the business, which shut down in December due to lack of cash, could be beyond saving if a deal takes to long" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/11).

CAA World Congress of Sports: March 25-26

Hear from adidas North America President ZION ARMSTRONG; Mavericks CEO CYNTHIA MARSHALL; MLB Commissioner ROB MANFRED; MLS Commissioner DON GARBER; NBC Olympics' MOLLY SOLOMON; and SoFi CEO ANTHONY NOTO, among many others. Network with more than 700 of your peers on the Grand Lawn of the Monarch Beach Resort following Day 1. Be sure to join fellow attendees at the welcome reception on the evening of March 24. To register, go to www.WorldCongressofSports.com.

The XFL Seattle Dragons will have "additional seats" open for purchase in advance of the team's home opener against the Tampa Bay Vipers on Saturday at CenturyLink Field (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/11).

A record crowd of 17,850 fans were in attendance at TD Garden for last night's Beanpot college hockey tournament final between Northeastern and Boston Univ. (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/11).

Following a "wave of criticism and negative reaction from their fans," the CFL Montreal Alouettes have reinstated their cheerleading team for the '20 home schedule (MONTREAL GAZETTE, 2/11).

Greg Norman Company today announced "The Search for Greg Norman's Biggest Fan," and one grand prize winner will receive the opportunity to meet and play golf with Norman. Fans can enter their submissions online at www.shark.com/biggestfan (THE DAILY).

"That's absolutely untrue. Unfortunately, when these things are going on and especially during a process, it's not something we're able to address. But that is not true" -- Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, on reports that the team was considering backing out of the Mookie Betts trade to the Dodgers based on negative fan reaction (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 2/10).

"The league opening their books to us, being as transparent as possible gave us the ability to look at how the league is doing and base our negotiations off what we believe where the league is at right now" -- NYCFC GK Brad Stuver, on the MLSPA being able to reach a new CBA with the league (PROSOCCERUSA.com, 2/10).

"This is a conference decision. I’ve said this before too, we can all jump to conclusions on how this still needs to play out, to see what it’s going to be like over time" -- Univ. of Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self, on the team's upcoming game against West Virginia being available only on the ESPN+/Big 12 Now streaming service (K.C. STAR, 2/11).

The WALL STREET JOURNAL writes under the header, "Hey, Baseball! We Need Answers." The "most comical controversy in sports keeps on rolling," because MLB "can't quite put, well, a lid on it." It "appears the stink of the Astros scammery will consume the start" of this season and "possibly reek for many months more." The "whole thing is a mess," and it is "at least partly self-inflicted, it appears." News of the existence of "Codebreaker" underlines a "major pickle for baseball: a suspicion there's more to this scandal than what's been revealed."

Also:

• Big Ten's Kevin Warren wants "chance to change college athletics" through diversity.
• Jaguars Owner Shad Khan discusses benefits of playing in London.
• DC officials "must press" Redskins Owner Dan Snyder on the football team's name.
• Raptors’ "dynamic new talent seeker" Sarah Chan heads up scouting in Africa.

I think it’s healthy for the game to explore new ways to generate excitement. I also think that anything that makes it easier for owners to serve a substandard product to their fans — and get away with it — is incredibly harmful to the sport.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) February 11, 2020

UA Q4 +4%, below expectations. Revenue took a loss against expectation of gain. Guidance below expectations. North America +2%. May forego opening of 5th avenue store. Stock down -15% premarket

— Matt Powell (@NPDMattPowell) February 11, 2020

Meanwhile, @CallawayGolf announces "record year" in 2019, net sales of $1.7 billion, a 37% increase over 2018. "Projected full year 2020 net sales are estimated to grow approximately 3% - 5% compared to 2019."

— Mike Stachura (@MikeStachura) February 10, 2020

Bettman had all these phony excuses against NHL players going to the Olympics. There was a meeting last week and the IOC addressed all his concerns. Now, Bettman is moving the goalposts and linking the Olympics with concessions from the players in new CBA. #Dishonest #LetThemGo https://t.co/SAG4kYgAI1

— Allan Walsh (@walsha) February 11, 2020

Falcons owner Arthur Blank reads the print version of @sbjsbd every week, cover to cover. Love it. #sportsforum20

— Bill Nielsen (@bill_nielsen) February 10, 2020

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

SBJ Publisher & Exec Editor Abe Madkour is the keynote speaker at the National Sports Forum in Atlanta.

The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade & Consumer Protection will hold a 10:00am ET  hearing on the name, image and likeness issue in college sports.

The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority board will meet to consider spending $2.4M to host the NFL Draft in April.

See more of this week's events.

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Sports Terms.”

“A member of the British Amateur Athletic Club wrote this 1867 set of 12 regulations whose name honors nobleman John Sholto Douglas.”  

Comedy Central's “Lights Out” host David Spade opened the show by saying, “Last night was a big night for showbiz. Everyone's buzzing about it. Let's just get into it. It was the XFL season opener over the weekend. Can you believe it? I’m a diehard Seattle Dragons fan. You know what, they (expletive) doubted us. No one thought we’d be 1-0 right now. Oh, and there were the Oscars” (“Lights Out,” Comedy Central, 2/10).

“What are the Queensbury Rules of Boxing?”