Fox tonight will broadcast the first World Series Game Seven since '02 at 8:05pm ET. Game Seven is forcing CBS to adjust its primetime programming. CBS is "pulling its original episodes" of "CSI: NY," "Blue Bloods" and "A Gifted Man" and will air a repeat of the "Gifted Man" pilot and encores of "CSI: NY" and "CSI: Miami." NBC is still planning "to move forward with the season premiere episodes" of "Chuck" and "Grimm" (EW.com, 10/28).

Tonight marks the ninth World Series Game Seven in the last 30 years, with the eight previous having "been won by the home team" (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/28). SI.com's Tom Verducci writes, "Something sure sounds wrong with a second-place team that finished six games out of first place getting Game 7 at home. The wild card team can't get home-field advantage in the first two rounds, but somehow it's OK in the most important round of all? Strange" (SI.com, 10/28).

The Big 12 Conference Friday morning officially welcomed West Virginia Univ. as a member school beginning with the ’12-13 season. In a statement announcing the move, the conference said it expects to begin next year with 10 schools. The Univ. of Missouri, rumored to be headed to the SEC, was not on that list (THE DAILY). The Big 12 BOD met Friday morning via conference call and picked WVU over the Univ. of Louisville. WVU informed the Big East “of its intentions Friday morning,” which is “critical in that the school will now owe only a $5 million exit fee and not $10 million” (WVGAZETTE.com, 10/28).

SI’s Stewart Mandel wrote on his Twitter feed, “Geography aside, Big 12 upgraded w/ WVU for Mizzou. Better teams, better fan support. And TV sets don't matter when you have Texas and OU.”

HBO Friday announced that the Sept. 17 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz bout generated 1.25 million PPV buys and grossed $78.44M. The bout was the "second highest grossing non-heavyweight event of all time." Mayweather has been part of "the three highest grossing non-heavyweight events of all time." Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya in '07 generated 2.44 million PPV buys and $136.9M, and the Mayweather-Shane Mosley bout in '10 garnered $78.3M (NEWSDAY.com, 10/28).

The Angels reportedly will officially announce after the conclusion of the World Series that D'Backs Senior VP/Scouting & Player Development Jerry Dipoto has been hired as the team's GM. Dipoto served briefly as the D'Backs interim GM last season. Dipoto, who had been "a leading candidate for the Orioles' GM vacancy," will replace Tony Reagins, who resigned unexpectedly last month. The Angels were expected to "conduct a lengthy interview process, but apparently made a more rapid decision to ensure that they got their man" (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/28).

Golf Channel Saturday for the first time will fully integrate social media into a live broadcast during coverage of the Nationwide Tour Championship in Charleston, S.C. “Social Media Saturday” will have GolfChannel.com writers Rex Hoggard and Randall Mell joining the on-air team’s tournament coverage by contributing live tweets from the golf course. During segments of its telecast, Golf Channel will replace traditional play-by-play commentary from the broadcast team with Twitter feeds over live pictures and sound. Hoggard and Mell will provide play-by-play with their Twitter posts, and also offer their own take on the tournament.

The broadcast will feature segments sporadically alternating between traditional golf coverage with host Jerry Foltz and lead analyst Craig Perks and social media segments with Hoggard and Mell’s Twitter perspective. Additional microphones will be positioned throughout the course to pick up sounds from the players and caddies and paired with on-screen tweets. Fan tweets will not appear on Golf Channel and the net has no formal plans to expand the concept beyond Saturday.

The Kansas-Texas football game on Saturday will "air exclusively on the Longhorn Network," meaning that "most Central Texans won't be able to watch" the game. The network's national reach is "just more than 4 million homes -- mostly Verizon FiOS customers, including some in North Texas." The Longhorn Network has "launched an aggressive media campaign leading up to this weekend's game," urging fans to switch from cable companies, such as Time Warner Cable, that do not have carriage deals with the net (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 10/28).

ESPN Exec VP/Programming Acquisitions & Strategy John Wildhack stopped by the SBD/SBJ studio to talk about the sports network. He touched on the changing media landscape and the ever-escalating costs of acquiring sports programming. Wildhack also talked about why ESPN agreed to spend $2B a year on the NFL and what ESPN will do if the NBA season is lost.

The UFC Friday announced that it has reached a deal with broadcaster Jon Anik, who will serve as a commentator and on-air talent for the MMA promotion. Anik has worked at ESPN for nearly six years. He will handle play-by-play duties for upcoming UFC events to air on FX and Fuel TV (UFC).

NASCAR.com Friday announced the launch of "NASCAR.com Live," a new app available on Google TV. The app is the first racing app for Google TV and features HD video-on-demand clips, driver profiles, standings and schedules for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series (NASCAR/Turner).

Nike on Friday was set to virally debut a new spot centered on its "Basketball Never Stops" campaign that featured Thunder F Kevin Durant. The spot was slated to make its TV debut Sunday during NBC's "SNF" (NEWSOK.com, 10/27).

"I think, for example, it led you into a pathetically petulant and misleading article about John Henry" -- Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino, during an appearance Friday on WEEI's "Dennis & Callahan" show, on a Boston Herald article written last week by co-host Gerry Callahan on Red Sox Owner John Henry's appearance on another radio station to defend the team (BOSTON.com, 10/28).

"You'd think they are more enthusiastic about cricket, but honestly I feel they are as enthusiastic about car racing" – F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Sunday’s Airtel Grand Prix of India (AP, 10/28).

The Newark Star-Ledger’s Brendan Prunty: “Marinatto also says that Big East will complete its own realignment plan in coming weeks. Didn't we hear that a month ago?”

The N.Y. Times’ Judy Battista: “Former NFL Commish Paul Tagliabue and wife Chan have donated $5 million to Georgetown, more than half to go to student scholarships.”

The Globe & Mail’s David Shoalts: “Was just informed Leafs TV shows every practice live. If you watch, you are in need of serious counselling.”

Heat F Chris Bosh: "This is the best baseball game I've ever seen."

N.Y. Times' Harvey Araton: "Nice to see NBA stars watching baseball but let's face it, they are bored s--tless."

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

Boston Herald's Ian Rapoport posts this image of Patriots coach Bill Belichick donning an MLB Cardinals jersey today in honor of his close friend, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

FRIDAY

The CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers will host their final regular season game ever at Canad Inns Stadium at 7:00pm CT against the Toronto Argonauts. The stadium, which was built in '53, has hosted three Grey Cup games and the '67 and '99 Pan Am Games.

SATURDAY

The Univ. of Kentucky will wear black uniforms for Saturday's football game against Mississippi State.

The Lightning will host a Tampa Bay Fights Cancer Night for the team's game against the Jets.

SUNDAY

Andrea Kremer will be making her first appearance as a special correspondent on NFL Nework's "NFL GameDay Morning" pregame show at 9:00am ET.

CBS' "60 Minutes" will profile Giants LB Mark Herzlich, who beat a deadly form of cancer while at Boston College, at 7:00pm ET.

Topps previews is its Series 1 set, which will return in '12 and features several special cards, including some made out of gold.

66 – Percentage of African-Americans in DC who have a favorable view of the Redskins, according to a Washington Post poll. By contrast, only 47% of white fans said they have a favorable view of the franchise (WASHINGTON POST, 10/26).