Football

• The NFL announced the cancellation of this season’s Pro Bowl to allow the league to focus on completing the regular season and playoffs amid the coronavirus pandemic. This season will be the first since 1949 that will not feature some type of all-star competition, and Las Vegas, which had been scheduled to host the game, will instead host the Pro Bowl following the 2021 season.

• New Orleans Saints team officials met with administrators at Louisiana State University about playing upcoming games at Tiger Stadium, the school’s on-campus football stadium in Baton Rouge, La., with roughly 21,000 fans in attendance. The Saints have been seeking permission since Oct. 2 to host a 25 percent capacity crowd at their usual home, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) has not granted an exception to the city’s coronavirus restrictions, citing public health concerns and the need for additional funding from the state government.

• The Tennessee Titans won a rare Tuesday night game against the Buffalo Bills after it was postponed amid the team’s widespread coronavirus outbreak. The Indianapolis Colts dodged a COVID-19 scare after four individuals in the organization who initially tested positive were found to be negative upon being retested. The team kicked off today against the Cincinnati Bengals as scheduled.

• The Atlanta Falcons fired general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn after the team fell to 0-5 via a 23-16 loss at home against the Carolina Panthers, and Rich McKay, the team’s president and chief executive, assumed interim control of the organization and will assist owner Arthur Blank in the search to fill both positions. Dimitroff had been with the Falcons since 2008, overseeing six playoff appearances and an NFC Championship in 2016, while Quinn had been with the team since 2015.

• The NFL Players Association sent a note to its membership discouraging player endorsements of “cannabinoid products,” an edict that a source said came in response to inquiries from agents and marketing representatives about Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield’s signing on as an endorser for CBD brand Beam. The union’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL prohibits players from endorsing or appearing in ads “for alcoholic beverages, tobacco, or cannabinoid products,” but a source said the league didn’t raise the issue with the union in the wake of Mayfield’s endorsement deal, and it remains unclear what sort of punishment, if any, a player would face for endorsing a CBD product.

College sports

• University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban and athletic director Greg Byrne both tested positive for COVID-19 just days before yesterday’s game against the University of Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The news of Saban’s positive test, college football’s highest-profile individual coronavirus case so far this season, emerged hours after University of Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin said members of his team tested positive days after playing against Alabama.

• The NCAA Division I Council introduced legislation governing the compensation of athletes for use of their name, image and likeness. Formal approval won’t come until January, and Congress is considering federal legislation that could supersede the NCAA’s rules. Under the new regulations, athletes would be allowed to promote private lessons and business activities, profit from endorsing products, be compensated for autograph sessions and solicit funds through crowdfunding, but using school marks or even referring to the specific school they attend would not be allowed, and schools would have the right to prohibit athletes’ involvement in activities that conflict with existing commercial agreements or other institutional “values.”

Media

• Amazon.com Inc. reached a deal with the NFL to stream one of the league’s two new wild-card playoff games this postseason, according to people familiar with the matter, a game it will reportedly share with ViacomCBS Inc., which plans to air the game on both the flagship CBS broadcast network and children’s cable channel Nickelodeon, as well as via its streaming platform, CBS All Access. The pact, under which Amazon is said to be paying a significantly higher per-game rate than the minimum $6.8 million it shells out for each of its 11 “Thursday Night Football” games, comes amid anticipation that the e-commerce giant could negotiate to stream games on Sunday afternoons as part of the league’s next round of media rights deals.

• Depending on when the NHL and NBA schedule their next seasons, there will almost certainly be more overlap than usual with the MLB season. For many RSNs, this would mean juggling telecasts for the three sports — plus the local MLS and WNBA clubs, in some cases — for several months, as opposed to a few weeks in a normal year.

Finance

• Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is in talks about taking Fenway Sports Group LLC public via an $8 billion merger with RedBall Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company launched by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Oakland Athletics executive Billy Beane, according to people familiar with the matter. RedBall, which raised $575 million in August, plans to raise an additional $1 billion to purchase a minority interest in FSG, which also owns English Premier League club Liverpool, that would value the company at $8 billion including debt.

• If the deal between Fenway Sports Group and ReBall Acquisition Corp. goes through, Beane will step aside from working in a baseball front office, according to people familiar with the matter. Rather than taking a role with the Red Sox, Beane would reportedly turn his attention to other sports business ventures, particularly European soccer, for FSG, which also owns English Premier League club Liverpool.

Soccer

• Flávio Augusto da Silva, owner of Orlando City Soccer Club, is nearing a sale of the MLS club to an unknown buyer believed to be based in North America, according to sources. Da Silva in 2018 sold an 8.63 percent stake in Orlando Soccer Holdings — which in addition to Orlando City includes the Orlando Pride of the NWSL, Orlando City B of USL League One and Exploria Stadium — in a deal that valued the entire portfolio at $490.5 million, but it is unclear whether a potential sale would include the other OSH assets.

• MLS deferred three Colorado Rapids games on top of the four postponements the club had already sustained amid a COVID-19 outbreak that affected five players and 13 staff members. Mark Abbott, the league’s deputy commissioner and president, said MLS is not considering establishing a bubble for the upcoming MLS Cup playoffs.

Basketball

• The Houston Rockets announced Daryl Morey will step down as general manager on Nov. 1 following 13 seasons running the organization’s basketball operations, with long-time executive Rafael Stone set to replace him. Sources said that Morey, whose October 2019 tweet in support of Hong Kong prompted the Chinese government to suspend its business relationship with the NBA, isn’t ruling out a return to the league with another club, but he has become increasingly interested in exploring other professional opportunities and cited personal reasons for his departure.

• Amid negotiations about what the next NBA season will look like, the league and its players’ union have discussed not holding a 2020-21 G League season and instead expanding NBA rosters, according to industry sources who said scrapping the G League season was one of several scenarios being considered. Other possibilities for the G League, which saw its 2019-20 season cut short due to the pandemic, reportedly include having a handful of weeklong showcases in a bubble setting to keep young players active, and sources said any attempt at holding a more traditional G League season would require regionalized scheduling to reduce travel.

General

• Top-ranked golfer Dustin Johnson and Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo both announced positive tests for COVID-19. Johnson withdrew from the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, while Ronaldo missed his national team’s UEFA Nations League game against Sweden and is doubtful for Italian club Juventus’ upcoming UEFA Champions League match against Dynamo Kyiv.

• Tuesday: The 2020 World Series begins at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

• Tuesday: UEFA Champions League Group Stage begins.

• Friday: The Big Ten begins its 2020 football season with the University of Wisconsin hosting the University of Illinois.

• Saturday: Khabib Nurmagomedov versus Justin Gaethje headlines UFC 254 at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

• Oct. 25: The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season concludes with the Firestone Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg.

• Oct. 30: The Dodge NHRA Finals presented by Pennzoil begin in Las Vegas.

• Nov. 7: The Pac-12 begins its 2020 football season with its first 9 a.m. PT game between Arizona State University and the University of Southern California.

• Nov. 8: NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway.

1) NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport suspended for manscaping post
Andrew Marchand, New York Post

2) Billy Beane Set to Leave Baseball Behind in Fenway Sports Deal
Jared Diamond et al., The Wall Street Journal

3) Disney Elevates Streaming Business in Major Reorganization
Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal

4) Steep NBA playoff drop in line with broader trend
Sports Media Watch

5) Hollywood seeks to profit from football’s multibillion transfer market
Financial Times

6) Thursday’s Division Series games drag average viewership below Wild Card round
Joe Lucia, Awful Announcing

7) Amazon Expands NFL Coverage With Playoff Game
Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal

8) Southeastern Conference’s Crises Show How College Football Teeters Day by Day
Alan Blinder, The New York Times

9) Four weeks in, NFL viewership was down 10%, but TV execs still see a powerful performance
John Ourand, Sports Business Journal

10) The Legend of LeBron Keeps Growing
Rob Mahoney, The Ringer