Reports surfaced late yesterday that former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was the winner of a frantic bidding war for the Clippers. The LA Times reports that Ballmer made an offer of $2 billion, which would mark an all-time record price tag for an NBA team. Balmer was reportedly chosen over competitors "that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers." The potential sale comes five days before an NBA hearing to the Sterlings from ownership.

FOX Sports laid out its plans for the 2014 college football season, with more than 100 games on deck across its family of networks. Conferences in the spotlight will include Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA games as well as the Pac-12 and Big Ten conference championships. The action begins on Thursday, Aug. 28 with Rutgers/Washington State at 10p on FS1, followed the next day by Colorado State/Colorado at 9p. Saturday, Aug. 20 will be anchored by Fresno State/USC at 7:30p on FOX, while FS1 kicks off at noon with North Dakota State/Iowa State.  Week one wraps up on Aug. 31 with SMU/Baylor at 7:30p on FS1.

NBC Sports reports that Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals was up 79% over the last time a Game 5 ran on cable in 2012. The matchup averaged 2.175 million viewers to score as the most-watched Western Conference Final game on cable in five years. On the local front, Chicago drew its second-best WCF rating ever on NBCSN with a 16.3 rating, while Los Angeles delivered a 3.0 rating for the game. The game also drew NHL streaming records for NBC Sports Live Extra, including 95,000 uniques and 5.49 million minutes.

Overall, NBCSN saw May deliver the network’s best-ever monthly primetime performance. Flush with the second and third rounds of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the conclusion to the Premier League season, NBCSN averaged 1.1 million primetime viewers in May (April 28-May 25) and marked the first time nightly viewership averaged seven figures, according to live plus same day data released by The Nielsen Company. NBCSN averaged 266,000 Total Day viewers, marking the top Total Day non-Olympic month in the network’s history and up 34% over May 2013.

Around the dial, Game Five of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN rated as third-best of all time in the category on ESPN, scoring a 5.7 overnight rating, according to Nielsen. On the local front, the game drew a 25.2 rating in Miami, making it the highest rated NBA postseason game on ESPN ever in the market. In Indianapolis, the game notched a 16.5.

ESPN will give a whole new perspective on Sunday Night Baseball this weekend for the Pirates/Dodgers contest on June 1 at 8p. Baseball Tonight will "take over" the broadcast and will see Karl Ravech and Barry Larkin on site for Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown from just outside of Dodger Stadium. After the show, Ravech and Larkin will head to the Sunday Night Baseball booth inside the stadium where they will lead a team of seven Baseball Tonight commentators who will call the action from various locations throughout Dodger Stadium, with Buster Olney in the press box, Eric Wedge behind home plate, Mark Mulder in the Pirates dugout, Aaron Boone in the Dodgers’ dugout and Doug Glanville giving his POV from the right field pavilion.

KPMG, the PGA of America, and the LPGA announced the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as well as the launch of a multi-faceted program focused on the development, advancement, and empowerment of women on and off the golf course. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be carried on NBC and Golf Channel as a "world-class, annual major golf championship with a women’s leadership summit and an ongoing community initiative to inspire and develop new generations of female leaders." Year one will see the Championship held June 8-14, 2015 at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, with a purse among the highest in women’s golf at $3.5 million.

NBCSN program Pro Football Talk is launching a series dubbed Prime Numbers, designed to "determine and celebrate the most influential players in the history of the NFL to wear each jersey number (1-99)." Multiple NBC Sports Group platforms, including NBCSN, ProFootballTalk.com, NBC Sports Regional Networks, and NBC Sports’ social media assets, will participate in the series. Coverage begins June 2 at 5:30p.

Pac-12 Networks released its early schedule for the 2014 college football season, with 13 live football games locked in for the first three weeks of the season. The telecast slate also offers fans home openers for nine schools: Utah, Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon State, Oregon, Washington, California, UCLA and Washington State. The action starts with a doubleheader on Thursday, August 28 featuring Idaho State at 4:30p PT, followed by Weber State/Arizona State at 7:30p. Saturday, September 6 will see four contests, beginning with new head coach Chris Petersen and the Washington Huskies making their network debut versus Eastern Washington at noon.

Longhorn Network is set to air the first game of the Longhorn football season when the ‘Horns meet the North Texas Eagles on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 8p. In addition, the fall season of Texas GameDay, LHN’s live pregame show airing two hours prior to kick, will debut August 30.

Speaking of Texas, the Heart of Dallas Bowl is shifting out of its New Year’s Day spot to Friday, Dec. 26, according to multiple local reports. Kickoff is scheduled for noon at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park with the game running on ESPN for the first time.

HRTV is dedicating next week to California Chrome’s quest to become racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 36 years. Programming begins Monday with HRTV Presents: California Chrome at 6:30p recapping the horse’s career. Wednesday, June 4 at 11a will see coverage of the post-position draw as Richard Migliore, Jeff Siegel, Christina Blacker and Caton Bredar are on-site for daily coverage leading into the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7.
 
NESN confirmed Jenny Dell’s departure from the channel, after she was removed from her duties covering the Red Sox in January due to her relationship with third baseman Will Middlebrooks. "NESN and Jenny Dell have mutually agreed that this is the right time for her explore other opportunities full time," the network said in a statement. "Today is her last day at the network. A search is underway for her replacement on ‘NESN Sports Today.’"

Yesterday’s edition should have read that FOX Deportes’ coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final ranked as the third most-watched match in network history.

The ACC has been rebranded, showcasing a new logo on Thursday morning. "The ACC is well-positioned for many future successes and we are pleased with our new branding that reflects our limitless potential," conference commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. "The new, contemporary look modernizes and energizes the ACC mark, and, at the same time, still reflects the league’s history and rich tradition."

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: How far is the free throw line from the backboard in the NBA? Answer: 15 feet. Kudos: Aymon DeMauro-Discovery Communications/NY; Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Lewis Blaustein-Lewis Brand Solutions/NY; Andrew Feingold-Nielsen Sports/NY; Douglas P. Jacobs-A&E Television Networks/NY; G. David Brown-FOX Sports/Charlotte; Joe Guarnieri-ESPN/Bristol; Alex. Beach-Scripps Networks Interactive/Knoxville; Jack Valente-InStadium/Detroit; Will Allmendinger-Zoom Media/Chicago; Larry Hutchings/Pacific Palisades; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles local/LA; Alan Perris/Beverly Hills; Paul Gygli-NBCUniversal Television Distribution/Universal City.

Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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