ESPN's Pat McAfee announced he will return to "College GameDay" this fall. In a video posted on X, McAfee said, "Every time I thought about it, I thought, I get the opportunity to do this. I need to do this." McAfee first indicated last October that "he might leave 'GameDay' following the 2023 season," but said later in year that "he would return to the program but entered the summer without a deal." He joins the returning cast of Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso as well as newly-added former Alabama coach Nick Saban (THE ATHLETIC, 7/24)

RELATED: More details on 'College GameDay' heading in Ireland 

The Univ. of Tennessee has issued a notice of intent to award the Neyland Entertainment District project to the 865 Neyland Project team, which consists of Dixon Greenwood, Jake Miller, Taylor Gray, the Hartland Hotel Group, and Johnson Architecture. The renderings released Wednesday highlight the project team’s current conceptual design, but Tennessee State Building Commission approval is required for the project to proceed further. Once that approval is obtained, specific designs and construction schedules will be created. 

The development is envisioned to better tie together Neyland Stadium and Food City Center, the university’s basketball arena just to the south. The Neyland development will be anchored by a condotel, featuring 240 rooms and 60 luxury condos, adjacent to Neyland Stadium’s south end. Hartland Hotel Group is handling this portion of the project, which will include a rooftop restaurant and bar, pool and terrace, conference center, lounges, fitness center, and hotel spa. Hartland developed the Hotel Figueroa, which sits across the street LA Live in Los Angeles. 

The nearby existing G10 parking structure will be replaced with a new structure that will include additional parking — not impacting student parking spaces — and be topped with a nearly 175,000-square-foot entertainment district managed by St. Louis-based Brick + Bev, for whom Greenwood (a realtor and broker) is a strategic advisor. Renderings show pedestrian bridges above Neyland Drive connecting the Tennessee Riverfront and the entertainment district. A plaza will be created between the entertainment district and the stadium.

The RFP was first issued last December, and the university had been considering the bid responses since March. The development project is proceeding on a separate but somewhat parallel path to the $337M renovation of Neyland Stadium, which has updated the stadium’s back-of-house capabilities, like WiFi, for example, and incorporated new premium seating options and a party deck on one end of the upper bowl. 

MLB Network beginning today will offer its network directly to consumers in the U.S. The network is available for purchase as a standalone offering for $5.99/per month. There also is a combined “MLB Network + At Bat” option for $6.99/per month. This product offers all of MLB Network’s 24/7 content, plus every feature of the MLB At Bat subscription, including live game audio for all 30 MLB teams, live MiLB games and access to MLB Big Inning. Current and future paid subscribers of MLB.TV’s all teams package and single team package in the U.S. can stream MLB Network for the remainder of the 2024 season. Fans who receive MLB Network from a participating pay TV partner can watch via an authenticated stream (MLB).

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken denied Houston Christian Univ.’s "motion to intervene in the House v. NCAA case and associated proposed settlement." Houston Christian’s June 20 motion to intervene in the case was the "first formal objection to the settlement," whose broad terms plaintiffs and named defendants agreed on May 23. In her denial of the FCS school's motion, Wilken wrote that HCU’s arguments in support of its motion for intervention are “essentially objections to the settlement agreement, which are premature because the settlement agreement has not yet been filed." Wilken’s ruling comes as House plaintiffs and named defendants -- the NCAA and power conferences -- are "seeking the judge’s certification in the coming months on the historic settlement that will unveil a new financial model" for college athletics. The long-form House settlement agreement is expected to be submitted to Wilken in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday (ON3, 7/24).

The Oilers hired Stan Bowman as the team's GM and VP/Hockey Operations just over three weeks after the NHL lifted its ban on the former Blackhawks GM. Bowman was banned -- along with longtime coach Joel Quenneville and Blackhawks exec Brad Aldridge -- for more than two years in the fallout of the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal. He had been Blackhawks GM from 2009-21, during which time the team won three Stanley Cups and a Presidents' Trophy. Bowman had spent the entirety of his 20-year front-office career in Chicago (CP, 7/24).

Greek basketball club Panathinaikos BC AKTOR is permanently installing ASB GlassFloor’s LumiFlex LED court at its OAKA Arena in Athens. The project, for which financial terms were not disclosed, will be completed by the start of the 2024-25 EuroLeague season in October and is being funded by Globalsat Group, a Greek tech appliances/solutions provider and Panathinaikos sponsor.

While ASB’s LED playing surface has been used for several one-off events, Panathinaikos will become the first team to regularly host games using it. The court, which can display HD 4K video, was approved by FIBA for use in national team and club competitions in 2022. Since then, it made its competition debut for the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup last July; has been used by FC Bayern Basketball and the Serbian Basketball Champions League; and provided a dynamic canvas for NBA All-Star weekend exhibitions (celebrity game, All-Star Saturday events) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

ESPN Milwaukee will remain the official radio home of Marquette basketball through the 2027-28 season. The station will provide live play-by-play broadcasts of all Marquette men’s basketball games, along with pre-game and post-game analysis (Good Karma Brands).

The International Rugby League announced that Australia will host the "rearranged" men's, women's and wheelchair Rugby League World Cup in October and November of 2026. France was originally due to host the tournament in 2025, but withdrew last year "after failing to get guaranteed backing from national and local government" (BBC, 7/25).

Guardian caps now have skull caps to go over the top of them, and make them look more like game helmets. Which may be part of the planning for them to actually become game helmets. pic.twitter.com/gyaovvfi9V

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) July 24, 2024

Utah, This is the place…

Happy Pioneer Day! pic.twitter.com/1xJLPPF6kG

— Daniel McCay (@danmccay) July 24, 2024

It's in the details ✨

A closer look at this year's uniforms for the Shamrock Series presented by @MyCreditUnion1 #GoIrish | @NDFootball pic.twitter.com/5UCepLR7IS

— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) July 24, 2024

July 29-Aug. 3, ESPN will exclusively reveal #Madden25 player ratings on @GetUpESPN, @FirstTake, @SportsCenter & NFL Live

🏈 1-hr special | Aug. 3 | 3p ET | ESPN
🎙️ @FieldYates, @minakimes, @LRiddickESPN & @danorlovsky7

Details: https://t.co/xW3omPL5Gi | @EAMaddenNFL pic.twitter.com/XA9KyDxJnV

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) July 24, 2024

Forever part of Buzz City. 💜 pic.twitter.com/lYpzjfZTTr

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) July 24, 2024

GQ Sports featured Pacers G Tyrese Haliburton on its "10 Things I Can't Live Without" series.

7 -- Number of national soccer federations ordered by UEFA today to pay pay fines totaling $250,000 for "racist and discriminatory abuse by fans at European Championship games." The federations include those of Croatia, Albania, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary and Austria (AP, 7/24).