MIAMI (Reuters) – The NFL has signed a four-year agreement with Verizon Wireless to show live games and highlights on mobile phones in a deal U.S. media reported was worth $720 million.

“We are looking forward to working with Verizon Wireless to deliver our fans the most extensive experience on mobile phones,” said NFL senior vice president of media strategy Brian Rolapp in a statement.

“Our fans have an insatiable appetite for football and we will be able to keep them connected wherever they are on game day but also throughout the year.”

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sunday’s Super Bowl TV audience set a viewing record for the annual National Football League Championship and eclipsed the 1983 benchmark set by the comedy “M*A*S*H” to become the most watched U.S. telecast, according to early ratings data on Monday.

A record 106.5 million American TV viewers watched the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in Sunday’s game, broadcast on CBS, Nielsen media and CBS said.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) – CBS Corp has sold all the advertising spots for the television broadcast of the National Football League’s Super Bowl championship game this coming Sunday, the television network said on Monday.

CBS has come under fire in recent weeks from various groups for allowing a conservative Christian group to air an anti-abortion ad, and for barring a commercial from a dating site for gay men as inappropriate for prime time.

In early December, CBS had sold about 90 percent of the available commercial time for the Super Bowl, with prices for a 30-second spot running close to $3 million. The game typically includes 50 to 60 spots.

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Miami Gardens (PRNewswire) – The Miami Dolphins and the U.S. division of Sun Life Financial Inc. announced today a new multi-dimensional partnership that will result in the team playing in what is now called the ” Sun Life Stadium.” In addition to acquiring naming and sponsorship rights, which will be in effect for this year’s Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, Sun Life Financial, a leading international financial services organization, will make Miami and South Florida a major part of a multi-city philanthropic endeavor through an annual partnership with the Miami Dolphins Foundation.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether a lawsuit against the National Football League under federal antitrust law should go forward in a dispute over an exclusive licensing deal for sports merchandise.

In a closely watched case, the high court during the arguments seemed unlikely to issue a broad ruling sought by the NFL giving it immunity from such lawsuits and protecting professional sports leagues from antitrust scrutiny.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky.(Business Wire) -On Super Bowl Sunday, Americans will eat more than 30 million slices of pizza, roughly 350 slices per second. But only one restaurant will be the Official Pizza Sponsor of the National Football League and Super Bowl XLIV: Papa John’s. Papa John’s, the recognized quality leader and world’s third-largest pizza chain with more than 3,400 restaurants in 30 countries, announced today a first-time sponsorship to be the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL and Super Bowl XLIV. Papa John’s will activate its sponsorship in several ways, including using the official status to celebrate January as “National Football Month,” the time of year when football games matter most – all leading up to The Big Game on Sunday, February 7. Read the full story

NEW YORK (Reuters) – CBS has sold about 90 percent of the available commercial time for the upcoming Super Bowl, with prices for a 30-second spot running close to $3 million, CBS Corp Chief Executive Les Moonves said on Tuesday.

Moonves said that Budweiser and Bud Light, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, are top advertisers again this year, but that “a couple of new guys” are considering buying spots for CBS’s broadcast of the championship football game.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday Michael Vick can keep $16.2 million in bonuses that his former team, the Atlanta Falcons, sought to recover when he was imprisoned on a dog fighting conviction.

Vick, now a seldom-used backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to bankrolling a dog fighting ring and spent 18 months in jail.

Until Vick’s reinstatement earlier this season, the National Football League suspended him indefinitely without pay and initiated a grievance procedure allowing the Falcons to recover some of the bonus money he was paid.

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MARINA, Calif. – (BUSINESS WIRE)–China Youth Media, Inc., a China focused youth marketing and media company, announced today that it is streaming the National Football League (NFL) through its rights agreement with Xinhua Sports and Entertainment. The NFL is streamed live on China Youth Media’s Koobee.com, a dedicated Intranet Television Network and media portal targeted to China’s 30 million plus college students.

Koobee began its live NFL broadcast with the kick-off of the regular season and will extend its coverage to the Super Bowl playoffs in February 2010. The NFL is the most lucrative sports league in the world, generating an estimated $8 billion a year in revenue, and continues to expand its reach around the globe. Recent NFL promotional initiatives in China, the largest sports market in the world, have aggressively targeted teenagers and young adults in large urban areas totaling almost 100 million people.

“Koobee is attracting more and more international premium content as our audience continues to grow, and we are very pleased to deliver the NFL to this key segment in the world’s largest youth market,” commented Jay Rifkin, China Youth Media’s CEO. “Major global brands like the NFL realize the value of exceptional content delivered to a targeted, highly sought after audience on the Internet in China. This powerful combination should allow us to garner premium advertising rates.”

NEW YORK 6 (Reuters) – Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre’s match-up on Monday against his former team the Green Bay Packers was the most watched sports event ever on cable television in the United States, network ESPN said.

Favre’s first game against the team he anchored for 16 years ended in a 30-23 win for the Vikings and was watched in 15,136,000 homes with an estimated 21,839,000 viewers, the network said in a statement.

The game, in which Favre became the only quarterback to defeat all 32 NFL teams, beat the previous cable viewership record, ESPN’s Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast of Sept. 15, 2008 which was watched in 12,953,000 homes.

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