On Friday, the airline announced its first ever sponsorship with a hockey team and arena, becoming the official – and exclusive – airline partner of the Florida Panthers and BankAtlantic Center. Already, JetBlue’s signage is on the awnings over the arena’s doorways and dots the plaza in front of the building.

By January, a signature JetBlue tailfin is to be added to the plaza – the first ever installation for the airline. (See rendering above).

To honor the new multi-year partnership – and the addition of the airline’s 18th destination from Fort Lauderdale (starting Nov. 17 to San Francisco) – the airline is offering 18 percent off on bookings made today for travel Dec. 2-16 made at www.jetblue.com/bac

Officials would not disclose the financial details, but a release about the deal says it will include joint marketing and advertising through 2011. It is expected to include special travel packages for Panthers fans to attend away games and for fans in cities JetBlue serves to visit South Florida and take in a Panthers home game.

Panthers President Michael Yormark announced the partnership Friday on the arena’s front plaza, which will know be known as the JetBlue Tarmac, saying “Today, the BankAtlantic Center gets more leg room. Today the Florida Panthers become true blue.”

Marty St. George, JetBlue senior vice president of marketing and commercial strategy, said the airline considered other sponsor opportunities in South Florida, but chose to partner with Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the Panthers’ parent company and operator of BankAtlantic Center, because of the variety of events the company oversees.

“It’s not just a team,” St. George said. “The building has 200 plus events a year. Over 2 million people have come in every single year to various events. And I think that’s something we saw as a great kicker on top of it, which is not only do we get to work with a dynamic team that I think has got a great future, we also have the opportunity to get our name in front of customers that come here for all the different events … This is a dream opportunity.”

The announcement also included a concert by Cobra Starship, and was attended by JetBlue employees, as well as Panthers coach Pete DeBoer and team limited partners Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel.

Viner and Siegel are expected to buy a portion of majority owner Alan Cohen's stake in the team and be named co-general partners. Cohen will retain a stake in the team, but will no longer make team decisions. Viner and Siegel weren't talking Friday, but the restructured ownership situation is expected to be announced next week.

The Heat stars will appear from 5 to 6 p.m. at the mall, 7303 SW 88th St., Miami. One autograph per customer. Fans who make a Cubavera purchase of at least $50 will be escorted to the front of the autograph line. And two free Heat tickets will be given to the first 50 fans who make a $50 purchase (clearance items excluded).

For more information visit the team’s Web site.

Ten days ago – not long before it became public Rothstein was under investigation -- RRA was the sponsor of the Miami Dolphins 2009 Alumni Weekend. RRA sponsors the Heat and messages promoting the firm's connections with Marino’s and Mourning’s charities have flashed from the giant MediaMesh LED marquee on the front of AmericanAirlines Arena that overlooks Biscayne Boulevard. There’s even an RRA ad in the Miami Heat’s opening night program.

RRA has a sponsorship deal at BankAtlantic Center with the Florida Panthers. Three other companies in which Rothstein has an investment -- Bova, Renato and V Georgio Vodka -- also have sponsorship agreements with the team and arena. Bova sponsors the Panthers' Ice Dancers.

The Heat, Panthers and Dan Marino Foundation all declined to comment Tuesday. But don't be surprised if RRA's logo is no longer included as part of the Panthers' game presentation.

The Florida Marlins are the only one of the four major pro sports team in South Florida that doesn’t have any sort of partnership with RRA or Rothstein-connected company.

In January, attendees at a VIP party before the BCS National Championship Game received a football-shaped luggage tag featuring the BCS and RRA logos.

On Monday, Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown broadcast his weekly radio show, “The Ronnie Brown Show,’” on WQAM-560 AM from Bova Prime in Fort Lauderdale, just as he's done all season.

Last month, Rothstein announced the formation of RRA Sports & Entertainment, a division to handle marketing and endorsement deals for athletes. Its first clients are Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and junior tennis player Sachia Vickery.

Rothstein is also a member of the corporate marketing committee of the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee, but so far has been missing in action, host committee chairman Rodney Barreto said Tuesday.

“I did have lunch with him to discuss the Super Bowl and if he wanted to get involved with us. He’s involved with a lot of great charities. He agreed,” said Barreto, who met with Rothstein a few months ago.

“He’s attended no meetings, participated with no referrals or anything to date. As far as I’m concerned, he hasn’t done anything with our committee yet. I wish he would have,” Barreto said adding he thought someone of Rothstein’s stature and connections could help the host committee.

“He was a force, don’t kid yourself,” Barreto said. “It was brought to my attention, why don’t we consider having him help open doors for us, to help find potential sponsors. It didn’t work out.”

Nearly 100 politicians, lawyers, activists and other Miami-Dade County residents took out a full page ad in Monday’s Miami Herald to thank the luxury auto dealer for acting on the public’s behalf. According to the Herald, it’s 97 people who paid $5,000 for the ad that reads:

“The Greater Miami Community Thanks Norman Braman.

You fought the good fight and we appreciate all you have done. On behalf the hundreds of thousands of Greater Miami residents we want to you to know that we stand with you knowing that you have stood for what is right and just for all of us and future generations.”

The list of supporters included Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, former Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer, art collector and businessman Marty Margulies, auto and real estate magnate Alan Potamkin, Perry Ellis CEO George Feldenkreis, Ivax founder Phillip Frost and lots of others.

Braman was seeking, among other things, a public vote on the use of public tax dollars for the venue for a private baseball team.

Just a quick thought on today’s game: is there another team in the NFL that has worked so hard to be 3-4? Just asking.

And speaking of being 3-4, the Dolphins hope you’ll want to watch the rest of the team’s home games this season live. They’ve introduced a new four-game pack that features lower bowl tickets to each of the team’s final four home games of 2009 for $348. That’s to see the Dolphins play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers. It offers a savings off the individual ticket price and gives you priority for playoff seats. Check it out here.

So much so that the team was happy to show off the ongoing construction during a hardhat media tour this morning. Check out a photo gallery here. Sid Perkins, the project’s construction manager who works for the Hunt/Moss joint venture that his building the venue, was our tour guide. He wore a black Marlins polo shirt, a cowboy-shaped hardhat with a Smith & Wesson logo, and carried a cigar.

We had to wear hardhats, too, (although not cowboy-shaped), some of which had been used by Miami-Dade County Commissioners during the ceremonial ground-breaking on July 18. I got Bruno Barriero’s; Miami Herald Marlins beat writer Clark Spencer’s was Sally Heyman's…(insert joke here…)

Anyone else wonder what the “DOUBTERS” billboard on I-95 southbound just north of Miami was all about?

Clearly the idea was to catch your attention. A black billboard with just the word "DOUBTERS" in white and some birds perched atop it doing their business directly on the board. No word of whom or what had placed the ad.

As days went by successively more birds appeared atop the board and with them, more droppings. So that by this week, the droppings were covering the board, close to obliterating the "Doubters." And then a few days ago, the Miami Heat tag advertising 2009-10 tickets for sale appeared below the billboard.

Last season’s Heat ad campaign took aim at the doubters, too. Guard Dwyane Wade opened one of the team’s Something2prove ticket campaign ads by saying: “To the doubters…”

Soon the billboard message should change to this year’s tagline:

Instead, they’ll have the print-at-home variety. The team has chosen not to print up ticket booklets to “reduce environmental contamination from harsh inks and chemicals used in the printing process,” according to a message sent to season ticket holders.

“What I hope is it’s one more step towards new technology that’s coming out hopefully in time for next year, where we can embed the bar codes into credit cards, licenses, whatever, so you don’t even need anything,” said Eric Woolworth, the Heat’s president of business operations.

Meanwhile, the Heat's also promoting recycling, by having the plastic bag that wraps the Miami Herald serve as a tool for getting ticket discounts. Bring the bag to the arena's ticket office for discounts of $10 off 300 level tickets ($30 or higher) or $15 off 100 level tickets ($85 or higher). That's the bags with the Heat ad on them that look like this:

The Phoenix Coyotes became the first NHL team to go to a paperless ticketing system and are using a swipe card for entry to games. Read about it here.

Read about the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers experimenting with paperless ticketing here.

And here’s a story I wrote last year about sports – from golf courses to teams – making environmentally friendly changes in the name of going green.

Last month, Wade held a "brand summit" with his endorsement partners to plan his advertising and marketing messaging for this season. Read more about his evolving business side in a today's piece here.

The Heat's 2009-10 season starts Wednesday, when the team plays the New York Knicks at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Here are some more of Wade's answers to questions about his off-the-court endeavors:

On moving from Converse to the Jordan Brand:

It’s a great decision. I need you to understand, Converse is under the Nike umbrella, so it was a decision from Nike, not only to put me into the Jordan Brand, where my individual things could be seen more, but also to help the brand as it continues to grow. So it was a corporate decision, and I just reaped the benefits from it. I had a great team at Converse, but I think it was time to move on from both sides, so it was great.

On whether he had concerns about moving from being the star of the Converse brand to one of several elite athletes at Jordan Brand:

When I was 24, I probably have thought about it, I probably wouldn’t have wanted it to happen. Being 27 and being smart and understanding that everyone has a place, I kind of relish it, I kind of open my arms to it. When I was 24 I would have said No, I would have said ‘I want to be the face of this brand, I want to be the all.’ But now knowing the team that we have at the Jordan Brand is only going to make it better for everyone else. It’s not pressure on one guy to build the brand, it’s going to be on a lot of different guys to help add to the brand that Michael has already built. So it sort of makes our job a little bit easier actually.

On whether he’ll have his own signature shoe at Jordan Brand:

That’s still to be determined. I just came into the brand two and a half months before the season, so a lot of stuff we have to get together … We’ve got some special things planned, but you know how we are at the Jordan Brand, we keep everything secretive…

What shoe he’ll wear this season:

I wear the 16.5 that’s a combination of Jordan 16 and Jordan 17. And also wear the Hallowed Ground, and another shoe they’re going to be putting them out. I’ll be wearing three different shoes throughout the year until they decide they want me to wear something else.

On holding a “summit” with his endorsement partners:

I think the biggest thing, which we always talked about just never could do, you want everyone you’re endorsing and partners of, to all be on the same page and tell a story, you don’t want everyone coming out with something different and telling different stories … It’s exciting for us to get everyone in the same room, and see what each other is working so we’re not overlapping, not crossing each other. It’s an opportunity to see the plans and say OK Gatorade is doing this, Jordan Brand we don’t have to do this, we can concentrate on this part. It’s just about getting everybody to work together.

On this year’s message:

This year so far, the message so far is simple … I think it’s self-explanatory to the point of where my team is and where other teams are, we’re still rebuilding , so I have to continue to keep proving myself and our team needs to keep proving themselves.

On what kinds of companies he’d like to partner with:

You always want to add the right things, and at the same time I don’t want to do too much, because I still want to have time for myself. There are certain categories I want to go after that at one point I did have. At one point, I had the car category with Lincoln, but that was only a one year deal. A lot of people still talk about my commercial now, years later. Car and food and maybe some other ones. Personally I want to do maybe Calvin Klein.

On whether he still has interest in acting in movies (he has a cameo role in Just Wright starring Queen Latifah set for release next year):

I’m going to say I’m going to hold off for a minute, on like really trying to get into movies. Like I wouldn’t mind doing cameos. It’s so long, it’s like I was there for like 13 hours and I wasn’t a major, major part of the movie. So I really have to have time to really do that. So right now I’m still going to make my cameos, and do certain things for fun that we want to do. But I don’t know if I really want to do a Space Jam or nothing like that. That takes a lot of time. It’d have to be the right time and the right thing.

On whether he’ll walk the orange carpet at a Miami Dolphins game:

We’ll see. I don’t know. I went to the first game, I was there supporting. I didn’t go on the carpet, that was for the owners. I was there to support. Maybe, maybe not.

Will he become a limited partner in the Dolphins?

Maybe, maybe not. It’s all exciting and interesting, it’s all just chatter. It’s a lot of chatter.

More than 80 percent of Division 1A (known as Football Bowl Subdivision) school presidents participated in the survey. Of those, 85 percent believe salaries for football and basketball coaches are excessive, and a majority believe even those on their own campuses are overpaid.

Costs of athletics have risen three to four times faster than those for academics. While a majority of the presidents believe serious reform needs to occur there was little consensus on how to make that happen. Read the report here. Read the AP’s account of the meeting here.

With the research in hand, the commission plans to issue a report next year detailing how to approach reform.

The Commission also unveiled a new feature, College Sports 101, on its Web site today that examines the money in college sports, including revenues and expenditures. College Sports 101 can be found here.

Edwards, now sponsored by Aflac, wore a company tie covered with ducks, and took a ride on a Duck Tours Miami land and sea vehicle. He even agreed to make one of his signature backflips off the vessel into the bay. See the video below.

The driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion is a fan of the Homestead track, having captured both the Ford 300 Nationwide and Ford 400 Sprint Cup series races during Ford Championship Weekend last year.

An updated version of the Everlast Shadow Box workout is being offered at all 24 Hour Fitness locations.

To help South Florida 24 Hour Fitness centers kick off the upgraded classes, WBC Welterweight World Champion Andre Berto, who is originally from Miami, will lead a class (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) and then sign autographs and pose for photos (12:30-1:30 p.m.) on Saturday at the 24 Hour Fitness Town & Country location, 8420 Mills Rd., Miami.

The workout is 45 minutes that includes traditional boxing conditioning in a dozen three-minute rounds. Everlast equipment is incorporated into the exercises.

“The Everlast Shadow Box Workout class allows us the opportunity to demonstrate the health benefits of boxing for fitness through an authentic Everlast boxing workout and introduce consumers to quality equipment and apparel that will enhance their overall fitness experience,” Everlast President Adam Geisler said in a statement.

The company is also celebrating the 35th anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle” with a vintage line of Ali products.

Not eye black, mind you. A nasal strip. It looks something like a Band-Aid -- it's affixed just below the bridge of your nose -- but it helps you breathe easier, while you’re sleeping or exercising.

According to the strips maker, GlaxoSmithKline, NFL players are increasingly using the strips because they reduce the energy needed to breathe, while you’re working out or competing. NFL players have been using them since 1994, the company says.

GSK is planning to distribute 400,000 of the strips in the next month at five NFL games to introduce its Breathe Right Extra Nasal Strips, which are 50 percent stronger than the original version. The company is to give away 75,000 strips to fans attending Sunday’s Dolphins game and 80,000 at Sunday’s New York Giants-Arizona Cardinals game.

“Breathe Right has had a long relationship with professional football players using our products both on and off the field,” Breathe Right vice president of marketing Darren Singer said in a statement. “By sampling the new Extra strips at football stadiums nationwide, we’ll have an opportunity to help people understand that this is a product strong enough for high-performance athletes, but available to every day consumers.”

Oct. 22: Heat dancers, Burnie the mascot, Xtreme team and DJ MDOT serve customers at McDonalds, 32nd Avenue and U.S. 1, Coconut Grove, 1-3 p.m.

Oct. 23: Heat Happy Hour at Tobacco Road, Miami, including Heat dancers, Burnie, Xtreme team, 5-8 p.m.

Oct. 24: Tweet with the Heat, Twitter scavenger hunt at Dolphin Mall, 1-3 p.m. Registrations starts at noon at Miami Hoops Gear store. Grand prize is Heat season tickets. Follow twitter.com/MHEAT.

Oct. 25: Open practice, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at AmericanAirlines Arena. Doors open at 10:30 a.m., parking and practice are free and first 500 fans receive an Adidas hat.

Oct.26: Rush Hour Heat. The team pays tolls and dancers and Burnie will hand out goodies and entertain commuters heading east on 836 at Northwest 17th Avenue, 7-9 a.m.

Papa John’s Pizza Deliveries, order between 6-8 p.m. and your pizza might be delivered by a player, dancer, Burnie or Xtreme team member. Vouchers for a free ticket to select November games will got out to first 20 deliveries in Broward, West Palm Beach and Miami-Dade locations during that time.

Oct. 27: Heat window decals will be given out at AmericanAirlines Arena, 5-7 p.m., while supplies last.

Oct. 28: Opening night versus the Knicks, includes Tim Hardaway’s jersey retirement ceremony pregame, 7:30 p.m., AmericanAirlines Arena.

It’s all part of Miami-based Burger King’s “Tony Stewart School of Endorsements” ad campaign that launched in September and includes CHiPs star Erik Estrada hawking “Estrada” sunglasses and Carrot Top trying to sell a juicer. Stewart tells the class it should “only endorse things you believe in.” Thus the polygraph test, which can be seen at truthabouttony.com.

Meanwhile, Estrada’s sunglasses have become something of a novelty: 150 pairs are being auctioned on eBay with the proceeds going to Burger King’s Have It Your Way Foundation. Check them out at estradaglasses.com, but be forewarned, as the site says, they’re a novelty, not for actually seeing.