HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball owners approved the sale of a controlling stake in the Seattle Mariners from Nintendo of America to a group of minority owners led by Western Wireless Corp. founder John Stanton and retired Microsoft executive Chris Larson.The sale was announced in April and approved Thursday. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the deal will close Friday or Monday.This will be the first transfer in control of an MLB team since Ron Fowler led the purchase of the San Diego Padres in August 2012.Stanton will take over as control person from current chairman Howard Lincoln, who is retiring. The Mariners anticipate a seamless transition in management.Theres not a soul, other than the people retiring, that will be impacted, because all of these same partners are still involved, Mariners chairman emeritus John Ellis said.Nintendo of America, under the direction of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, bought the Mariners from Jeff Smulyan in 1992. Under Nintendos ownership, the Mariners moved from the Kingdome to Safeco Field in 1999.We all started it with this very generous input from Mr. Yamauchi and Nintendo. Its the only way we saved the team, said Ellis, who will remain a director. Now to have the same group rearranging its percentages, John Stanton taking over, the Japanese backing down to 10 percent, is the transition that guarantees to the team for the future.Nintendo is selling all but 10 percent of its stake in the franchise and the regional sports network ROOT Sports. The transition shifts the percentage of ownership shares within First Avenue Entertainment LLLP, which owns the franchise and a majority interest in ROOT Sports, holdings the team said in April were valued at $1.4 billion.Stanton said in April the ownership group includes 17 investors and there will be no majority owner among the group. 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Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. An NBA Finals rematch between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors is the centerpiece of the five-game Christmas Day slate, the league announced Thursday as it revealed the schedule for the 2016-17 season.Its the second consecutive year the teams will meet on Christmas. This time, however, the champion Cavaliers will host at 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The second game of the ABC doubleheader is the Chicago Bulls visiting the San Antonio Spurs at 5 p.m.The day will start off with the Boston Celtics playing in Madison Square Garden against the new-look New York Knicks at noon on ESPN. The Minnesota Timberwolves and their young core of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins will make their Christmas debut at?Oklahoma City?at 7 p.m. As has become tradition, the Los Angeles Lakers will play the?LA Clippers?in the late game.The season will open with two games on Oct. 25 on TNT. The Knicks will visit the Cavs on ring and banner night, followed by the Warriors hosting the Spurs.On the second night of the season, ESPN will televise No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons first game as the Philadelphia 76ers host the Thunder. Then No. 2 pick?Brandon Ingram will play his first game for the Lakers, against the Houston Rockets in L.A.The first week also has nationally televiised matchups featuring Bulls-Celtics, Raptors-Cavs, Warriors-Pelicans?and Clippers-Trail Blazers.ddddddddddddKevin Durant will make his return to Oklahoma City with the Warriors on Feb. 11 as part of ABCs Saturday Primetime. Dwyane Wade will make his only return to?Miami?with the Bulls early in the season (Nov. 10). The Knicks?Derrick Rose makes his return to Chicago on Nov. 4 in a game on ESPN.The Warriors will host the Cavs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 16) at 8 p.m. ET. That will be followed by the Thunder visiting the Clippers -- the first of 10 new Monday doubleheaders on TNT in addition to the networks traditional 20 Thursday doubleheaders.As part of an NBA trend over the past several years, the league took steps to reduce the amount of back-to-back games for teams and four-game-in-five-day sets. Four-in-fives have been reduced by 26 percent from last season and no team will have more than one this season; the max per team last season was two.Back-to-backs have been cut to 16.3 per team -- down from 17.8 last season and 19.3 two seasons ago. Back-to-backs per team now range between 14-18, down from 14-20 last season. ' ' '