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MSOE AD for External Operations Bill Massoels is now solely the Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field HC, with AD for Internal Operations/Women’s Basketball HC Hannah Trees now serving as Interim AD for the Raiders. (link)

As two-thirds of DI members voted to rescind the rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and staff to bet on pro sports, the ban on pro sports gambling will remain in place for all divisions. (link)

WPI AD Dana Harmon joins The WPI Podcast and says of the future for DIII: “I think the next couple of years are really going to be telling, because the money is so big in Division I and they all need it, and what does it take to continue to bring in the money that they need? So I think the byproduct has been in Division III that we've been like, ‘Oh, maybe it won't affect us or we hope it doesn't affect us.’ And now we are taking that turn, and we need to set what we need to do moving forward. … [The DI men’s] basketball contract is coming up in a few years, but if they do the same model as football, where they take it, and those schools want to have their own tournament, like they have the College Football Playoff … That's where probably Division I is going to go. What does that do to us in DIII? … So I think we're trying to weather, for lack of a better term, a storm.” (link) 

Tulane (DI) Sports Law Director Gabe Feldman talks with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who argues the SAFE Act rather than the SCORE Act is the right federal framework for college sports reform. Blumenthal calls the NCAA a failure in protecting athletes, argues for a federal “floor” of athlete rights with real enforcement, and warns that SCORE would roll back existing gains while also being DOIA in the Senate. Blumenthal: “We also, by the way, want to give small schools a fair shake at revenue or schools that may specialize in different sports. So the pooling of revenue we think is important for the benefit of the schools. … There is an antitrust exemption there, but not a broad antitrust exemption such as the NCAA now wants to provide. And I will just say as much as I feel – and I think I speak for my colleagues – that the present system fails to protect or enhance the rights and interests of athletes. The NCAA has been an abject failure in that regard. And so the SCORE Act gives the NCAA, I would say more power, which is unjustified, but at least relies on the NCAA for enforcement.” More. (link)

CNBC’s Alex Sherman & Contessa Brewer report Learfield “is in the final stages of selling itself” with interested parties described as “a small group of private equity funds.” The pair indicate Learfield’s EBITDA is currently “just shy of $200M,” which along with a sub-3x leverage ratio, is generating bids of more than $2B. (link); However, a source close to the situation pushed back on the notion that a deal is “imminent” or “assured,” per SBJ’s Ben Portnoy. More from Portnoy: “...industry sources say the company could move into the later stages of discussions in the coming months. Moelis & Company and Bank of America have been retained to assist Learfield in their explorations, sources said. Learfield is evaluating three primary paths: 1) Maintaining its current structure; 2) Selling a minority equity stake to secure additional capital for various initiatives; or, 3) Pursuing a full sale that would shift majority ownership. The company is unlikely to sell individual business units -- such as Collegiate Licensing Company or ticketing platform Paciolan -- sources said.” (link)

NCAA data shows sports-betting harassment of student-athletes remains significant, with 36% of Division I men’s basketball players reporting social-media abuse tied to wagering in the past year and 29% saying they interacted with a student who had bet on their team. Among FBS football student-athletes, 16% reported negative or threatening messages and 26% encountered students who had placed bets. Overall, 7% of DI men’s student-athletes said they received threatening messages from bettors and 9% said students told them they won or lost money on them, while rates were just 1% for women’s sports. The findings come from the SNAP (Student-Athlete Needs, Aspiration and Perspectives) study of nearly 6,800 DI student-athletes and parallel items in the upcoming GOALS survey, as NCAA enforcement continues investigations into roughly 30 MBB student-athletes tied to potential betting violations. (link)

Facility Features…
➤ Washington College has broken ground on its new Lim Family Tennis Center that will include six indoor courts, six outdoor pickleball courts and more. The facility is scheduled to be complete in October 2026. (link)
➤ Millikin will work with Golden Rule Entertainment and the City of Decatur to bring a new Prospect League team to Workman Family Baseball Field. (link)

Deal Digest…
➤ Wisconsin-Eau Claire partners with Teamworks to support Blugolds’ compliance, recruiting and operations. (link)
➤ Cal Lutheran teams up with ARI Athletics to help streamline its recruiting and operations. (link)
➤ CCNY partners with NYU Sports Medicine to provide on-site medical coverage, rehab services, treatment plans and more. (link) 

Coaches.wire…
➤ Ripon taps Women’s Basketball HC Lauren Busalacchi and Men’s Soccer HC Marco Rhein as Asst. AD and Women’s Soccer HC Jennifer Finco as SWA. (link)
➤ SUNY Geneseo elevates Men’s Lacrosse AC Ian Nash to Interim HC. (link)
➤ Football, basketball, soccer and cross country pave the way with the most coaching staff changes in this morning’s edition of Coaches.wire. (link)

Netflix, Paramount and Comcast each submitted bids seeking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, report the New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin, Lauren Hirsch and Nicole Sperling, who observe the “outcome of the sale could alter the trajectory of the entertainment business.” Mullin, Hirsch and Sperling: “David Ellison, the Paramount chief executive armed with billions from his father, wants to combine all of Warner Bros. Discovery with Paramount to create a counterweight to tech giants. Comcast, the owner of NBC, wants the company’s studio and streaming business, with many iconic characters like Batman, to help elevate its digital business and theme parks. Netflix, which has always been seen as an outside disrupter, is also eyeing the studio and streaming business — a deal that would put it in control of a classic film library and a major studio lot. … Warner Bros. Discovery may ultimately decide not to sell itself to any bidders. This summer, it announced a plan to divide itself into two companies, one owning the streaming service and studio and the other owning the traditional cable business. If the company’s board rejects all of the suitors, it may proceed with that spinoff, which is expected to be completed next year.” More. (link) 

More Higher Ed…
➤ Haverford President Wendy Raymond will retire at the end of 2026-27. (link)
➤ Moody’s Ratings expects another difficult financial year for U.S. colleges, with the agency recently issuing a negative outlook for FY26 amid economic uncertainty and shrinking margins while institutions navigate enrollment pressures, rising expenses and political headwinds under the Trump administration. Per Higher Ed Dive’s Ben Unglesbee, “Moody’s analysts highlighted changes to the student loan system as potentially the most painful. Under the spending bill, the federal government next year will begin phasing out the Grad PLUS loan program, which helps graduate students finance their programs up to the cost of attendance. The government will also cap student borrowing at $100K for most graduate programs, with a $200K limit for professional programs such as medical school.” From Moody’s report: “Institutions with large master’s degree offerings will be particularly vulnerable to shifts in student demand if prospective students are not able to fully access the private loan market.” Unglesbee: “Moody’s estimates 3.5% growth overall in revenue, down from 3.8% in 2025. For smaller colleges, the 2026 increases could be even smaller — 2.5% for small public institutions and 2.7% for small privates. Expenses, on the other hand, will grow 4.4%. … While that represents more modest inflation compared to this year’s 5.2% increase, it’s still higher than revenue growth and will eat into institutions’ margins.” More. (link)