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HBCUAC Commissioner Kiki Baker Barnes sits down with NAIA VP of Membership Value and Governance Chesney Sallee at the 2025 Women Leaders Convention to discuss what’s ahead for the league, as Baker Barnes notes an announcement is coming soon on where the league will expand next. Baker Barnes’ next focus is continuous improvement: “We want to be better at what we're doing. I would say we've been in trial and error mode. You know, we're trying some things; some things are working, some things haven't worked, but I really feel like for us, it's really doubling down on our basketball championship and really building that out to where it's monetizing a little bit better than what we're doing. It’s not enough yet. I still need a larger team. I need full-time people at some point. So, we've got to generate a little bit more money. So, I think that's the area where we'll be focusing on in terms of business development, how we are managing those assets and creating more value for potential partners.” More on BOSCA, including the reception of Baker Barnes’ book Blazing Your Own Trail. (link, link)

Mid-America Christian AD Marcus Moeller chats with NAIA Women's Hoops Report’s Manuel Buroz about his role as the NAIA Women’s Basketball Selection Committee Chair. Asked about the biggest changes over the last few years, Moeller pinpoints two: the changes to the selection criteria and the resume determining your place in the field, noting there previously was a benefit of the doubt for teams who had previous successes. On changes to the selection criteria: “One of the common questions we get every year is, ‘Man, is it the eye test or is it the data?’ I would be a millionaire if I got paid for every time we get asked that question or even the insinuation of that question. The answer, unfortunately, is yes. It's both and I think if we do our job well, it's okay there are holes in the data. The RPI is extremely helpful. The strength of schedule is extremely helpful. The net efficiency is extremely helpful but it only tells us a portion of the story. So the other piece of that is we have to use that and use what our eyes tell us. The truth is everybody watches the game of basketball with a bias. Usually when we talk about bias, we think like, well, you're biased to your school, your conference, your area, and the teams you see. And while there is opportunity for that, there are also biases in terms of the way I view somebody who plays zone versus man, somebody who presses versus somebody who doesn't, and somebody who has a tall lineup versus somebody who has a short lineup.” Lots more. (link)

Pikeville AD Corey Fipps joins Inside UPIKE Athletics to dive into a number of topics, including the Bear Mountain Project that is approaching 400 acres. The first set of state funding has been released, with bids out to begin work on roads and infrastructure. On raising money for the $40M-$50M project in addition to the current needs on campus, Fipps notes university advancement has focused on going after big donors and big dollars to support Bear Mountain, with another ask to the state through a coal mine reclamation fund, while athletics’ focus is building up the booster club and “trying to find layups and trying to find just regular shots on goal and not conflict with that, so some corporate sponsorship dollars have really helped all this.” With another ask to the state, Fipps  has pitched Bear Mountain as a multi-purpose opportunity to serve as a space to support emergency management or disaster relief given the historic flooding that has happened in Pike County’s history, including this year. Fipps on the state of the program and his vision for UPIKE athletics: “It's a great time to be here. There are so many small colleges on the struggle bus and I feel like we're in a Porsche. We’re taking curves as tight as possible for our student-athletes. It’s amazing. … The vision is that we are the most elite small college athletic experience of its kind.” More. (link, link) 

Langston Men’s Basketball HC Chris Wright took to X: “It’s crazy that we have other NAIA’s actively recruiting guys on our roster at the semester break. I hope we can get those same schools on our schedule for next season.” (link)

U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) have introduced the Honest Oversight of Ticketed Dining and Onsite Grub (HOTDOG) Act, directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a nationwide study of concession pricing practices at sports venues by examining the prices of comparable food and drinks inside and outside stadiums that were constructed or are operated with public subsidy funds; pricing practices such as dynamic pricing, service fees, and promotions; transparency of concession prices to consumers, and other types of pricing policies. The bill also requires the FTC to issue a report to Congress detailing the results of the study and any recommendations for legislative, regulatory, or industry action to improve affordability and transparency. Sports Fans Coalition Executive Director Brian Hess: “The HOTDOG Act will shine a much-needed light on exploitative pricing practices and help identify solutions that make attending games affordable for working families again. When taxpayers invest hundreds of millions into stadiums, they deserve transparency about why a hot dog costs three times what it does on the street outside. We applaud Representatives Goldman and Deluzio for taking this important first step toward holding venues accountable and making game day affordable for American families.” More. (link)

Bloomberg’s Beth Kowitt analyzes the results of the 11th annual "Women in the Workplace" study by McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org, which found the "ambition gap" between men and women is at its widest point in the survey's history. While women remain committed to their work, only 80% expressed a desire to be promoted to the next level compared to 86% of men. That gap widens significantly at the entry level (11 percentage points) and senior executive (eight percentage points) tiers. Kowitt attributes this to a perceived betrayal by employers, noting that while 88% of companies cited gender diversity as a priority in 2017, that number dropped to 78% last year, with 20% of firms now admitting it is a "low or no priority." Crucially, the data shows the ambition gap disappears entirely when women receive the same managerial backing and sponsorship as their male counterparts; however, amid a rollback of DEI initiatives and flexible work arrangements, McKinsey Senior Partner Alexis Krivkovich observes: "It’s logical that you would start to see ambition drop as women lose faith that corporate America is there for them. They feel it viscerally in their day-to-day experiences.” (link) 

U.S. GDP grew by an annual rate of 4.3% in Q3, the largest growth in two years, beating the projections of 3.2% and last quarter’s increase of 2.5%. The Wall Street Journal’s Chao Deng and Harriet Torry add: “Rising consumer spending was partly driven by healthcare, including outpatient services, and at hospitals and nursing homes. International travel, legal services and spending on products like personal computers and software also contributed. Artificial intelligence-related spending helped, too, though the pace of growth appeared to cool from the second quarter. Overall business investment growth slowed to 2.8% in the third quarter from 7.3% in the prior three months. The report offered fresh evidence that consumers continue to lift the U.S. economy, even as inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, hiring remains sluggish and consumer-confidence readings reflect a dour overall mood.” (link)