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In response to NCAA President Charlie Baker’s assertion that eligibility will not be granted to any individuals who have signed NBA contracts, Heitner Legal Founder Darren Heitner observes: “The bright line has been established. If you played in the NBA, you can't play basketball in the NCAA. How long until we see a legal challenge?” Sportico’s Michael McCann responds: “Once ex-G League players—who are unionized employees & pro players—were allowed to play NCAA D-1, that opens the door to argue ex-NBA players should be allowed, too. Whether the basketball difference would matter enough in antitrust review is [the] $1M question.” (link)

With CFBTalkDaily pointing out that Iowa State has just 17 players remaining on the roster for next year, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) writes on X: “An absolute crisis. Congress NEEDS to act. For months, I’ve been working night & day to try to bring Republicans and Democrats together to save college sports. If we fail to do so, it will be an utter tragedy. And it’s happening right before our eyes.” (link)

Outgoing New Mexico AD Fernando Lovo acknowledges the timing of his departure to Colorado wasn’t ideal and tells the Albuquerque Journal’s Geoff Grammer he understands there has been frustration from fans: "Everything that I've done, I've learned from my mentors. And they all pour their heart and soul into what they do, and I try to do the same. When you do that, there's always things that can create animosity or hard feelings if certain things happen (like leaving for another job), but for me it was always about the vision and I feel like our team, together, we were able to get folks to really buy in and believe. I understand that in the abruptness of things people can get overcome with emotion and angry, upset, but I know what myself and my family will always cherish about our time here was being a part of all of those people coming together around Lobo athletics in the time we were here." (link)

The Denver Post's Troy Renck argues that incoming Colorado AD Fernando Lovo’s first order of business must be to "take back" the keys to the athletic department from Football HC Deion Sanders, asserting that the current operational model is "not sustainable." Following a 3-9 season, Renck contends Sanders must evolve his recruiting strategy beyond the portal where competitors now have deeper pockets, and resume off-campus visits, noting the program landed only one top in-state recruit. Furthermore, with the department facing a $27M budget deficit primarily driven, per Renck, by Sanders' salary and roster costs, Renck warns that donor fatigue is setting in: "There are no rebuilding seasons when the coach is getting paid in the top 20 of his profession. … Lovo is 21 years younger than Sanders. He has worked in big-time college programs at Florida, Ohio State and Texas, where he served as football’s chief of staff from 2016 to 2021. He knows how the sausage is made. Sanders needs to be his greatest asset. But it has become painfully clear, Lovo must have the courage to direct the coach to follow a new blueprint.” (link)

Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken argues it’s time for college football to end the “madness” of playing College Football Playoff games as bowl games, noting that “we’re taking teams from West Texas and the Pacific Northwest and making their fans travel thousands of miles to South Florida, knowing whoever wins will have to do the same thing all over again in nine days with a semifinal in Atlanta. Oh, and if they win that one? They’ll be right back here in Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19 for the national championship game.” Instead, Wolken would like to see more CFP games on campuses and writes: “When the magic of a gameday on campus is what sets college football apart from the NFL, why take your most valuable product and put it in cookie-cutter pro stadiums while letting bowl committees soak up a significant portion of available revenue and making fans budget for two or three road trips in December and January? … With the CFP structure still up in the air for 2026, there’s an opening to make that happen. They would be dumb not to grab it as soon as they can.” (link)

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger captures the tension-filled atmosphere at the Sugar Bowl, where six Ole Miss assistants, including OC Charlie Weis Jr., are coaching the Rebels in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Georgia despite having already signed contracts to join Lane Kiffin at LSU next season. The dynamic has fueled paranoia in Oxford about tampering, with one school official noting that new assistants hired by Rebels HC Pete Golding will "intentionally sit in during individual meetings with players led by some of the six LSU-bound assistants just to make sure." Grove Collective Executive Director Walker Jones adds of tampering concerns: “It’s unfortunate what has been going on with our players and their former head coach and staff. Having to deal with the pressure of making future decisions while trying to prepare for a playoff run is not a sustainable model. Yes, does a bad calendar and lack of true oversight hurt? Of course. But so does poor character and lack of respect for your former employer and players. That being said, we are prepared and effectively dealing with this first-of-its-kind, complicated situation.” More. (link)

Boise State’s Bronco Athletic Association achieved its goal of reaching 10K members via the Horsepower Membership Drive that was launched in November 2021. Broncos AD Jeramiah Dickey: "Reaching 10,000 BAA members was one of our first goals when we got here five years ago. It takes a TEAM and each BAA member shows the country we continue to raise the bar and be among the nation's ELITE! We are grateful for everyone's investment in the Bronco student-athlete experience. Believe in epic." (link)

More from Nebraska GM/former New England Patriots Pro Personnel Director Pat Stewart with The Athletic’s Sam Khan, Jr. On dealing with agents on the college versus the pro side: “It’s the transparency that we lack in college football. There’s no market. I don’t know what any other school pays their starting left tackle, but I’m supposed to believe an agent when he tells me how much somebody is offering. That’s very different. In the NFL, we would just differ over who the (comparison) is. That’s really the only discussion point, because what they’re paid is what the market is. Somebody is going to reset it every year, then everybody else falls in line behind that. In college football, it seems like 20 guys want to reset the market at once and just because that guy got it means I should be getting it. People don’t really know their spot in line at this level. A lot of times, though, when I talk to agents that I have dealt with in the past and have NFL experience, we talk through some things and we find common ground much faster than I do with other agents. So yeah, that’s been a challenge in its own right.” (link) 

VMI has selected Carson-Newman (DII) Football HC Ashley Ingram for the same role. (link)

HBCU Gameday’s Steven Gaither highlights Southern Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Clayton's push to explore naming rights for A.W. Mumford Stadium, describing it as a financial necessity in the modern HBCU landscape rather than an erasure of history. While acknowledging the significance of A.W. Mumford as a cornerstone of the university's athletic identity, Clayton argues that nostalgia cannot fund progress: "We can honor them forever. Plaques, statues, buildings. But those naming rights have to generate money. ... We can’t keep doing things the way we did in 1990 and expect to survive.” (link)

Massachusetts has added Stonehill to its 2026 home football slate. (link)

The Banks Strike Back in the latest edition of CRO.ticker, which includes a look at how traditional lenders like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs are seeing share prices surge upwards of 45% while top alternative asset managers like Blackstone and KKR are collectively down. In addition to that, Texas Tech Asst. AD of Information Technology J.P. Williams joins the Sports Geek podcast to discuss the technological infrastructure supporting the Red Raiders' $250M Womble Football Center and South End Zone renovation, which created the "largest contiguous collegiate athletic facility in the nation.” Also included: more on FIFA’s dynamic pricing for the 2026 World Cup, AI friction in higher ed and Taco Bell’s “Give the Quesarito a chance” activation at Denver’s Ball Arena. Check it out. (link)

ESPN researcher Mackenzie Kraemer did not violate company guidelines after winning $1M for a second-place finish in a season-long DraftKings best ball fantasy contest. While DraftKings is now ESPN's official sportsbook partner, sources tell Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel that Kraemer drafted his team before the partnership began, and as a researcher, he does not fall under the insider wagering prohibitions outlined in ESPN's 2023 gambling policy. Despite the clearance, Glasspiegel suggests ESPN may revisit its guidelines given DraftKings' extensive fantasy offerings that pit users against each other rather than the house. (link)

NCAA President Charlie Baker on the potential of granting eligibility to men’s basketball student-athletes who’ve previously signed NBA contracts, remarks: “The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract (including a two-way contract). As schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising discretion in applying the actual and necessary expenses bylaw to ensure that prospective student-athletes with experience in American basketball leagues are not at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts. Rules have long permitted schools to enroll and play individuals with no prior collegiate experience midyear. While the NCAA has prevailed on the vast majority of eligibility-related lawsuits, recent outlier decisions enjoining the NCAA on a nationwide basis from enforcing rules that have been on the books for decades -- without even having a trial -- are wildly destabilizing. I will be working with DI leaders in the weeks ahead to protect college basketball from these misguided attempts to destroy this American institution.” (link)

The Division I Cabinet is set to discuss allowing sponsored jersey patches in competition during the 2026 NCAA Convention over Jan. 13-16, per SBJ’s Ben Portnoy, who notes the talks don’t necessarily mean a vote on the topic will be held as one is not currently scheduled as part of the event’s agenda. The upcoming talks represent a “next step” in the “months-long process to open a lucrative sponsorship asset amid increased financial pressures throughout the ecosystem. … The shift in rules around jersey patches has also included varying conversations between NCAA stakeholders, conference commissioners and, of note, apparel companies.” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips: “You’ve got to understand the perspective of the shoe and apparel dealers that our schools rely on, and that are integrated deeply into every campus across the country. You’d be well-served to at least listen to their perspective on jersey patches.” Portnoy: “The actual value of jersey patches remains to be seen, but administrators and industry sources expect it could fetch millions annually for schools depending on how they package the asset for individual teams or department-wide.” (link) 

In his latest fan missive, Murray State AD Nico Yantko notes the department has now officially closed out the first iteration of its three-year strategic plan, THE RACE IS ON, that served as a road map in navigating the transition into the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference. He also announces MSU’s next three-year strategic plan is on tap, titled RACING TOWARDS EXCELLENCE, which is slated to help guide the Racers into a new era of intercollegiate athletics. Additionally, Yantko highlights record-breaking revenue numbers with $37M raised by athletics over the last two years, 13 seven-figure gifts over that stretch and 250% sponsorship growth since 2022. More. (link)

The Athletic’s Sam Khan, Jr. chats with former NFL Pro Personnel Director/current Nebraska GM Pat Stewart to discuss how college football roster building compares to the NFL. Stewart: “The head coach is the face of the program in college football. A lot of times in the NFL, it’s going to be a couple of players plus the head coach. And none of this works if there’s not a collaborative effort of everybody to see things the same way instead of ‘my guy versus your guy.’ … Personnel is all about opportunity and belief. It’s the opportunity the player gets and the belief the coach has in that player that makes them good.” Stewart adds that there were two big learning curves coming from the New England Patriots: recruiting and infrastructure. On recruiting: “To build a team, you don’t just collect talent, but at the same time you do need some difference-makers. In college football, you pay the premium for a running back that in the NFL maybe you wouldn’t. There’s a little different positional value.” More. (link)  

Tulsa Football details plans for a new “Portal House” series granting an all-access look behind the scenes at what navigating the transfer portal looks like for a G6 program. Per FootballScoop’s Doug Samuels, the program will offer a birds-eye view of how its staff navigates the portal, while providing insight into player evaluations, arranging visits and signing the portal class. The Golden Hurricane’s series is slated to run the full length of the open portal window from Jan. 2-16. Tulsa HC Tre Lamb offers some additional details on X, noting the portal house will serve as “home base for 14 days straight. 45-50 visits in 14 days. Coaches need somewhere to host/sleep. School is closed until Jan 21. An entertainment spot to host right by campus without having recruiting hosts. … Barstool/Hard Knocks documentary of how the portal works to energize the fanbase ‘live from’ the portal house daily/weekly. Former players and donors will come meet the transfers at the house.” (link)

Arkansas is reportedly set to ink a deal with TheLinkU “centered on helping the school drive above the cap NIL dollars,” per SBJ’s Ben Portnoy. (link) 

People & Places…
➤ New Mexico taps Deputy AD/COO Ryan Berryman as its Interim AD. (link)
➤ Florida A&M Assoc. AD for Operations Marquel Broussard has left the athletic department, per CollegeAD. (link)
➤ Iowa State hires Washington State Football GM Ricky Ciccone for the same role with the Cyclones. (link) 

ESPN’s family of networks highlights their combined success from this year’s NCAA Women’s Volleyball season, noting the trio of ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 teamed up on a record 33 match broadcasts. Those resulted in the most-watched women’s volleyball regular-season ever, drawing an average of 190K viewers while finishing up 36% YoY with gains among women (+41%) and viewers ages 18-34 (+59%). Analyzing NCAA Tournament numbers, the 2025 version of the sport’s highest-profile event was the most-consumed ever with more than 1.3B minutes watched across platforms. The entirety of the tourney finished up 13% YoY and averaged 666K viewers over 15 contests with four matches reaching an average of at least 1M viewers. ESPN+ engagement increased 33% over 2024 during the First and Second Rounds, while “The Fifth Set” whip-around coverage was up 60% YoY, averaging 183K viewers across its ESPN2 telecasts. The Regional round averaged a record 530K viewers, up 32% YoY, and featured four of the six most-watched Regional matches ever with huge demo growth among viewers 25-34 (+147%), viewers under 17 (+89%) and women (+39%). The NCAA semifinals averaged 1.1M viewers and the title match-up between Texas A&M and Kentucky drew 1.4M viewers. More. (link) 

Michigan State was the most-watched men’s college basketball team through Dec. 22, according to Nielsen TV ratings data, highlighted by the Spartans’ Nov. 27 win over North Carolina that averaged 6.499M viewers on FOX to rate as the network’s most-watched college basketball game on record. Arkansas ranked second, followed by Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisville, Indiana, UConn and Purdue to round out the top 10. More. (link)   

Sports will account for 96 of the 100 most-watched shows of 2025, per SBJ’s Austin Karp, who notes that number ties a record from 2023 and marks an increase from 87 during the Olympic and election year of 2024. Overall, football dominates the list with 92 of the top 100 telecasts, while an estimated 84 of those will come from the NFL, falling well short of the league record of 93 from 2023. The expanded College Football Playoff is likely to secure a sport-record eight slots in the top 100, a figure that is expected to include the New Year’s Eve quarterfinal match-up between Miami (FL) and Ohio State. Major League Baseball put two World Series tilts in the top 100, courtesy of Games 6 and 7 between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, while the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game and Kentucky Derby accounted for the only additional sports outliers this year. The projected list is for the calendar year 2025, not the Nielsen calendar, which concluded this past Sunday. Excluded were programs less than 30 minutes and pre-game shows. More. (link)   

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