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There were 24,105 fans on hand at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville to watch Montana State claim this year’s FCS national championship, the first FCS/DI-AA title matchup to go into OT. Hero Sports’ Sam Herder notes this was the seventh-most attended FCS championship game in history and largest since 1996. Congrats to the Bobcats! (link, link); Have a look at the winning extra point. (link)

More from NCAA President Charlie Baker with SI’s Pat Forde. On efforts to address allegations of point shaving, game fixing and performance manipulation due to gambling: “We were the only people talking about it when I started talking about it. I have the professional sports leagues talking about it, which I think is actually good, and my hope is that we can figure out some way to create a coalition around some of this stuff. And in a perfect world, we get some of these folks to make some decisions. I mean, the NBA did manage to get certain kinds of bets taken off at the professional level, which was great. That’s the place to start, but I think there’s a lot more that needs to be done there. … There are many lawsuits out there now, AGs and others, and gaming companies, suing the prediction markets, basically making the argument that the federal [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] is no place to police the integrity of what we’re talking about here, because it’s a very different kind of transaction than the one that they are historically built to deal with, and that the jurisdiction here rests with the states in the absence of anything at the federal level. … The feds, for a whole bunch of reasons that I am somewhat sympathetic to, are a little nervous about diving into this particular space, given that all the states have historically played in it.” (link)

Colorado yesterday introduced freshly minted AD Fernando Lovo, who covered several topics in his remarks and in a Q&A with reporters, including NIL, about which he said: “I think first it starts with alignment and making sure that everyone understands how important that is to our success in this day and age. And so, yeah, we're absolutely going to focus on that. I think that's the competitive edge that we need to look for nowadays in college athletics. We're always going to do things with integrity, and we're going to be innovative, and we're going to push the envelope because we know that that's what our coaches need." On his background as a revenue generator: “I think for me, specifically, professionally, I've been really fortunate during my time at the University of Texas when we opened up the new Moody Center and had a partnership there with Oak View Group, and we really tapped into those sources of revenue and made our venues more of a 365-day-a-year. And I know I've heard [outgoing CU AD] Rick [George] talk about it, and the chancellor, that sort of approach. So there's alignment there. And so my experience with that, and then also just the overall understanding of what works right, what works here may be different than what worked in a different place. But, there's lessons learned that I can take and will take from all of those different stops and different people that I know will be fruitful here in terms of generating revenue." Lots more. (link)

The Denver Post’s Sean Keeler captures the frustration of longtime Colorado donors like Dan Stroh, a 43-year Buffs Club member who attended new AD Fernando Lovo's introductory press conference only to voice deep disillusionment with the NIL and transfer portal era. Stroh, described as "realty royalty" in Loveland, stated he is "about tapped out" and refuses to fund players with no loyalty: "You give them [that] check and the guy’s gone tomorrow. To hell with that. That ain’t happening to me. No allegiance, no money.” While Stroh and fellow donor Harry Devereaux reacted positively to Lovo, they worry about his ability to navigate a reported $27M budget deficit and the new $20.5M revenue-sharing reality without the "deep-pocketed billionaires" found at rival Big 12 schools. Keeler calls it a “vicious cycle. Some CU donors don’t want to pony up for players who aren’t loyal to the school. Players won’t stay at a school that won’t pay for their loyalty. Round and round it goes. … And like beef and orange juice, none of this is going to get any cheaper, either.” (link)

UTEP AD Jim Senter talks with El Paso Inc. about the Miners’ top concern moving forward: “Continued support from our constituents will be critical as we prepare to join the Mountain West Conference on July 1, 2026. Since I arrived at UTEP nearly eight years ago, the fans have asked, ‘When are we going to get into the Mountain West?’ We now have that opportunity, and we’re going to be aligned in a league that better fits us geographically. This is a big deal as we will renew old rivalries with programs like Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming. We will need the El Paso community to join us in an exciting new era of UTEP Athletics.” (link)

New Mexico State AD Joe Fields has initiated a major restructuring of the athletics department, effectively removing three senior leaders in Deputy AD/COO Braun Cartwright, Deputy AD for Strategic Initiatives and Leadership/SWA Amber Burdge, and Deputy AD for Sports Administration and Student Development/Chief DEI Officer James Hall. In an email sent Monday, Fields announced the "difficult decision to reorganize and repurpose several positions," stating the move was necessary to "better align resources with our goals and priorities." The Las Cruces Sun-News' Nick Coppola notes the shakeup clears out significant institutional knowledge, as Cartwright had been with the university since 2005, Hall since 2006 and Burdge had served as the Acting AD following the dismissal of former AD Mario Moccia in early 2025. Fields also noted NMSU will provide more information regarding "staff adjustments and organizational leadership" in the coming days. (link)

People & Places…

➤ Nebraska Chancellor Rodney Bennett announces his resignation, effective January 12. He had six months left on his contract. (link)

➤ Clemson Asst. AD Don Scott has moved over to Clemson Ventures as VP for Entertainment & Marketing. (link)

The College Football Playoff quarterfinals averaged 19.3M viewers, up 14% YoY. The Alabama-Indiana Rose Bowl led the way with an average of 23.9M viewers, followed by the Miami (FL)-Ohio State Cotton Bowl (19M), Ole Miss-Georgia Sugar Bowl (18.7M) and Oregon-Texas Tech Orange Bowl (15.9M). The Athletic’s Chris Vannini points out the Rose Bowl, “a 38-3 game, had more viewers than four of the last five national championship games, 7.5 million more than the NBA Finals Game 7.” (link)

Kennyhertz Perry attorney Mit Winter points out that among the College Sports Commission’s rules interpretations yesterday was this: athletes can be paid NIL money to promote events in which they participate (MTEs, bowl games, etc.). Exact wording from the CSC: “The use of a student-athlete's name, image, or likeness by an associated entity to promote a contest or event in which a student-athlete participates (e.g. bowl game, multiteam event) may be considered a valid business purpose, provided the event or contest is conducted for profit and the student-athlete's NIL is used to directly promote or endorse the contest or event. Any contract or payment for such use must be reported to the NIL clearinghouse (see NCAA Bylaw 22.2.2) and must include compensation at rates and terms commensurate with compensation paid to similarly situated individuals with comparable name, image and likeness value who are not prospective student-athletes or student-athletes of the institution (see NCAA Bylaw 22.2.4).” (link)

With college football moving ever closer to more of an NFL-style model as it relates to front office organization, SBJ examines the current overhaul underway with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, noting the organization is planning to add a new President of Football role from outside the operation, while current President Greg Beadles moves to President/CEO where his focus will remain on the business side. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, “many expect” former Falcons standout Matt Ryan to be hired in the position with The Athletic’s Diana Russini adding the team will “fill the role before picking their next head coach and GM.” It’s unclear if the new position will be considered by the NFL league office to represent the “primary football executive” role usually held by the GM. More. (link)

MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson joined The Varsity podcast with Puck’s John Ourand to preview the 2026 sports media landscape, predicting that YouTube TV is on track to become the nation's largest MVPD within two years, surpassing 12M subscribers. Nathanson identified YouTube as the "one company to watch" for future premium sports rights, noting they were a confirmed bidder for the recent NBA package and will likely be aggressive for upcoming properties given their global scale and ad tech stack. “They're truly global. They have the power of Alphabet behind them. I just think they're the ones people should be paying more attention to going forward." Regarding the current M&A battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, Nathanson predicts Netflix will ultimately prevail over Paramount Global. In that scenario, he speculates that WBD’s linear cable assets—including TNT Sports—would likely be spun off and acquired by Versant. He adds: “If Larry Ellison wants this, he will get it. But what's really odd to me is that he's had a couple chances to show his best cards and he hasn't. … I think it's going to be, believe it or not, I think Netflix will win this. I really do. Because I think there's a limit to how much these guys [Paramount] can afford to pay." Full pod. (link)

NCAA President Charlie Baker recently sat down with SI’s Pat Forde at the FCS Championship in Nashville for a wide-ranging Q&A on the myriad issues college sports is confronting. Here are some of Baker’s most notable comments…

 

➤ On getting everyone to coalesce around the idea of a uniform set of rules and meaningful enforcement: “Well, most people [want rules]. … The mere fact that we got the [House] settlement done, and admittedly that came with some outside pressure, I mean, that was an agreement around a set of rules. No one wants [CSC CEO] Bryan Seeley and his team to succeed more than I do, but they have a way to go there. And the other thing I would say here is that group dynamic decision making is always more complicated than one individual authority or two. Most of the college presidents, most of the ADs and most of the coaches I talk to say they would like clarity on this stuff. We’re setting up a mechanism to create clarity, and it’s based in many cases on some of the key elements that people said were important to them that should be part of it. And now we’re just going to have to see if people can get there.”

➤ On the new transfer portal window: “The rationale for getting rid of the spring window and creating a window in January was the opportunity it would present to acclimate transfer kids to campus, school, spring practice and all the rest, and would force everybody to make one round of decisions instead of literally creating uncertainty that was going to last six months instead of three weeks. And I think logistically, that wasn’t a terrible idea. I think it was probably a better idea than what we had before. I’m sure the committee’s going to reevaluate, which is what they usually do, after we get past the CFP title game. I think there’s genuinely an interest in one window. The big debate the last time was about whether the window should be in the spring or in January. … There’s another conversation to be had, which is when should the season start and all the rest. Like many others in the college football world, I want to leave Army-Navy alone. So it’s just a hard window.” More from Baker. (link)

The College Sports Commission has “released interpretive guidance holding that deals that seek to later offset rev share pool effect based on future third party deals count fully towards the pool, regardless of if that offset happens,” per Boise State Asst. Professor Sam Ehrlich. Full CSC interpretation. (link) 

SBJ forecasts a “new financial arms race” in college sports for 2026, catalyzed by Utah's $500M private equity deal with Otro Capital and the Big 12's pending $500M credit deal with RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital, respectively. SBJ’s Ben Portnoy: “The Big 12 deal is particularly interesting, as it opens a door for schools to get cash at a low borrow rate (believed to be below 10%) that can go toward revenue-generating activities within a school’s athletic department. That’s crucial, as the most important weapon in college sports these days is cold, hard cash. PE has circled college sports for years, but entry points haven’t been simple. The Big Ten’s $2.4B deal with UC Investments is on hold, thanks to USC and Michigan’s consternation. Deals with individual schools remain complicated by intertwining outside capital and state institutions. Still, expect a windfall of deals over the next 12 months.” Concurrently, the landscape faces a looming inflection point with the integration of AI into everyday workflows like ticketing and sponsorship, the regulatory gray zone of prediction markets blurring with sports betting, and the House settlement likely triggering multiple Title IX challenges as schools funnel the bulk of revenue-sharing dollars to men's sports. Lots more. (link)

Vanderbilt AD Candice Storey Lee was “hell-bent on rewriting the narrative” of the Commodores’ athletic department, per The Tennessean’s Paul Skrbina, who notes that as both the first female and Black female AD in the SEC, firsts for Lee are truly nothing out of the ordinary. Lee: “I think, historically, there had been an underinvestment and inconsistent investment into athletics. That's objectively true. To be fair, you could say we had been playing catch-up. But we don't think of it that way. There were historical gaps that I inherited that had to be addressed to give us the foundation necessary to actually do the things we think Vanderbilt can do.” VU Football HC Clark Lea: “I have a partner down the hall, not a judge. She understood better than I did how sick this program had become and how far it needed to go before it was going to be competitive.” More. (link) 

Objectors to House settlement approval between the NCAA and former Division I student-athletes represented by the House, Hubbard and Carter antitrust litigations “have raised unpersuasive and unsupported arguments,” per a brief filed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by the NCAA and power leagues, according to Sportico’s Michael McCann, who notes Association attorneys hope to persuade the Ninth Circuit that it should affirm the House ruling. McCann: “Don’t expect a swift response from the Ninth Circuit, which sometimes takes around two years to decide an appeal. The loser … could also petition the U.S. Supreme Court, which, if it agreed to review, could push the litigation clock back another year or two. The stakes couldn’t be larger in college sports: If the settlement is ultimately rejected, House, Carter and Hubbard would return to the litigation docket and the various new rules governing college sports and athletes’ rights could be removed.” More. (link) 

College Hockey Insider’s Mike McMahon calls attendance an ”unavoidable subplot” in the build-up to this year NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, particularly in Albany where McMahon notes “the [selection] committee may be forced to think beyond ‘bracket integrity’ and how Cornell could suddenly become one of the most important teams in the entire tournament picture.” McMahon: “We don’t have access to advance ticket sales for [the] Albany [Regional], but the NCAA does. Those numbers will matter. If they’re soft, the committee may feel compelled to do whatever it can to get Cornell into Albany to create at least some level of draw. That could raise eyebrows if the Big Red land as a No. 3 seed rather than a No. 1 or No. 2, but it may be a necessary step to avoid a PR headache — or worse, an embarrassing attendance figure. As things stand now, Albany doesn’t inspire much confidence. Only all-session tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and a significant portion of the arena isn’t even open for sale. With just the lower bowl and a small section of the upper bowl available — and plenty of seats still unsold — the warning signs are already there.” More. (link)  

The Athletic’s Sam Khan, Jr. outlines the transfer budgets at Group of 5 schools ranged mostly between $1M and $10M in 2025. Here are the notable numbers from Khan…

➤ “The vast majority of G5 schools have roster budgets below $5M, with a few exceptions. … Quarterbacks get the most, usually topping out around $500K or $600K. One Group of 5 GM, whose school will have roughly a $3M roster budget, said he expects to pay between $300K and $400K for his top quarterback transfer target this cycle.

➤ Typical starting running backs and tight ends will top out around $200K to $250K. High-end receivers can be a little bit more, around $300K. The top going rate for G5 offensive tackles is around $300K to $400K. The ceiling for defensive linemen is around $250K to $300K. For linebackers and defensive backs, the ceiling tops out around $150K to $200K.

➤ The floor for most players in the Group of 5 is in the five figures. … And though most Power 4 players receive some form of revenue sharing or NIL money, that’s not the case at the Group of 5 level, where some are paying extra — above and beyond a scholarship — to only a portion of their roster.” More. (link) 

People & Places…
➤ Ohio State taps Baylor Executive Senior Assoc. AD for External Administration and Business Development Chris Park as Executive Assoc. AD for External Affairs and Chief Communications Officer. (link)
➤ West Virginia welcomes Florida Atlantic Deputy AD/Chief of Staff/SWA Mary Giardina as Executive Senior Assoc. AD for Student-Athlete Experience, Governance and Compliance. (link)
➤ Bucknell names Institute for Advanced Study Chief Development Officer Josh Bowerman as its new Senior Assoc. AD for Revenue Generation. (link)
➤ Western Kentucky Senior Assoc. AD/SWA Gina Stoll has been appointed to the DI Softball Oversight Committee. (link)
➤ Congratulations to ESPN play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough and Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger who have been selected as the 2025 NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year and National Sportswriter of the Year, respectively. CBS sportscaster James Brown and former sportswriter Adrian Wojnarowski are joined by posthumous selections Greg Gumbel (CBS) and Sid Hartman (Minnesota Star Tribune) as 2026 inductees into the National Sports Media Association’s Hall of Fame. (link) 

The CAA has publicly reprimanded North Carolina A&T Men’s Basketball HC Montè Ross for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy during a Dec. 31 home loss to Northeastern. Per the conference, Ross was assessed a technical foul with 25 seconds remaining in the match-up and after the final horn, “confronted the officiating crew as they exited the floor and again in the area near the locker rooms.” (link)

Comcast officially announces the separation of the majority of its cable networks into a separate entity called Versant Media Group, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s Georg Szalai, who notes CEO Mark Lazarus and his staff will “lead the development of an independent strategy,” while also establishing the firm as a potential partner and acquirer of complementary media businesses. Cable channel Bravo, NBC and streaming service Peacock will remain part of Comcast’s entertainment arm NBCUniversal. Lazarus, who has been overseeing most of NBCUniversal’s TV operations as chairman of the NBCUniversal Media Group, remarks: ‘As a standalone company, we enter the market with the scale, strategy and leadership to grow and evolve our business model.” Szalai: “Media, entertainment and tech giant Comcast said on Monday that ‘Versant will commence regular-way trading today on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VSNT.’ … The deal was structured as a tax-free spinoff to Comcast shareholders. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and PJT Partners served as financial advisors to Comcast, with Davis Polk & Wardwell serving as legal counsel.” (link)  

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