#10: Tulane (DI) Sports Law Director Gabe Feldman shares the following takeaways: The fact that all Ivy League (DI) schools are private makes it more likely that the full NLRB will uphold the ruling because all Ivy athletes will have the ability to unionize. Although collective bargaining in pro sports is b/w the players union and the entire league, the Regional Director held that it's ok for the union to represent a single team and negotiate with a single school. … The key to the employee status is that Dartmouth exercises significant control over the basketball players' work, including travel, practice and play time, and ‘special permission is required for a player to even get a haircut during a trip.’ The Dartmouth basketball players perform work in exchange for ‘compensation’ despite the fact that they don't receive athletic scholarships. Instead, they receive many other benefits, including early admissions reads, apparel, meals, lodging, etc. ‘Employee status will be found where there is a rudimentary economic relationship,’ and payment/compensation ‘need not be large or otherwise significant in amount.’” Feldman also notes the ruling is “careful to explain why it wouldn't make student musicians, etc. employees (because they're not subject to the same control as athletes and don't have to ask permission to get a haircut), but it could make most college athletes employees, even in DIII.” (link, link) |
#9: The ASC will implement a double round-robin conference Football schedule for 2024, with each of its four members playing home-and-homes with its peers, per Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s Cory Hogue, who adds the move will leave each member to schedule four non-conference matchups. (link) |
#8: USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz via X: “Lawyers for plaintiffs in Chuba Hubbard antitrust lawsuit against NCAA and major conferences that pertains to Alston academic achievement awards have filed motion that seeks to give the case class-action status. [...] The plaintiffs’ case is being led by attorneys Steve Berman and Jeff Kessler, who also led Alston case and are leading the pending House case that has been granted class-action status for damages claims that could be worth billions. [...] Filing states that plaintiffs’ economics expert “preliminarily estimates” that $313 million in damages should be awarded to athletes this case seeks to cover. Under antitrust law, if awarded at trial, this amount would be tripled — so nearly $1 billion potentially at stake here.” (link) |
#7: Notre Dame (MD) Field Hockey HC Cassidy Coates is no longer leading the Gators. (link) |
#6: Vivature CEO Mouzon Bass and President Lance West Wilson, along with physician Robert Brent Scott, have been indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Another physician, Kyle Carter, has been charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud. The indictments allege that from roughly 2014-2023, Bass and Wilson used Vivature to submit false claims to private insurance carriers purporting that physicians, like Scott and Carter, were providing medical services for injured student-athletes at universities across the country. According to the DOJ, the services were actually performed by athletic trainers employed by the universities who were specifically excluded from insurance companies’ reimbursement policies. In total, the defendants are alleged to have collectively obtained more than $70M, which they used to purchase property, including a multimillion dollar home, lakehouse, and an international residence; and bought a multimillion dollar yacht. (link) |
#5: The Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee proposed substitution rules changes for men's competition, effective for the 2024 season. The committee also recommended stopping the clock on all substitutions in the last 15 minutes of the second half and in overtime periods. Additional recommendations include expanding video review for potential PK situations, straight red card situations, offside violations and fouls that deny obvious scoring opportunities. Also, the committee is proposing using the sudden-victory format for postseason play. (link) |
#4: The first Men’s Basketball (link) and Women’s Basketball (link) regional rankings have been released. Reminder, these first rankings are in alphabetical order. |
#3: SACSCOC has placed Guilford on probation. (link) |
#2: SUNY Poly selects Hartwick AD John Czarnecki as its next AD. President Winston Soboyejo: "His nearly 20 years of experience in college athletics is very impressive. His commitment to the academic excellence of the student-athletes he comes in contact with aligns perfectly with our university's vision of becoming the State and nation's premier public polytechnic." (link) |
#1: Baldwin Wallace will eliminate 23 staff positions and 13 academic programs, continue its hiring freeze and more as it looks to trim $17M from its budget. (link, link) |
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