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NCAA SVP of External Affairs Tim Buckley participated in a discussion about federal legislation and college sports as part of the Knight Commission meeting last week. Key takeaways…

➤ Buckley reiterated the NCAA’s position that “student-athlete leaders at every level of the NCAA are opposed to becoming employees. They cite not wanting their coach to become a boss. They cite the tax implications that come with being an employee. Our schools at every single level, every single subdivision of Division I and across the association, are opposed to their student-athletes becoming employees. They cite the ruinous cost implications of such a change. … I don’t think there’s a school out there in the United States of America today that could afford to turn all of their student-athletes to employees, increase their FTE headcount by 10, 15, 20% overnight. There would be cuts.” 

➤ For comparison, Buckley noted the House settlement is optional; therefore, “schools don’t have to participate in the House settlement. And even if they opt in, they can participate at any financial level they want. There’s no minimum. There is just the cap. Employment would not be optional.” 

➤ Buckley also extolled the SCORE Act as the “first bipartisan bill that enshrines into federal law NIL rights for every student-athlete, health and mental health, and academic benefits.” He contrasts that with the SAFE Act, which he argues “appears to undo a lot of that authority that your smaller schools – and especially your Division II and Division III – now have in the process, and it would replace it with a government-appointed board that has tremendous authority to withhold media-rights revenue from schools if certain conditions aren’t met.” Buckley also noted: “Unfortunately, the SAFE Act does not address employment, but the SCORE Act does. That’s one of the central reasons we are advocating for it.” 

➤ Finally, Buckley defended the NCAA’s revenue distribution and governance as “direct democracy” and points out that lawsuits and legal uncertainty stalled progress but are easing. Furthermore, he projects continued revenue growth and emphasizes that effective rule enforcement requires limited liability protections from Congress.

➤ Here’s the full video. (link)

The RMAC names WIAC (DIII) Commissioner Danielle Harris as its next commissioner starting December 1. Adams State President/RMAC Presidents Council Chair David Tandberg: “I am thrilled to welcome Danielle Harris as our new RMAC commissioner. She brings a wealth of experience, new ideas, and infectious enthusiasm. She won over the entire search committee and Presidents Council with her bold vision and track record of success. I would also like to express, on behalf of the Presidents Council, our sincere and deep appreciation to Lexie Vernon for her leadership as interim commissioner over the past several months.  She led and managed the conference operations with professionalism and grace.” Parker Executive Search assisted with the process. (link)

DII and DIII will stream all championship games not covered by existing ESPN or CBS media rights agreements on NCAA.com for free through a partnership with Hudl and TNT Sports. In total, the initiative will livestream over 1,200 games. Also of note, all DII and DIII championships will be promoted with the help of the NCAA Fan Database, which has more than 13M subscribers. VP of DII Terri Steeb Gronau and VP of DIII Louise McCleary: “We are excited to continue this strategic partnership to enhance the Division II and III brands by providing seamless and free access to every round of our team championships. This initiative presents a unique opportunity to highlight the extraordinary talents of our student-athletes and the rich diversity of our institutions and conferences to a broader audience. Building on the impressive viewership data from last year, we confidently anticipate a surge in audience engagement for our upcoming Division II and III championships.” (link)

Puck’s John Ourand examines Texas Tech (DI) Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell’s claim that pooling media rights could generate upwards of $7B and explains: “Last year, ESPN bought a package of rights to 40 NCAA championships, including women’s basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, etcetera, for $920M over eight years. Some of the more popular sports in this package, like women’s basketball, could probably command a higher rights fee on their own. But that would devalue the rest of the package and orphan some of the smaller sports, like swimming and diving or track and field. Campbell insists that he’s in this for the long haul. But media executives and college administrators see his ideas as nonstarters. I was reminded of this current dialectic while listening to my partner Matt Belloni interview TKO top executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro on his podcast, The Town. A mere two months ago, Shapiro doubled the UFC’s rights fees via a seven-year, $7.7B deal with Paramount. You might think he’d be optimistic, especially when the NBA is about a week away from starting its $76B deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, and the NFL is about to open up its deals early—a move that will take even more money out of the market. Instead, he was cautious and sober. ‘It’s the middle that’s going to get cut out,’ Shapiro told Matt, though he might have offered the same advice to Campbell.” (link)

Earlier this month, the DII SAAC discussed questions around NIL solicited by the DII Legislation Committee. SAAC did not “express interest” in signing NIL deals with their school, citing concerns around student-athletes attending the school with the best NIL offer and “the potential risk for dividing a school's student-athletes based on the level of their NIL agreement.” Further, the group also unanimously opposed allowing schools to enter NIL agreements with high school student-athletes before enrolling in college. The group did support third parties that have an affiliation with their institution to sign NIL deals with student-athletes and the requirement to report NIL agreements worth $600+. SAAC had “mixed feedback” on an entity outside the NCAA, a school or a conference ensuring NIL compensation was fair, weighing the ability to eliminate bias with concerns of overlooking individual nuances of students or deals. (link)

Hillsdale and Northwood have created a new trophy that will be awarded to the winner of Saturday’s matchup, the Riepma Cup, named after former Hillsdale student-athlete and Northwood HC/AD Pat Riepma. Check out the tiered trophy topped with a leather helmet. (link)

Fundraising Developments…
➤ Embry-Riddle’s Athletics Week of Giving raised over $166K. (link)
➤ Bluefield State’s inaugural Athletics Day of Giving brought in $115K. (link)

Deal Digest…
➤ Ferris State inks a three-year deal with FanWord to use the AI-powered FanWord Assist platform to support its storytelling efforts. (link)
➤ Missouri-St. Louis partners with Mercy to be the Tritons’ sports medicine provider with a dedicated primary care sports medicine physician, physician coverage at events and more. (link)
➤ Wayne State (MI) teams up with Podium X to provide student-athletes with career development and personal marketing tools. (link)

Coaches.wire…
➤ Barry hires its first Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse HCs in Lander Men’s AC Alex Williams and Roberts Wesleyan Women’s HC Kristin Paolini. (link, link)
➤ Newman Director of Bowling Billy Murphy is no longer serving in a dual role as Asst. AD for Athletic Advancement & Business Operations but continues to lead the Jets’ Bowling program. (link)
➤ This morning’s edition of Coaches.wire is ready for your review. (link)

More Higher Ed…
➤ UAH President Charles Karr will retire at the end of this academic year. (link)
➤ Clark Atlanta and Morehouse will each receive $16.5M from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation through a decade-long scholarship investment to support students that need gap funding to graduate. (link)