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🎉 Hello, July. Welcome to the new fiscal year and a budget line that is flush with cash for the first time in quite a while.

TOP STORY
1. The Conference Shuffle 2024-25

July 1 means new core membership in conferences as a new year begins. Eight conferences have officially added new members, while six have subtracted members, at least according to our count.

Here is a look at the “conference shuffle” for 2024-25.

• Atlantic East: Adds Pratt Institute (from C2C)

• CCC: Adds Johnson & Wales (from GNAC)

• CCS: Adds Asbury

• E8: Adds Brockport, Geneseo (from SUNYAC), SUNY Poly (from NAC)

• HCAC: Adds Berea (from CCS). Subtracts Defiance (going DII)

• SCAC: Adds Concordia TX, U. of Ozarks, McMurry (from ASC)

• SUNYAC: Adds SUNY Canton, SUNY Morrisville (from NAC)

• United East: Adds Penn State Brandywine

NCAA

2. NCAA Spent $61.5M on Legal Fees During FY23

by Daniel Libit, Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico

“The NCAA spent $61.5 million in legal fees in the year that ended in August 2023, according to the organization’s most recent 990 tax filing, as it continued to defend its business model in the face of multiple antitrust lawsuits.

The $61.5 million is the organization’s second-highest annual total in at least the last 12 years, and likely its second highest total ever. The NCAA reported $53 million in fiscal 2022, $52.5 million in 2021 and $67.7 million in 2020. Going back a decade—before the bulk of the antitrust lawsuits took hold—it was typical for the organization to spend less than $10 million.”

» Notable. “The document also provides insight into former president Mark Emmert’s compensation in his final years on the job. Emmert, who agreed to step down effective June 30, 2023, was paid $3.3 million in the in the 2022 calendar year, including $2.8 million in base pay, comparable to his pay the prior year. The document also says that Emmert received another $4.3 million in severance when he left in June 2023. That number will be reflected in next year’s tax return.”

» The Big Picture. “The organization reported a record $1.26 billion in revenue, fueled largely by its annual TV contracts with CBS and Turner for the men’s basketball tournament. The NCAA’s total employee base continues to drop. It was 591 in calendar year 2022, down from a high of 657 in 2019. It had been 600-plus in every year from 2013 to 2020.”

» Be Smart. Division III received $35,320,923 in revenue in FY23 from its 3.18% NCAA operating revenue allocation.

» Continue Reading

LAW

3. Supreme Court’s Chevron Rejection Could Upend NCAA, College Athlete Cases

by Michael McCann, Sportico

“The U.S. Supreme Court Friday overruled a 40-year precedent that had provided federal agencies with substantial deference in interpreting federal law. The Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will mean that agency decisions impacting the sports industry, such as whether college athletes are employees and whether noncompetes for sports executives are legal, will be more vulnerable to challenge in federal court.

With agency deference gone, whether the National Labor Relations Board concludes college athletes are, or are not, employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act could prove more vulnerable to legal challenge. The NLRB is in the process of determining if Dartmouth College men’s basketball players and USC football and men’s and women’s basketball players are employees of their school and, in the case of USC, also employees of their conference and the NCAA.”

» Court Awareness. “Other areas of the sports industry where Loper Bright may end up playing a key role include the FTC’s attempt to ban noncompetes and to regulate influencers, as well as periodic calls to entrust the FTC with overseeing college sports agents.”

» What They’re Saying. “Chevron’s presumption is misguided,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “because agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do.”

» Go Deeper

TECHNOLOGY
4. Highlighting DIII Sports With AI

by Eric Prisbell, On3.com

“Good luck finding a fan who has heard of WSC Sports, whose own company description – the global leader in AI-powered video content – doesn’t fully capture everything the Israel-based startup does for sports organizations.

But ask veteran executives in the NBA’s central office and they’ll tell you why the company has been a game-changer for the league over the last decade.

WSC’s AI-powered tech analyzes games in real-time and curates and distributes countless variations of highlights – limited only by what type of plays the imagination desires – to digital channels and social media accounts.”

» Driving The News. “It works with more than 450 sports organizations worldwide and is intent on making a big splash in college sports at a time when schools are increasingly looking for new ways to strengthen bonds with fans who absorb content in different ways.”

» What It Does. “Say you want a highlight clip of every Luka Doncic-made basket and assist in the first quarter of each NBA Finals game, it can do that and share to any number of digital or social platforms in real-time.”

» Worth Noting. “The NBA has about 1,500 rules in its platform that create about 2,000 pieces of content in a given game night – with WSC’s AI-powered tech saving countless man-hours. For one game, WSC’s process may take one minute versus 30 minutes if it were done manually.”

» Keep Reading

NEWS
5. Lightning Round

» 🗞️ News. “The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports supported a plan to reinstate the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program data request process. The program provides injury surveillance data to researchers. The data sharing has been paused since 2018 while the committee considered policy and procedural changes. The process may be reinstated by as early as this winter.”

» 🗞️ News. Our condolences to the family and friends of former Bates cross country/track and field coach Al Fereshetian Jr. who passed away on June 22.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

• AVERETT - Tye Cole resigned as head women’s soccer coach. Colton Dutchess named head coach

• FARMINGDALE STATE - Robert S. Prezant named president

• FERRUM - Eric Owens named head baseball coach

• HUNTINGDON - Katelyn Gilmore named head women’s golf coach

• MAINE-PRESQUE ISLE - Mark Knight named head women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director

• MARIAN - Dan Nelson named assistant athletic trainer

• MITCHELL - Kaitlin Thibodeau-Corey named head softball coach

• ROANOKE - Nick Breschi named head swimming coach

• SAINT JOSEPH’S (Maine) - Caroline Barnes named associate athletic director for external relations

• TUFTS - Paul Svagdis resigned as head baseball coach

• UPPER MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE - Jason Smith named coordinator of softball umpires

• WAYNESBURG - Chris Brunson named head softball coach

• WHEATON (Mass.) - Adriana Owen named head swimming and diving coach

• WILLIAM PEACE - Mark Crisco resigned as head men’s lacrosse coach

• WILSON - Dylan Ward named head women’s basketball coach

• WPI - Mickey Cahoon named head women’s volleyball coach

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