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NCAA House Settlement Delayed by ‘Infighting’

Squabbles between NCAA, P4 holding up agreement

Author

Steve Ulrich
July 18, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

JULY 18, 2024 | written by STEVE ULRICH

The news that you need to know about non-scholarship college athletics and those that love it.
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» What We’re Hearing. “The use of technology in sports, especially wearable technology is something that’s rapidly evolving,” Liberty League commissioner Tracy King said. “We felt this was an opportunity for us to be on the forefront of Division III.”

TOP STORY
1. NCAA House Settlement Delayed by ‘Infighting’, per Plaintiffs’ Lawyer

by Daniel Libit, Sportico

“The proposed $2.8 billion settlement in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit will not, as originally hoped, be submitted to a U.S. District Court today, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer Jeffrey Kessler.

In a telephone interview Monday morning, Kessler blamed “infighting” between the NCAA and its power league co-defendants for the hold-up.

“The NCAA and the conferences have been extraordinarily slow, and we are really pushing them to speed this up,” Kessler said. “They just have to get their act together or frankly we are going to go to the court.”

» Court Awareness. “On May 30, both sides filed a joint stipulation asking for the court to pause deadlines in the action as they worked to iron out a long-form settlement agreement, anticipating that it would be presented to the court by Sunday. Last week, the sides again jointly petitioned the court requesting that their pending motion for preliminary settlement approval could exceed the traditional 25-page limit.”

» Between The Lines. When asked, Kessler says that he is so far “not aware” of any members of the proposed settlement classes that are wanting to opt out. “Why would there be defections?” Kessler said. “The past damages are one of the largest antitrust recoveries in history, period - not just in sports cases … We are estimating that over the next 10 years this will provide athletes on the order of $20 billion in new benefits they couldn’t otherwise receive. There is not a lot not to like about this.”

ACADEMICS

2. Onsrud, Mencaccini Headline Academic All-America At-Large Teams

College Sports Communicators put a bow on the 2023-24 season with the announcements of its 2023-24 Academic All-America® Women’s and Men’s At-Large teams.

Illinois Wesleyan’s Lexi Onsrud and VTSU Castleton’s Lorenzo Mencaccini were named the Academic All-America At-Large Team Members of the Year.

Onsrud, a kinesiology and allied health major, was named the 2024 CCIW Woman of the Year, captured the NCAA DIII Elite 90 award for golf, while compiling a 4.0 GPA. She posted a scoring average of 75.9 over 26.5 rounds in 11 tournaments in 2023-24.

Mencaccini, a management major with a 4.0 GPA, swept nationals to become the fifth individual alpine ski championship in program history. He finished his senior season with six United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association race wins and five runner-up placements.

TENNIS

3. 7-Point Dual Scoring Comes to DIII

“The ITA and the NCAA have announced a one-year, joint pilot of the 7-point dual match scoring format for Division III tennis during the 2024-25 season.

The pilot will be mandatory for all 2024-25 ITA non-conference dual matches and will also take place at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships.

As per ITA rules, individual conferences will continue to determine which scoring format (9-point or 7-point) they will use during conference play. At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, a survey of the membership will be conducted with both the ITA and NCAA then making a final decision on whether to make the proposed format an official rules change.”

» Driving The News. “Pilot is aimed at addressing dual match duration and the growing calls from Division III coaches, administrators, and conference officials to consider scoring format changes aimed at reducing the overall time it takes to complete a collegiate tennis dual match.”

ACADEMICS

4. NCAA Launches Officiating Reform Initiative

“The NCAA has extended its current agreement with RefQuest Plus, its officiating services provider, and is implementing a long-term strategy to provide additional resources and tools to assist all conferences in addressing concerns about officiating.

Starting with the 2024-25 academic year, the NCAA will cover the cost of the RQ+ officiating platform, including payment transaction fees and signature software costs, for Division II and III and single-sport conferences. Additionally, the NCAA will supplement up to $10,000 in platform costs for Division I conferences.”

» What It Means. “This initiative provides collective benefits for schools, conferences, student-athletes and officials by: Offering immediate financial relief for conferences; Increasing the number of NCAA-registered officials from about 23,000 to over 35,000; Ensuring better-educated officials and consistent officiating through national standards in education and training opportunities; Identifying and addressing regions experiencing officiating shortages, among others.”

» What They’re Saying “We are committing the financial resources to aid conferences and growing the next generation of officials while better educating and supporting current ones,” said Anthony Holman, NCAA vice president of championships.”

NEWS
5. Lightning Round

📰News. Roger Williams president Ioannis Miaoulis nearly missed out on a $1 million lottery prize, after forgetting about a purchased MegaMillions ticket on February 2. His ticket matched five numbers without the Mega Ball, qualifying for a $1M prize. Miaoulis had placed the ticket in a drawer and did not reopen it for five months.

⚾️Baseball. Congratulations to the three DIII players who were drafted by MLB teams this week - Trent Youngblood (Transylvania, 10th round, Arizona), Nolan Sparks (Rochester, 13th, St. Louis) and Hunter Dryden (Willamette, 17th, San Francisco).

🏈Football. The Liberty League will employ in-game play calling technology during the 2024 season. “Here is how it works: from the sideline, coaches dictate play calls from a tablet, which beams instruction to wearable devices on athletes’ wrist or waistbands. That communication is encrypted, ensuring security in the cloud, and transmitted over 5G.”

📖PROP. The Playing Rules Oversight Panel has been busy with decisions in men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s water polo, and softball.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

1 THING
7. Nasty

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