MEDIA REPORTS ON BIG WEST, NCAA AND LEGAL MATTERS   

• The Men's and Women's Basketball Committees have released details on the penalties and reporting requirements for the March Madness player availability reporting program. Through official player availability reporting service provider HD Intelligence, teams must submit initial reports to the NCAA by 9 p.m. (local competition venue time) the night before competition and provide any updates to the initial report by two hours prior to their scheduled tip time on game day to ensure accuracy, with the portal set to open five hours prior to the reporting deadline each day. Under the reporting structure, student-athletes will be designated as available (more than a 75% chance to play), questionable (up to a 75% chance to play) or out (will not play). Failure to adhere to the policy or misconduct violations may result in penalties for the institution and head coach, including up to a $10K institution penalty for a first offense, up to a $25K institution penalty for a second offense and up to a $30K institution penalty and HC penalty of up to $10K. These availability reports will serve as a pilot program and not be implemented for other championships in 2025-26 while the program is being evaluated.   (LINK) 
• The NCAA is urging ADs and HCs to prepare for "extreme flexibility" regarding March Madness travel logistics as a potential government shutdown and spring break demand threaten private jet availability, according to Sportico's Daniel Libit and Eben Novy-Williams. In a memo, the association outlined new mandatory deadlines for flight manifests—enforced by $10K fines per occurrence—and confirmed that previously planned expansions to the family travel program have been scrapped for the 2026 tournaments. While the travel portal administered by Short’s Travel Management will still provide charter flights for parties of 75 during preliminary rounds and cover up to 9,000 pounds of equipment, the NCAA warns that current market volatility necessitates a departure from traditional scheduling preferences: “There are no other events at the national level that present the logistical travel challenges of these two tournaments, which are occurring at the same time compounded by an already busy travel season. … As a result, adjustments to the realities of the current travel marketplace must be made.” (LINK) 
• President Donald Trump’s new college sports council is expected to advocate for an antitrust exemption in its effort to explore legal reforms to college sports, per Sportico’s Michael McCann and Eben Novy-Williams. Here’s what you need to know… 
  • A“Even if an antitrust exemption for college sports became law, it would not, by itself, resolve the looming prospect of college athletes gaining recognition as employees and potentially unionizing. … Ironically, college sports could obtain an antitrust exemption without congressional action. If the NCAA and its member schools were to collectively bargain rules governing wages, hours and other working conditions with a college athlete union, those rules would be protected by the non-statutory labor exemption.” 
  • “History and contemporary legal practice aren’t on the side of Congress granting an antitrust exemption, and even when exemptions are enacted, the Supreme Court has stressed they must be narrowly construed. … Courts can also create antitrust exemptions, but such decisions are rare and beyond the authority of a presidential commission. … But the council shouldn’t be ignored. It has heavy hitters who collectively possess substantial influence in the sports world and likely will get receptive audiences in the halls of Congress.” (LINK)   
• Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark joins Puck's John Ourand to unpack the conference's "basketball-first" branding strategy and the potential decoupling of media rights ahead of the 2030-31 negotiation cycle. Despite the industry standard of assigning roughly 90% of media value to football, Yormark has successfully driven a 27% surge in men's basketball viewership and a 44% spike in women's ratings by leveraging a distribution network that includes ABC, CBS, Fox, TNT, and Peacock. Positioning the Big 12 as a premium asset capable of capturing a "second-best to the NBA" identity, Yormark notes the conference’s current stabilization and growth phases are designed to maximize optionality before returning to a marketplace that has historically undervalued the hardwood. More from Yormark… 
  • On the strategic decision to prioritize basketball: "Before you’re great at everything, you’ve got to be great at something. For us, it was a lot easier to be great at basketball than football. … It has played out this season. We’ve arguably been the most competitive conference in basketball for the last 10 years." 
  • His role as a promoter: "Ultimately it’s about the schools, their investments, and the decisions they make. I don’t play a role in that. But I can storytell. And I can promote. And I can market. And we can get our media partners to help activate and amplify what we do." 
  • As for the "nontraditional" approach to the 2030 media rights market: "As I think about building the branding … it’s about how we perform on the field. All of it sets us up for our moment in January 2030 when we go back into the TV marketplace. … Do you do it the traditional way? Do you do it the nontraditional way? Is there a hybrid approach? Who knows? Everything’s on the table." (LINK) 
• The Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill to exclude NIL earnings from the state's income tax, according to the Clarion Ledger’s Bea Anhuci, who notes the legislation could make the state an attractive destination for top student-athletes while also providing college coaches with an additional recruiting perk. Rep. Trey Lamar (R-Senatobia): “NIL is taking the country and coming by storm. Other states are doing it, and I believe it's time that Mississippi starts doing this as well.” Several other states with competing universities do not have state income tax, including Florida, Texas and Tennessee, while Arkansas passed a bill in 2025 to exempt NIL money from income taxes, meaning five SEC schools possess a notable advantage when it comes to recruiting. (LINK) 
• Louisville President Gerry Bradley, AD Josh Heird, and Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Laurence N. Benz co-authored a white paper detailing the existential financial crisis facing college athletics and proposing three significant structural reforms. Here’s how UofL’s leadership sees the future of the industry… 
  • Despite generating $1.28B in annual economic impact and $2.3B in brand exposure that actively drives student recruitment and overall institutional enrollment, the Louisville athletic department is operating at a $12.5M deficit and has drained its reserves from $34M to just $3.4M. Pointing to similar massive shortfalls and debt loads at institutions like Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers, the UofL leaders argue that the impending $20.5M burden from the House settlement will force an unsustainable zero-sum calculus that fundamentally threatens non-revenue Olympic sports. 
  • To save the enterprise, the executives are calling for Congressional action to grant an antitrust exemption, a modernized governing body to replace or empower the NCAA and the College Sports Commission (CSC), and a hard, NFL-style spending cap to govern the free market: "We must all agree on a system that reins in the arms race in coaching salaries and transfer-portal bidding wars, protects non-revenue sports from being squeezed out, ensures that revenue sharing with student-athletes is sustainable and predictable, and allows schools of all sizes to compete without bankrupting themselves. Without a hard and enforceable cap, the current trajectory is clear: a small number of programs will spend whatever it takes to dominate, the middle class of college athletics will hollow out, and hundreds of programs will be forced to cut sports, reduce scholarships, and abandon the student-athletes who depend on them." Full paper. (LINK) 

   QUOTE OF THE DAY   

“Life is too short. Those who say “money can’t buy you happiness” have obviously never bought tickets to a Big West Championship.”  - Unknown 

After all of Saturday night’s excitement, everything shifts to Henderson. 

For four days, Lee’s Family Forum becomes the center of The Big West basketball world — where seasons culminate, champions are crowned, and the dreams of hearing your name called on Selection Sunday become reality. 

Basketball Championship week is one of the best traditions in college athletics. The energy, the drama, the pride each institution brings to the floor — it’s what makes March special. 

If you can make the trip, we would love to see you there. Bring your family, bring your school colors, and help create the atmosphere our student-athletes deserve. 

The stage is set.

Henderson awaits. 

As Coach Norman Dale famously reminded us in Hoosiers, “The team that puts the ball in the basket the most wins.” 

This week, two teams will do exactly that. 

See you at the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Basketball Championships. 

Dan