• Retiring Cal State Fullerton AD Jim Donovan tells Spectrum News’ Brian McInnis that “it’s time [to step aside] because I've been working full-time for 41 years, all of it in intercollegiate athletics — six and a half for ESPN being the Executive Director of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, but the rest of time at UH and Cal State Fullerton. And you know, I'm closer to 67 than I am 66 and I thought I would spend more time with my family.” Donovan also weighs in on the current state of college sports, noting that “the change has been so dramatic, especially literally in the last year or two, now that the student-athlete can transfer once a year for the whole time period they're in school and with NIL. While there are limits per school of $22M that it can pay out, you can still have outside consortiums. So I try to explain to people in the simplest terms, it's really free agency with no salary cap.” (link) 
• The Big West is partnering with TrackMan to serve as the league’s exclusive ball tracking technology provider. Through the deal, the company is providing nine of the conference’s 11 baseball programs with a live dashboard for in-game data such as exit velocity and spin rate via in-dugout tablets. (link) 
• Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reports the NCAA “won an appeals case today in another eligibility suit. The Ninth Circuit vacated a district court's ruling that granted Nevada baseball player Noah Blythe a 6th year of eligibility. Blythe argued that his JUCO seasons should not count against NCAA eligibility standards. Blythe was competing for the Wolf Pack this season through the district court's injunction after the NCAA denied his waiver. He is now ineligible. The NCAA has now won more than two-thirds of the 60+ eligibility lawsuits filed against it. It has spent $16M+ in legal fees.” (link) 
• Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has officially signed Assembly Bill 1034 into law, providing the Wisconsin athletic department with $14.6M in facility debt service relief while formally codifying state NIL protections. (link) 
• The Softball Oversight Committee has recommended expedited legislation to modify the sport's notification-of-transfer windows, anchoring the primary portal entry to a 15-day period beginning the Monday following the Women's College World Series alongside a secondary window from December 1-15. In addition to the portal adjustments, the committee introduced proposals for the June 2026 legislative cycle to permanently allow any institutional staff member to provide tactical and technical instruction during practices and games, formalizing a blanket waiver approved for the current season. (link, link) 
• The Track and Field and Cross Country Oversight Committee is evaluating modifications to the sport's transfer portal and postseason scoring models. To streamline roster management, administrators expressed support for consolidating transfer entry periods into a late-spring and midyear window, noting a strong preference that the portals open only after the conclusion of the respective cross country and outdoor track and field national championships. (link)
• UNLV expects to have $10.75M in revenue sharing funds for the 2026-27 academic year, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mick Akers, who notes that’s up from $7.5M in NIL/rev share from 2025-26 and way above the $1.2M in NIL funding from back in 2024-25.  (link) 
• New Mexico State’s three-year jersey sponsorship deal with Inn of the Mountain Gods, which it calls its "largest annual partnership," is for $350K per year through the 2028-29 season. According to the Las Cruces Sun News’ Nick Coppola, the annual fee will be paid in seven $50K increments across each season. (link)  
• NCAA President Charlie Baker this week indicated that multiple NCAA committees are actively working to resolve conflicts within the corporate partner program to allow sponsor jersey patches during postseason play. “Sources told SBJ in recent weeks the expectation is schools that have sold such assets ahead of their postseason berths will be allowed to maintain them, though exact machinations are still being worked out.” (link) 
• President Donald Trump’s full executive order has been published and will go into effect on August 1. On transfer rules, the EO calls for a return to the one-time transfer rule, with the ability to transfer again once graduating. Participation is limited to a five-year period “with limited exceptions for military service, missionary service, and other periods of absence from participation that are in the public interest.” The EO calls for transfer windows to not “incentivize interference with athletic seasons or the academic year, or otherwise undermine the integrity of participation and competition in college athletics.” The order calls for revenue sharing that preserves or expands women’s and Olympic sports, prohibiting federal funds to be used for NIL or revenue sharing and prohibiting improper financial activities, including “collectives or other entities or methods used to facilitate third-party, pay-for-play payments.” Other notable items include a national agent registry and a call for the Attorney General to “take appropriate measures to further meritorious actions to invalidate State laws that conflict with interstate intercollegiate athletic governing body rules.” Full order. (link) 
• “Will this actually do anything?” That’s the question Ross Dellenger poses, while writing for On3, about President Trump’s recent Save College Sports executive order. The NCAA’s recently-proposed alteration to an age-based eligibility rule would satisfy one of the administration’s directives, but there are eight more to fulfill.  (link) 
• As for ESPN’s Dan Murphy on the executive order: “Multiple lawyers who work with colleges and their athletes told ESPN they believe that judges would rule the president's order to be unconstitutional and unenforceable if challenged in court. … Sources said the employment debate remains as one of the largest obstacles to reaching a compromise.” (link) 
• The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the NFL regarding potential anticompetitive tactics linked to the league's media distribution strategy and the soaring cost for fans to watch games, according to The Wall Street Journal's Jessica Toonkel and Dana Mattioli. Amid growing consumer frustration over a fragmented viewing experience that increasingly requires multiple streaming subscriptions, regulators and lawmakers are questioning the continued validity of the league's antitrust protections granted by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, and Toonkel & Mattioli note the federal scrutiny arrives as the league weighs whether to exercise an early opt-out clause to renegotiate its broadcasting pacts—including a $2.1B annual agreement with CBS triggered by the Paramount and Skydance merger—in pursuit of higher rights fees from deep-pocketed tech platforms. (link) 
• Despite strict NCAA prohibitions, sports betting remains popular among college athletes who utilize legal platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel alongside bookies to supplement their finances, according to Front Office Sports' Victoria Newsome. (link) 
• The NCAA has published new performance tech recommendations for responsible use and student-athlete impact around policy, education, data management, technology selection and continuous improvement as a framework for member schools to consider while crafting their own protocols, per SBJ’s Joe Lemire. NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Casiero emphasized schools should follow the twin pillars of “only collecting what is necessary and doing so transparently,” as well as “always grounding everything you’re doing around supporting student-athlete health and well-being,” adding: “With the complexity of it and, honestly, the wild, wild west nature of performance technology right now, this certainly seemed like the most feasible way to give guidance to the membership in a way that allowed for flexibility, but also brought awareness to the pieces that were of utmost importance.” (link)  
• March Madness Cinderellas have been effectively eradicated by the transfer portal and NIL, according to The Mercury News' Jon Wilner. With programs seeded 13th or lower going a combined 0-24 over the past two postseasons, former NCAA SVP for Championships Greg Shaheen suggests the selection committee could help smaller schools build at-large resumes by tweaking the NET rankings to incentivize high-majors to schedule true non-conference road games, though the budgetary pressures of revenue sharing make surrendering home ticket sales highly unlikely. Shaheen went on to point to the bleak reality facing lower-resourced athletic departments, noting that fans must adjust their bracket expectations to fit the modern collegiate economy: "Cinderellas still could happen, but the programs at the top are only going to get better. You can’t draw that back in. College sports is coming to terms with what the free market is. You have to accept the blessings and the curse. That might mean we have to redefine what Cinderella is." (link) 
• The College Sports Commission has released a memo providing reminders, updates and other information related to third-party NIL deals and institutional revenue share, in conjunction with the basketball transfer portal. Here are some key takeaways… 
  • On range of compensation: “Last month, the Board of Managers of the CSC approved a new enforcement policy whereby the CSC will not subject deals valued between $600-$2,500 to range-of-compensation review unless and until a student-athlete has reached a total of $15K in Associated deals in an academic year. This policy will allow the CSC to focus its resources in NIL Go on higher-dollar deals. The CSC will evaluate the effect of the new policy in the coming months to determine whether further adjustments are needed. With the support of the Board, the CSC is also now providing more transparency regarding the range-of-compensation when deals are ‘not cleared’ because they exceed that range.” 
  • Regarding Associated Entities, the commission reiterated that any entity not involved in the payment execution of a deal does not qualify as a facilitator and thus does not need to be identified in the deal submission process. Further: “Since a deal Facilitator is, by definition, providing payment to a student-athlete, deals in which the Facilitator is an Associated Entity are subject to review for range of compensation. This fact pattern occurs most commonly in deals in which the institution’s MMR partner is an Associated Entity and acts as a Facilitator. Pursuant to the rules, ‘Associated Entities’ include entities that exist, in significant part, to promote or support a particular Member Institution’s athletic department and those entities that create or identify NIL opportunities solely for a particular Member Institution’s athletes. In addition, Associated Entities include any entity that (1) has been directed or requested by an institution’s athletics department staff to assist in the recruiting or retention of prospective or current student-athletes, or (2) has assisted in the recruitment or retention of prospective or current student athletes. … As such, an entity that has been directed or requested by an institution’s athletics department to make NIL payments to student-athletes qualifies as an Associated Entity.” 
  • As for agent fees and contract release obligations: “The CSC has received reports that institutions are directing third parties to make payments on behalf of student-athletes to cover fees owed to agents and fees owed to prior institutions (sometimes referred to as “buy-outs”) in order to circumvent the benefits cap. This conduct is not permitted and, if discovered, may result in discipline for both the institution and the student-athlete. The CSC will soon require that institutions provide additional information regarding payment of agent fees when submitting institutional revenue share agreements in CAPS.” 
  • The commission has reached out to schools and student-athletes about cleared deals in which student-athletes never performed the stated obligations. 
  • As a reminder on warehousing NIL rights: “Contracts in which MMRs or other partners pay student-athletes for their NIL with no information about who will ultimately use that NIL will likely run afoul.”(link, link) 
• Online student-athlete abuse appears to be escalating, according to SI’s Pat Forde, who notes early data from online monitoring agency Signify on this year’s NCAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball tournaments has highlighted growth in performance-related abuse, much of it due to gambling losses. (link) 

   QUOTES OF THE DAY   

• "Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge." — Simon Sinek 

• "You can't do everything. But you can do anything, one thing at a time." — Alex Mandossian 

• "Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes it's built on disaster." — Sumner Redstone 

As Spring Championship Season unfolds across The Big West, we are reminded that this time of year reflects the very best of college athletics — preparation, resilience and opportunity. 

At the same time, important conversations are taking place nationally that will shape the future of Division I athletics. The work ahead requires thoughtful leadership, collaboration, and a continued commitment to the student-athlete experience. 

Thank you for all that our campus administrators do each day to support our student-athletes, our campuses, our championships and our conference. I look forward to seeing many of our school personnel, student-athletes and fans this month as championship season continues across The Big West. 

Dan