Own the group chat with The Weekender, highlighting the biggest stories in college sports, standout writing from Eleven Warriors, and a glance at what's next.
HOUSE SETTLEMENT STABILIZES NCAA, APPEAL DELAYS BACK PAYMENTS TO ATHLETES AND CHALLENGES TITLE IX COMPLIANCE
Following the landmark House Settlement announcement more than a week ago, paving the way for schools to provide directly compensation to athletes via revenue sharing and triggering the NCAA to award $2.8 billion in back damages to former athletes, NCAA president Charlie Baker offered thoughts on the case outcome earlier this week.
Baker was at a wedding when he heard the news and while the NCAA is an organization constantly laughed at by many for its incompetence and lack of any foresight whatsoever across numerous on-field and off-field fronts, Baker was relieved the settlement, ending three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, reached conclusion.
Speaking at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention on Tuesday, Baker told the group, "no one in this room needs to hear me say that this is one of the biggest changes ever in college sports. I hope you also understand that it's a far better future than virtually every other alternative that could have been in front of us."
"Blame whoever you wish to blame. But the simple truth is clear: College sports' collective inability or unwillingness to change years ago put the entire enterprise at risk. Is the settlement disruptive? Very much so. But it is an opportunity for the D-I community to pay for back damages over 10 years, instead [of] triple that amount all at once. And it creates a future that comes with choices, instead of bankruptcy."
While the July 1 date to begin revenue sharing is full-go, an appeal filed the day after Baker's remarks will delay the disbursement of the $2.8 billon worth of back damages to former athletes and could even alter who receives those back payments. It's believed up to 90% of those funds would go to former football and men's basketball players under the current plan and the appeal suggests that violates Title IX.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL POWER BROKERS ZEROING IN ON HAVING JUST ONE TRANSFER PORTAL WINDOW
With the House Settlement approved, the folks running big time college football will soon try to finalize another hotly debated topic - the transfer portal. Nearly all of the sport's big time power brokers - from coaches to athletic directors to college administrators to conference commissioners - seem aligned in the thought of dropping from two portal windows (currently in December and April) to just one. The real conversation to be had is when that single portal window should take place.
According to The Athletic's Chris Vannini, in a meeting next Monday, the Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is expected to discuss the issue and hopefully emerge with a recommendation.
Informally polling those involved in the process, Vannini suggests most opinions support an early January portal window, with nearly 80% in favor.
Of course, some voices within the upper crust of college football note the difficulty of trying to navigate the portal while their programs are still neck deep in the College Football Playoff. At Ohio State, for example, both AD Ross Bjork and head coach Ryan Day have stumped for a spring transfer portal window.
“If we ever say that we care about academics and we want to live by that, then I think the transfer portal window should be in the spring. And then now that you have a revenue sharing contract, where you will have an MOU with an athlete, from a fiscal management standpoint, it's better to put it in the spring,” Bjork said earlier this week.
Day told Joel Klatt back in February, "for us, if we didn't have the second transfer portal window (in the spring), that is very, very difficult, because we're trying to make decisions about next year yet our year isn't even done yet. That affects your current roster, and it's just messy. So I think you got to have two portals, unless you're going to finish the season sooner. But if you're finishing the season on January 20th, you can't have just one portal window (in the winter).”
LEE CORSO'S FINAL COLLEGE GAMEDAY HEADGEAR PICK WILL TAKE PLACE IN COLUMBUS WHEN TEXAS VISITS OHIO STATE
It wasn't a well-kept secret but in any event, ESPN made it official earlier this week: Lee Corso's final College GameDay appearance will come on August 30 ahead of Ohio State welcoming Texas to the Shoe to kick off the 2025 schedule.
Corso, who will be 90 years old in August, returns to where he first launched his schtick of picking a winner for that site's game via donning the team or mascot's headgear.
The lovable Corso began his headgear tradition back in 1996, sporting a Brutus head as he correctly picked Ohio State to beat Penn State.
The Buckeyes are 19-6 when College GameDay comes to town.
Since Fox has TV rights for the clash, you already know the game itself will kick off at noon as part of Fox's Big Noon Kickoff and it's pregame show will also be broadcast from Columbus ahead of what should be an electric matchup.
ICYMI
OHIO STATE ATHLETICS BRINGS NIL UNDER ONE ROOF WITH FORMATION OF BUCKEYES SPORTS GROUP
With the NCAA's $2.78B House Settlement complete, which enacted new provisions for athletic departments and conferences to oversee their student-athletes' NIL earnings, the OSU athletic department and Learfield announced the formation of Buckeye Sports Group (BSG). The BSG will consolidate existing OSU-focused collectives, the 1870 Society and The Foundation, into one NIL management team under the Ohio State athletics department umbrella.
After the House Settlement set a revenue sharing cap of $20.5 million for the 2025-26 athletic calendar, Bjork clarified that OSU's cap for year one will be $18 million after the requirement to count any added scholarships - 91 in OSU's case, across 36 varsity sports - and those dollars will focused exclusively on football, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball.
OHIO STATE BASKETBALL UNVEILED A NEW SCARLET AND GRAY COURT FOR THE 2025-26 SEASON
For the first time, Ohio State's basketball teams will play on a predominantly gray court with scarlet accents when the programs hit the hardwood later this year. An interchangeable midcourt logo - either a scarlet block "O" like what you see at midfield in The Shoe or a super slick scarlet script "Buckeyes" - will greet fans and players on game days.
WHAT’S NEXT
- 76 Days: Buckeye football season-opener vs. Texas
- 139 Days: Jim Knowles returns to Columbus
- 167 Days: The Game
