NIL

Mountaineers Shut Out Texas Tech to Clinch Series

Story Links Next Game: at Pitt 5/6/2025 | 6 p.m. May. 06 (Tue) / 6 p.m. at Pitt MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team shut out Texas Tech, 5-0, Sunday afternoon at Kendrick Family Ballpark to claim the series. […]

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1 month ago

May 5, 2025

Your Sports Nation

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team shut out Texas Tech, 5-0, Sunday afternoon at Kendrick Family Ballpark to claim the series. The Mountaineers improve to 39-7 overall and 18-4 in the Big 12 while the Red Raiders fall to 16-28 and 11-13 in conference play.

Graduate student Jack Kartsonas tossed 7.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts while walking none, improving to 6-1 on the season. Junior Carson Estridge closed out the game with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings of work.

Senior Kyle West had two hits, including his 50^th collegiate home run. Senior Brodie Kresser drove in two runs while senior Grant Hussey drove in one.

The game remained scoreless until WVU put three runs on the board in the fourth, all coming with two outs. Kresser banged a double off the left-field wall to drive in two before coming around to score on a single by Hussey.

In the seventh, West crushed a two-run home run onto the roof of the new Biomechanics and Performance Center in right-center field.

Kartsonas and Estridge handled the rest as Texas Tech had a runner as far as third base just once during the game.

The Mountaineers will be back on Tuesday for the second edition of the Backyard Brawl this season. First pitch from Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh is set for 6 p.m.

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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NIL

Ohio State to share revenue with athletes from four sports in 2025-26

Ohio State will directly pay athletes playing for its football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams starting next month, athletic director Ross Bjork said. “Those are the four we’ll start with,” Bjork said. “We hope we can expand.” Related NCAA settlement article: What does the NCAA settlement mean for college sports? We answer […]

Published

22 minutes ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Ohio State will directly pay athletes playing for its football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams starting next month, athletic director Ross Bjork said.

“Those are the four we’ll start with,” Bjork said. “We hope we can expand.”

The payments are part of a revenue-sharing model taking effect as a result of a historic settlement of three antitrust cases against the NCAA and major conferences. A federal judge approved the settlement last week, allowing the payments to begin on July 1.

The Buckeyes are poised to share the maximum allowable revenue, which is estimated to be about $20.5 million over the 2025-26 academic year with increases by percentage points over the next decade.

As $2.5 million for the funding of additional scholarships across 36 varsity sports counts toward the school’s revenue share cap, Ohio State will be able to dedicate $18 million for paying athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness. The NIL deals struck between outside entities and athletes do not count against the cap.

“This is more opportunity for athletes than ever before,” Bjork said.

Bjork did not offer a breakdown of how the money would be divided among the Buckeyes’ four sports, but most is expected to end up going to football and men’s basketball, the highest revenue-generating sports for the athletic department.

According to financial records, football and men’s basketball were responsible for 95% of the department’s sport-specific revenue during the 2024 fiscal year.

In a previous interview with The Dispatch, Bjork said the Buckeyes were prioritizing paying athletes in the sports that maintain the highest market value and factored a variety of metrics to account for their popularity.

The impact of Title IX, the federal gender equity law, is expected to be more limited in revenue sharing after the U.S. Department of Education in February rolled back guidance requiring payments to be proportional among male and female athletes.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.

Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts

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Ohio State Athletics Director Ross Bjork addresses NIL strategy for student

Ohio State announced on Monday that it’s launching a new strategic group that’s designed to support, streamline and enhance NIL opportunities for student-athletes. COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State Athletics Director Ross Bjork discussed how the university will directly compensate student-athletes through revenue shares on Thursday. Bjork’s comments come after a federal judge approved the terms of […]

Published

33 minutes ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Ohio State Athletics Director Ross Bjork addresses NIL strategy for student

Ohio State announced on Monday that it’s launching a new strategic group that’s designed to support, streamline and enhance NIL opportunities for student-athletes.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State Athletics Director Ross Bjork discussed how the university will directly compensate student-athletes through revenue shares on Thursday.

Bjork’s comments come after a federal judge approved the terms of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement last week, which will allow schools to directly pay players through licensing deals.

You can watch the briefing in the player below.

“The signing of the House settlement Friday by Judge Claudia Wilken will reshape collegiate athletics. Ohio State and schools around the country will now be permitted to directly compensate student-athletes through revenue sharing, which is actually institutional NIL rights,” Bjrok said in a statement.

During Thursday’s press conference, Bjork said the university is set to distribute $20.5 million of revenue-shared dollars that can be given to an athlete. $2.5 million of that will be toward scholarships. The remaining $18 million will be shared between four sports: football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. Bjork said the university will use metrics to determine how much money is distributed to each sport.

Bjork hopes more sports will be added in the future.

Bjork said he the university is committed to offering 36 intercollegiate sports and providing scholarships to all 36 programs.

Ohio State announced on Monday that it’s launching a new strategic group that’s designed to support, streamline and enhance Name, Image and Likeness opportunities for student-athletes.

The strategic group will be called the Buckeye Sports Group.

Ohio State says a key part of the settlement is the implementation of a Fair Mark Evaluation process and a “range of compensation” designed to establish standardized benchmarks for NIL deals across sports and institutions. The Buckeye Sports Group intends to serve as a centralized hub for NIL brand deal facilitation, corporate partnerships, student-athlete storytelling and NIL support.

The Buckeye Sports Group will have access to Learfield’s Compass NIL technology to facilitate deal transactions and gain insights into student-athlete interests.

The group will support Ohio State student-athletes with a focus on three areas: deal facilitation and management, content creation and storytelling and support services.

In a move to streamline and optimize NIL operations, the group will work to consolidate existing NIL collectives under a single marketing team. The founding members of THE Foundation and The 1870 Society, two existing NIL collectives, will remain engaged and serve in an advisory capacity to the new group.

The university also announced a new internal resource center that it says will be designed to enhance success across varsity sports.

To read more about the new group, click here.

NIL

UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd announces major skincare NIL partnership

Fresh off a National Championship and graduation from UConn, Final Four Most Outstanding Player Azzi Fudd has added a major skincare partnership to her diverse NIL portfolio. Returning to the Huskies for another season with the chance to repeat, Fudd has fully taken the baton from former teammate Paige Bueckers as one of the most […]

Published

39 minutes ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd announces major skincare NIL partnership

Fresh off a National Championship and graduation from UConn, Final Four Most Outstanding Player Azzi Fudd has added a major skincare partnership to her diverse NIL portfolio.

Returning to the Huskies for another season with the chance to repeat, Fudd has fully taken the baton from former teammate Paige Bueckers as one of the most marketable and NIL-active athletes across the country. The All-Big East First Team member announced a new partnership with Paula’s Choice, as their first college athlete ambassador.

Through multiple Instagram collab posts with the brand, Fudd showcases the ease and efficiency of Paula’s Choice skincare wipes while staying active on the hardwood. In addition to social content, the brand will sponsor Fudd’s upcoming youth basketball camp.

“I’m very new to beauty, skin care, all of that stuff, but a lot of my friends use [Paula’s Choice] and so I’d tried some of their stuff,” Fudd told Glossy. “So when they reached out, I was super excited,”

“They have really amazing products,” Fudd continued. “[It’s a brand I feel good to] put my name next to – something that I can be proud of and not embarrassed by and that I use and want to use.”

As a redshirt junior this past season for UConn, Fudd averaged 13.6 points per game and led the Huskies with a 43.6 three-point field goal percentage. Battling injuries for most of her career, she started 30 games last year and is now positioned for an All-American senior campaign as the team leader, with Bueckers moving onto the WNBA as the Dallas Wings’ top draft selection.

Off the court, she has stared in NIL campaigns with Bueckers – including for Madison Reed, Bose and Oreo – but will certainly now be the face of a variety of brands as she is one of the most followed college basketball players in the country. Her previous partnerships include the likes of Under Armour’s Curry Brand, Raining Cane’s, Turbotax and JanSport, among others.

Fudd currently has a 97 “O2W Score” from Out2Win, the leading AI-powered athlete marketing intelligence platform – making her one of the top brand ambassadors in all of college sports.

– Enjoy more NIL Daily on SI –

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Kansas State star quarterback preps for Summer in new NIL campaign

Star Ohio State football commit Brady Edmunds using NIL money for the greater good

Documentary series on USC Player of the Year returns to follow injury recovery

NIL

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee Privacy Manager Link 0

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45 minutes ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee

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Judge denies Zeigler’s request for preliminary injunction trying to play 5th season

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge on Thursday denied Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing him to play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years. U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer listened to arguments in a hearing June 6 in Knoxville and entered her denial Thursday morning. […]

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1 hour ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer listened to arguments in a hearing June 6 in Knoxville and entered her denial Thursday morning. She wrote that Zeigler failed to demonstrate he would likely succeed on his argument that the NCAA keeping him from playing a fifth season of Division I basketball is a violation under the Sherman Act.

“This Court is a court of law, not policy,” Crytzer wrote in her order denying the injunction. “What the NCAA should do as a policy matter to benefit student athletes is beyond the reach of the Sherman Act and TTPA and by extension, this Court.”

The two-time Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year asked for an injunction when he sued the NCAA on May 20 over its rules limiting him to four seasons in a five-year window as an unlawful restraint of trade under both federal and Tennessee laws.

His lawsuit argues he could earn between $2 million and as much as $4 million with another season. His attorneys made clear this is just a first step in this legal fight.

“We are disappointed the Court declined to grant a preliminary injunction on the basis that the NCAA does not directly control NIL compensation, just days after the House settlement confirmed they would do exactly that,” according to a statement from Litson PLLC and the Garza Law Firm.

“This ruling is just the first chapter of what we believe will ultimately be a successful challenge. We intend to press forward and are evaluating the best path ahead for Zakai.”

The judge wrote that the harms Zeigler argues he would suffer can be addressed with a future damages award.

She also noted the “fixed number of roster spots” for each Division I basketball team and that “an injunction would run the risk of harming currently enrolled players committed to a university and current high school seniors being recruited.”

The NCAA argued in its brief before the hearing that Zeigler’s injunction request should be denied because he is asking the court to make him the first athlete in history to play a fifth season in Division I “as a matter of right.”

During the hearing, the judge asked Zeigler’s attorneys to file a quick brief answering whether or not Zeigler is an “intercollegiate athlete” as defined under state law and what legal standard applies to Zeigler’s claim under the Tennessee Trade Practices Act.

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NIL

Runnin’ Utes forward becomes first Utah player to sign revenue share agreement

Keanu Dawes and the Utah athletics department have officially entered the new era of college sports. The 6-foot-9 forward has decided to stick around the Salt Lake City area after becoming the first Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement with the school, per a news release. News of Dawes’ arrangement follows a U.S. […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Keanu Dawes and the Utah athletics department have officially entered the new era of college sports.

The 6-foot-9 forward has decided to stick around the Salt Lake City area after becoming the first Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement with the school, per a news release.

News of Dawes’ arrangement follows a U.S. district court judge’s decision to grant final approval of a landmark settlement that will allow colleges to directly pay their players through revenue sharing.

Utah athletics director Mark Harlan has already made his intentions of investing up to the maximum allowable in revenue share clear, as well as the creation of 23 new scholarships with a total value of about $1.2 million. Dawes is likely the first but certainly not the last Utes player, then, who will have an opportunity to grow their brand through this new avenue.

Starting July 1, institutions can begin sharing up to $20.5 million per academic year with their student-athletes. The House settlement will also see thousands of former players receive $2.8 billion in back pay and damages from the NCAA and its power conferences over the next decade. These new payments will be made in addition to scholarships and other benefits student-athletes already receive.

The long-awaited decision to cut down the NCAA’s 119-year-old amateurism model comes nearly three years after the Utah athletic department organized its Elevate U program, equipping student-athletes with the skills needed to capitalize on their NIL value. Utah student-athletes have earned more than $10 million collectively through charitable NIL activities and have dedicated nearly 7,500 hours to help several organizations achieve their missions and goals.

Dawes is coming off averaging 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting a team-best 61.4% from the field as a sophomore in 2024-25.