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Next NCAA lawsuit

So, as MocsColts mentioned Wednesday, eight female athletes have filed a lawsuit questioning the settlement ruling in the House v. NCAA settlement.

Here’s more from The Athletic, and I believe this is a free link.

For starters, I think everyone expected this. Everyone.

“I think for so long female athletes have just been OK with getting whatever scraps are left and are told just to be thankful that they’re even competing and not aspire for more,” said Lexi Drumm, a College of Charleston business administration and political science major who is heading to law school in the fall. “Title IX is supposed to be a promise to get a full seat at that table and not just get the scraps.”

So this is the next of several legal dominos that will tumble.

Here’s my question for some of you legal eagles out there: Did the judge’s decision offer some cover with the specific wording of “revenue sharing” in the decision?

I think Title IX has for the most part been great, and that’s as a dad of a female athlete who hopes to be recruited in college. Not for the NIL, but for the love of the game.

I hate that the downside of Title IX has resulted in the growing number of men’s program terminations.

I fear that NIL and revenue sharing will have a similar effect, if not in termination of men’s programs but certainly in terms of de-emphasized importance and spending.

And that’s the thing. If this is truly based in revenue-sharing — and that revenue is not federally generated, which is the basis of Title IX disputes — is there a legal argument of gender differences in NIL shares?

Because, while Texas Tech decided to spend seven figures on a softball pitcher and attendance and interest is growing in several female sports (looking at you softball and gymnastics) there simply is no comparison to what revenue is generated from football and men’s hoops to every other sport and all women’s sports.

Thoughts?

It’s that time

So, we are in mid-June — June 12 to be exact — which means we are looking for football things to discuss.

Exhibit A: Aaron Rodgers. All of it.

Exhibit B: We are overly concerned about whether Trey Hendrickson resigns from Cincinnati.

Exhibit C: Kirk Cousins talking to the media as a $40 million back-up is news.

Well, the same is true for our favorite version of the game — college football.

In fact, I find myself wandering down the rabbit hole of “overhyped/underhyped” rankings.

And realizing that this is June 12, and we are a full two months before teams are popping pads in earnest, here is my overrated, underrated and properly rated of the teams of local interest.

> Tennessee. Properly rated with a lean to maybe overrated. And I’m not sure there is a bigger swing player we’ll mention in this than transfer QB Joey Aguilar.

> Alabama. Overrated. I am not sold on Kalen DeBoer. And this is a sneaky big year for the coach and THE coach. Especially since this will be the last full roster of the Dark Lord’s recruiting prowess.

> Georgia. Properly rated. I believe in Gunnar Stockton. Oscar Delp is Brock Bowers-lite. The WR room is as good as it’s been in a long time and the defense is always stocked with talent. I’ve never been a believer in OC Mike Bobo, but the talent cupboards are Stockton-ed. (Spy?)

> UTC. A touch underrated. I think there is a lot of talent working over there next to Manker Patten. My only question centers on whether the program’s leadership is ready to finally deliver in a make-or-break moment.

> Auburn. Underrated. Granted, I am an eternal optimist when it comes to my alma mater, but the QB play has to be better. The WR room is top-five nationally. The defense has multiple Sunday dudes on it. And the coaching staff best be extremely motivated to win now or they are going to be asked to win elsewhere.

True or false on a Thursday, there is no hotter seat in the SEC (and maybe the country) than Hugh Freeze’s?

Got any specific teams you want an “overrated/underrated/properly rated review”? Feel free to fire away in the comments.

Basketball eyeballs

Several things here.

So the Pacers took Game 3 of the Finals and now leads 2-1. The basketball has been entertaining.

But this Pacers-Thunder matchup has a major viewership issue. Game 1 was historically low. Game 2 was worse with only 8.76 million viewers on average. The only Game 2s worse were the bubble year of Lakers-Heat in 2020, the Cavs-Spurs in 2007, which aired opposite the series finale of “The Sopranos” and a Friday night Nets-Spurs game in 2003. Yikes.

Second, as USA Today reported, the WNBA goes as Caitlin Clark goes, no matter what her peers think say or do.

From the national newspaper, according to Nielsen numbers, “Nationally televised WNBA viewership is down 55 percent since (Clark’s) injury. Fever national TV games are down 53 percent since Clark’s injury – 1,810,000 average viewers before her injury and 847,000 viewers since her injury for Fever national TV games.”

Finally, and this is much-needed, college basketball is taking steps to improve the flow of games in the final minutes.

The changes are designed “to help with the flow of the game focus on the points of emphasis for officials for 2025-26. These will include directives to address delay-of-game tactics, limit time spent at the monitor, improve game administration efficiency and reduce physicality.”

Yay.

This and that

› The U.S. Open is underway. War Aberg.

› Is there a national sports storyline that causes your eyes to glaze more than the Knicks head coaching search? Not for me. When the topic comes to the replacement for Tom Thibodeaux on the four-letter network, I instantly reach for the remote. Is there an NCIS rerun on somewhere?

› You know the rules. Here’s Paschall with some UT football goodness.

› So yes, the Pope does wear a funny hat. And in this case, it’s a Chicago White Sox cap. Yep, those White Sox. Who knows, maybe he’s a big fan of Easy E and NWA. Probably not, but maybe.

› Braves played. Braves won. Wait, what? Nice game for Spencer Schwellenbach, who threw a complete game in the 6-2 win over Milwaukee, and Ronald Acuña Jr., who went 3-for-5 and is hitting .353 since returning to action.

Today’s questions

It’s an AGT — Anything Goes Thursday — so we’ll start here:

Larry Bird thinks the NBA is going to “have to do something” in terms of moving the 3-point line back.

Do you agree? Would you rather move the 3 back or instill a 4-point line several feet back?

Also, how much of the NBA Finals have you watched?

What schools should I review in the “overrated/underrated/properly rated” ratings?

As for today, it’s June 12, let’s review:

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” premiered on this day in 1981. Great movie.

Mariah Carey’s debut album dropped on this day 35 years ago. Great voice.

Marv Albert is 84 today.

It is also National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.

Does the peanut butter cookie make the Rushmore of cookies? Go, and remember the mailbag.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball season may have ended 11 days ago, but the team and players are both still being recognized as some of the best in the college baseball landscape, and one of those players, while unsurprisingly, is none other than sophomore outfielder Drew Burress.

Burress was recognized yesterday as one of the top players in his position, as he was named to the First Team All-American team, joining outfielders Zulu Irish from the Auburn Tigers and Devin Taylor from the Indiana Hoosiers. This is Burress’ second straight appearance on the list, and the first Yellow Jackets player to do so since Deck McGuire did it in 2009 and 2010.

Burress continued his illustrious career for the Yellow Jackets in his sophomore season, after having perhaps the greatest freshman season of any player in program history. Burress would lead all Power 4 conference players in doubles, claiming 23 over the course of the season.

The Yellow Jackets seen many impact players on the team this season, such as the emergence of freshman phenoms Alex Hernandez and Caleb Daniel, but having Burress return to the team was something that the Yellow Jackets needed. It gave them a familiar face and a bat to lean on when the lineup wasn’t exactly doing the greatest.

Burress is the only ACC underclassman to make the team, as he heads into what could possibly be his best season yet on The Flats next season. Burress is currently sitting at 44 home runs, which is just 13 short of the program record.

Eight female athletes filed an appeal of the House v. NCAA settlement Wednesday in a California federal court, arguing that the landmark agreement violates Title IX. The appeal only addresses the back damages portion of the settlement, not the portion that establishes the system of direct revenue sharing with athletes.

The watershed settlement, approved late Friday night by federal judge Claudia Wilken, has been years in the making. Last October Wilken granted the settlement preliminary approval, then waded through hundreds of objections filed over the ensuing eight months. Many of those objections were related to Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education and requires schools to offer equitable opportunities to women, including in sports.

Wilken was unmoved by those objections, repeatedly saying the antitrust case had nothing to do with Title IX. But she did leave the door open for future lawsuits based on Title IX targeting how future payments from schools to athletes will be made.

The appeal will not impact revenue sharing — slated to start July 1 for all schools that have opted in — but will pause the back-pay damages portion of the settlement.

John Clune, an attorney who represents the eight women filing the appeal, said he also filed an objection during the settlement adjudication process but that nothing came of it.

“We felt like we were standing on the table waving our arms that somebody had to address this issue, but none of the parties involved wanted to address it, and the courts didn’t want to address it,” Clune told The Athletic, saying Title IX was “deliberately ignored.”

“This was the only option.”

“The injunction set by the court and agreed to by the NCAA, defendant conferences and student-athlete plaintiffs provides significant stability to college sports and enables schools to provide direct financial benefits to students-athletes totaling nearly 50% of athletics department revenue,” the NCAA said in a statement Wednesday. “The NCAA is moving forward with implementing the settlement injunction to deliver this massive win for student-athletes.”

“The Title IX issues do not belong in this antitrust case,” said Jeffrey Kessler, one of two lead plaintiffs’ attorneys in House v. NCAA. “They were thoroughly considered and properly rejected by the district court. Yet these objectors are callously delaying the distribution of damages to more than one hundred thousand athletes waiting for them so that they can quixotically pursue Title IX issues that have nothing to do with this settlement.”

The eight women represented in the lawsuit are Kacie Breeding from Vanderbilt; Lexi Drumm, Emma Appleman, Emmie Wannemacher, Riley Hass, Savannah Baron and Elizabeth Arnold from the College of Charleston; and Kate Johnson from the University of Virginia.

Drumm, a recently graduated soccer player, said she joined the appeal because female athletes have not been given the same priority as male athletes, especially those that compete in traditional revenue-generating sports such as football and basketball.

“I think for so long female athletes have just been OK with getting whatever scraps are left and are told just to be thankful that they’re even competing and not aspire for more,” said Drumm, a business administration and political science major who is heading to law school in the fall. “Title IX is supposed to be a promise to get a full seat at that table and not just get the scraps.”

The appeal argues that the $2.8 billion in damages set to be distributed to former athletes who couldn’t earn NIL (name, image and likeness) money before 2021 violates Title IX because female athletes will be paid less than football and men’s basketball players.

“I understand in a professional sphere that, I totally get it, different salaries, different revenue,” the 22-year-old Drumm said. “That’s a business, but college athletics, wasn’t supposed to be that. And I think that we need to take a step back and realize the implications that it’s having on female athletes.”

Clune said the settlement suggests “schools would have paid male athletes over 90 percent of their revenue over the past six years as though Title IX didn’t apply. If Nike wants to do that, that is their choice. If the school, or a conference acting on the school’s behalf tries to do that, they are violating the law.”

“They can either pay the athletes proportionately, or they can return all of their federal funds,” he said. “But they can’t do both.”

Clune said his clients “support a settlement of the case, just not an inaccurate one that violates federal law. The calculation of damages is based on an error to the tune of $1.1 billion. Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error … Congress has expressly rejected efforts to prioritize benefits to football and basketball from Title IX’s requirements.”

Clune said the Title IX implications for future payouts are still to be determined. In the meantime, the appeal process is a “slow burn,” with a briefing schedule and oral arguments likely to be set in the next nine to 12 months.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if we see lawsuits against schools for those (rev share) payouts at some point,” he said.

(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)

June 6 will be remembered as a day that changed the world of college sports forever—especially for both student-athletes and small universities like Seton Hall.

After five years of litigation, Judge Claudia Ann Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement on Friday. Starting July 1, universities will be able to directly share revenue with their student-athletes for the first time in history—bringing an end to a system based on “amateurism” that stood for over 100 years.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Grant House and Sedona Prince, two former student-athletes who believed the NCAA’s rules which prevented them from compensating, despite them generating immense revenue for their respective universities, was unfair and exploitative. They also sought damages for student-athletes like themselves who lost NIL opportunities to profit before the NCAA’s 2021 policy change, which allowed compensation from third parties and collectives for that very reason. 

While intended for student-athletes, the landmark decision benefits others as well. To ensure an equitable distribution of revenue and a level playing field, a key component of the $2.8 billion settlement is an annual cap system that allows universities to share up to $20.5 million directly with student-athletes. With universities held to the same revenue-sharing standard, this part of the settlement will be beneficial to smaller universities—like SHU—who struggle to compete with larger universities that have greater access to resources and funding.

As previously discussed in The Setonian, a lack of resources was a detriment to SHU’s men’s basketball program last year. Amidst what was the worst season in program history, NJ.com reported that SHU’s NIL budget was an estimated $1.5 million—the lowest in the conference.

With the settlement, that budget will increase exponentially, and the future of the men’s basketball program will look brighter than last year may have suggested.  

As such, the news of the settlement was well-received and embraced by the SHU community—especially the university’s athletics department. On Tuesday, just a few days after the news, SHU Director of Athletics Bryan Felt discussed the settlement and its impact on the university in a press release posted to the university’s athletics website.

“This past weekend marked a defining moment not just in the history of college athletics, but in the heart of the game we all love,” Felt said.

Before discussing the settlement, Felt first ensured that the university’s mission and commitment to its student-athletes hadn’t changed following its approval.

“First, let me say this: our commitment to excellence has never wavered,” he said. “Our overall mission, as we have navigated the constant changes within college athletics, has [always] been the commitment to our student-athletes and how we position ourselves for long-term success.”

Following what was a tough year for SHU basketball, especially for the men’s program, Felt thanked the community for being “the heartbeat of the program(s)” and staying loyal “through [both the] highs and lows.” 

“You’ve packed Prudential Center and Walsh Gym, followed us on the road, believed in our student-athletes, and lived and breathed Pirate Blue,” Felt said. “[And] for that, I thank you deeply.”

Felt said that the university’s “revenue sharing efforts will be geared towards men’s and women’s basketball,” something that most schools will not be able to do because they have to divide their revenue amongst their football and basketball programs, with the former taking a majority. 

Along with other Big East universities, SHU’s lack of a football program will allow them to invest almost exclusively in their basketball programs.

Felt also added that by switching to a roster cap model, SHU Athletics can offer more student-athletes scholarship opportunities across 14 varsity sports. 

In anticipation of the settlement’s approval, Felt said that Athletics had been working tirelessly to “ensure Seton Hall not only adapts but thrives in this new era” of revenue-sharing and student-athlete compensation.

“We have had to make difficult decisions that include operational reductions, and I’m deeply grateful to our university administration and campus partners for their collaboration throughout this critical planning process,” Felt said.

And yet, although Athletics is responsible for providing the framework for the future of the university’s athletic programs, Felt called on the support of the Pirate community to help that future become a reality. 

 “Your support—whether through ticket sales, donations to the Pirate Blue Athletic Fund, corporate partnerships, or simply showing up and making noise—fuels (our programs),” he said. “It ensures Seton Hall remains a force in the Big East and on the national stage.” 

Felt concluded the press release by emphasizing that collaboration between the university’s department and fans is key to not only helping SHU return to its former glory and but also for the university to become a leader in this new era of college sports.

 “Let’s show the world that Seton Hall is ready—not just to play, but to lead,” Felt said.

Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.

COLLEGE PARK, MD — Maryland men’s soccer head coach Sasho Cirovski has announced the schedule for the 2025 season. The schedule features non-conference road match-ups against Wake Forest and Georgetown, as well as a home contest against Pitt. In conference play, the Terrapins host the likes of Northwestern, Michigan, Rutgers, Indiana, and Washington at Ludwig Field.

“We are excited about the challenge that this schedule will pose for our squad as we head into the season”, said Coach Cirovski. With a strong group returning players and talented newcomers coming into the fold, we are thrilled with where this team is as we prepare for the 2025 campaign. The goal at Maryland as always is to strive for excellence and compete for championships, and we believe this schedule will prepare us for the tasks ahead.”

The Terrapins open their 2025 season on the road against Wake Forest on Aug. 21, a rematch of the 2024 NCAA Tournament second round meeting. The Terps then return to the DMV on Aug. 25, as they travel to the Nation’s Capital to face Georgetown.

The Terps return to Ludwig for their first home match of the season, hosting Bucknell on Aug. 29 for the first Friday Night Lights match of the season. This begins a three-game home stand where the Terps will also face Saint Francis (Sept. 1) and Pacific (Sept. 6).

Maryland begins Big Ten play on the road in 2025, traveling to Wisconsin on Sept. 12. The Terps then return home for a match against Pitt on Sept. 19.

This will mark the first meeting during the regular season between the Terps and the Panthers since the 2013 season, when both teams were members of the ACC. The Terps defeated the Panthers in that last meeting by a score of 2-0 at Ludwig Field.

Maryland closes out the month of September with a pair of conference opponents, first traveling to State College for a road match against Penn State on Sept. 23. The Terrapins then return home to College Park to face Northwestern on Sept. 26

The Terps open up the month of October with a trip out west to face UCLA on Oct. 3. The match will be the 15th all-time between the Terps and the Bruins, with the series tied at 6-6-2. The two programs met last season in College Park, playing to a 1-1 draw.

This is followed by two home matches for Maryland, first hosting Michigan on Oct. 10. After a home contest with the Wolverines, the Terps host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Oct. 14. The Terps then hit the road to the Buckeye State for a match against Ohio State on Oct. 18.

The Terps finish October with a three-pack of contests at Ludwig Field, beginning with an Oct. 24 fixture against Indiana. The Terps then face New Haven (Oct. 27), before closing out the month on Halloween Night against Washington.

The Terps will close out the regular season on the road, traveling to East Lansing to face Michigan State on Nov. 7.

Game times for the season are subject to change, with television designations announced at a later date.

Eight starters from the 2024 squad will return for the Terps, including First Team All-Big Ten performer Leon Koehl, Second Team All-Big Ten honoree Colin, as well as Big Ten All-Freshman Team goalkeeper Laurin Mack.

Terp fans can now purchase a Maryland Athletics Pride Pass for the upcoming athletic season for $99. The Pride Pass is an all-Olympic sports season ticket that admits the holder to all events for the following sports: Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Volleyball, Men’s Lacrosse, Women’s Lacrosse, Wrestling, and Baseball. Terrapin Club members can purchase a Pride Pass for $89. To receive this discounted offer, click the link here to login and the discounted price will be displayed.