Sports

Nebraska volleyball adds three more commits to 2027 roster

Bob Devaney Center LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska volleyball is now up to five recruits in the class of 2027. Three commitments came in on Tuesday: Pulelehua Laikona, Shaye Witherspoon and Mallory Johnson. Laikona is a defensive specialist/libero who plays for the Arizona Storm. She is the No. 102 recruit in the 2027 class, according to […]

Published

3 weeks ago

June 18, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska volleyball is now up to five recruits in the class of 2027.

Three commitments came in on Tuesday: Pulelehua Laikona, Shaye Witherspoon and Mallory Johnson.

Laikona is a defensive specialist/libero who plays for the Arizona Storm. She is the No. 102 recruit in the 2027 class, according to PrepDig, and the No. 12 libero.

Witherspoon is ranked No. 10 by PrepDig and No. 11 by PrepVolleyball.

Johnson is also a defensive specialist/libero and is the No. 31 overall prospect, according to PrepVolleyball, and is ranked No. 68 by PrepDig.

Bonus!

— Dani Busboom Kelly (@danib18) June 17, 2025

They join Malorie Boesiger and Kendall Omorruyi in the 2027 class.

Categories: Husker Sports, Sports

Tags: GBR, High school volleyball, husker volleyball, Huskers, Mallory Johnson, Nebraska, Nebraska Volleyball, Pulelehua Laikona, Shaye Witherspoon, Volleyball, Volleyball commits

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272 Aggies Named To 2024-25 Big West Commissioner’s Honor Roll

– 272 UC Davis student-athletes were named to the Big West 2024-25 Commissioner’s Honor Roll on Thursday, encompassing 18 of the conference’s 19 sponsored sports. To be named to the honor roll, student-athletes must be on a team roster in a Big West-sponsored sport and be eligible for competition. There are three categories on the […]

Published

22 minutes ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

– 272 UC Davis student-athletes were named to the Big West 2024-25 Commissioner’s Honor Roll on Thursday, encompassing 18 of the conference’s 19 sponsored sports.

To be named to the honor roll, student-athletes must be on a team roster in a Big West-sponsored sport and be eligible for competition. There are three categories on the list based on GPA: Honor Roll (3.00-3.20), With Honors (3.21-3.50), and Highest Honors (3.51-4.00). The Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR) of each of the 11 Big West institutions submitted their lists to the conference office.

Of the 272 UC Davis student-athletes nominated to the Honor Roll, 133 Aggies earned Highest Honors.

Carter Delaney | Baseball | Highest Honors

Houston Hirchkorn | Baseball | Highest Honors

Bryson Schelp | Baseball | Highest Honors

Avery Thau | Baseball | Highest Honors

Tyler Wood | Baseball | Highest Honors

Matteo Blandino | Baseball | With Honors

Grayson Bonanno | Baseball | With Honors

Jack Castagnola | Baseball | With Honors

Edgar Frutchey | Baseball | With Honors

Evan Gentil | Baseball | With Honors

Alex Gouveia | Baseball | With Honors

Leighton Helfrick | Baseball | With Honors

Nick Leehey | Baseball | With Honors

Mason Lerma | Baseball | With Honors

Jack Meek | Baseball | With Honors

Braydon Wooldridge | Baseball | With Honors

Riley Acosta | Baseball | Honor Roll

Rowen Barnes | Baseball | Honor Roll

Holden Hirschkorn | Baseball | Honor Roll

Ryan Lee | Baseball | Honor Roll

Jaxon Murphy | Baseball | Honor Roll

Caden Pinnick | Baseball | Honor Roll

Carter Speights | Baseball | Honor Roll

Korey Williams | Baseball | Honor Roll

Anna Braun | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Kylie Miller | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Tabitha Mitchell | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Kate O’Steen | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Mia Olen | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Skye Smolinski | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Kendal Steller | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Reese Thai-Sandoval | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Emily Uhrinak | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Naina Urs | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Emily Von Goetz | Beach Volleyball | Highest Honors

Ava Berard | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Isabelle Comes | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Reese Fraser | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Ary Hawes | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Lindsay Heller | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Alexandra Leal | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Shelby Santos | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Brianna Volpp | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Kimi Waller | Beach Volleyball | With Honors

Julia Bodor | Beach Volleyball | Honor Roll

Juliana Chapman | Beach Volleyball | Honor Roll

Kirra Martin | Beach Volleyball | Honor Roll

Alexandra Rodgers | Beach Volleyball | Honor Roll

Kaitlyn Smyth | Beach Volleyball | Honor Roll

Nils Cooper | Men’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Lukas Prongos | Men’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Niko Rocak | Men’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Connor Sevilla | Men’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Marsalis Roberson | Men’s Basketball | With Honors

Pablo Tamba | Men’s Basketball | With Honors

Carl Daughtery | Men’s Basketball | Honor Roll

Leonardo DeBruhl | Men’s Basketball | Honor Roll

Ryann Bennett | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Sydney Burns | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Megan Norris | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Tova Sabel | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Avery Sussex | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Theoni Tsami | Women’s Basketball | Highest Honors

Sahana Kanagasabay | Women’s Basketball | Honor Roll

Jade Bai | Women’s Golf | Highest Honors

Lauren Calderon | Women’s Golf | Highest Honors

Vani Karimanal | Women’s Golf | Highest Honors

Elina Kuang | Women’s Golf | Highest Honors

Abigail Leighton | Women’s Golf | With Honors

Skyler May | Women’s Golf | With Honors

Marina Mata | Women’s Golf | Honor Roll

Elvira Rastvortseva | Women’s Golf | Honor Roll

Luke Goodman | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Jason Hsu | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Talin Morgan | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Diego Orosco | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Matiello Rafael | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Ensio Sardans | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Noah Schwengeler | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Marco Smith | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Kevin Welch | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Brandon Won | Men’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Scott Buie | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Hayden Carlson | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Andrew Dutra | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Marcus Garcia | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Cason Goodman | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Gabe Haggerty | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Gavin Leypon | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Zachary Lillington | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Cole McLemore | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Cole Pond | Men’s Soccer | With Honors

Declan Horio | Men’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Ian Ngonethong | Men’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Cole Powell | Men’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Chase Tanon | Men’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Joshlyn Aguirre | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Sydney Bushman | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Keylei Carroll | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Ava Ellingson | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Mckayla Farrell | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Sage Frudden | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Caeley Goldstein | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Megan Gover | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Devyn Simmons | Women’s Soccer | Highest Honors

Taylor Dever | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Keeley Grove | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Charlotte Henness | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Isabella Mayo | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Lakelee Perkins | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Viet-Thy Tran | Women’s Soccer | With Honors

Genavieve Fontes | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Ashleigh Garcia | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Kylie Garcia | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Teresa Garcia | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Kylee Redman | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Samantha Ruelas | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Samantha Tristan | Women’s Soccer | Honor Roll

Sofia Anderson | Softball | Highest Honors

Amanda Baldwin | Softball | Highest Honors

Mikaela Buscemi | Softball | Highest Honors

Alyssa Dethlefson | Softball | Highest Honors

Sophia Eftekhari | Softball | Highest Honors

Isabella Holtz | Softball | Highest Honors

Naomi Kalanetra | Softball | Highest Honors

Claire Shelton | Softball | Highest Honors

Vanessa Calvillo | Softball | With Honors

Stefani Ramirez | Softball | With Honors

Rylee Reeves | Softball | With Honors

Caroline Grimes | Softball | Honor Roll

Grace Kilday | Softball | Honor Roll

Marley Panziera | Softball | Honor Roll

Ashley Sawai | Softball | Honor Roll

Brienna Weekes | Softball | Honor Roll

Olivia Anderson | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Gabi Bellin | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Jordan Bindseil | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Christy Douglas | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Karina Giacomazza | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Kayla Gregory | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Ellie Heit | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Ema Klimauskas | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Anagha Kondury | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Elsie Luisetti | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Sophia Mackay | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Katie McLain | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Summer Mitchell | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Ella Palmer | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Malia Panganiban | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Taylor Schwarz | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Ayanna Thompson | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Aileen Zheng | Women’s Swim and Dive | Highest Honors

Leila Busch | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Madeline Ching | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Taylor Hansen | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Lauren Kudo | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Emily Scheberies | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Mackenzie Young | Women’s Swim and Dive | With Honors

Elena Gingras | Women’s Swim and Dive | Honor Roll

Haley Hoefer | Women’s Swim and Dive | Honor Roll

Samantha Rhodes | Women’s Swim and Dive | Honor Roll

Leinaala Wong | Women’s Swim and Dive | Honor Roll

Kaveh Taheri | Men’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Ryan Torres | Men’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Perry Di Giulio | Men’s Tennis | With Honors

Lucas Bollinger | Men’s Tennis | Honor Roll

Sam Devries | Men’s Tennis | Honor Roll

Isabella Bringas | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Claire Galerkin | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Mika Ikemori | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Solia Valentine | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Kaia Wolfe | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Penelope Wong | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Maya Youssef | Women’s Tennis | Highest Honors

Polina Marakhtanova | Women’s Tennis | With Honors

Francesca Castro | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Ashleigh Christy | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Chiara Fantin | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Rachel Fruchtmann | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Dominika Janik | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Riley Lankford | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Haley Large | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Sydney Mccann | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Kadidja Sangare | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Aiza Sarwar | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Trisha Sharma | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Maya Shinnick | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Francesca Villain | Women’s Track and Field | Highest Honors

Elizabeth Churchill | Women’s Track and Field | With Honors

Hannah Crone | Women’s Track and Field | With Honors

Sarah Graessley | Women’s Track and Field | With Honors

Lily Holman | Women’s Track and Field | With Honors

Ashpreet Kler | Women’s Track and Field | With Honors

Chinyere Egbuziem | Women’s Track and Field | Honor Roll

Elle Middleton | Women’s Track and Field | Honor Roll

Elizabeth Povey | Women’s Track and Field | Honor Roll

Lauren Spellman | Women’s Track and Field | Honor Roll

Demi Cole | Women’s Volleyball | Highest Honors

Reese Diersbock | Women’s Volleyball | Highest Honors

Kendall Rogers | Women’s Volleyball | Highest Honors

Haden Bones | Women’s Volleyball | With Honors

Ally Chandler | Women’s Volleyball | With Honors

Brooke Hibino | Women’s Volleyball | With Honors

Mia Starr | Women’s Volleyball | With Honors

Olivia Utterback | Women’s Volleyball | With Honors

Ximena Cordero | Women’s Volleyball | Honor Roll

Alexa Hogan | Women’s Volleyball | Honor Roll

Baxter Chelsom | Men’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Brody Crouch | Men’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Leonardo Glessmann | Men’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Timothy Kerr | Men’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Mac Marr | Men’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Aleix Beltran | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Joshua Davis | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Colton Fine | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

William Nomura | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Austin Quick | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Oleg Shatskikh | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Will Stryker | Men’s Water Polo | With Honors

Waylon Fox | Men’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

JT Kujawa | Men’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

Colin Nicholls | Men’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

Nina Albers | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Sofia Bozzo | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Harper Gilbert | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Lucy Holland | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Kelly Hungerford | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Chelsea Johnson | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Bridget Miller | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Gianna Nocetti | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Caroline Oates | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Sarah Shaw | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Lillie Vehling | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Ashley Wallin | Women’s Water Polo | Highest Honors

Eva Baker | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Liberty Massman | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Madison Sparre | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Maddie Sumner | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Margo Tempel | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Kathryn Westphal | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Samantha Yoo | Women’s Water Polo | With Honors

Sarah Ellis-Keller | Women’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

Taylor Gair | Women’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

Ally Smith | Women’s Water Polo | Honor Roll

Muhammed Ahmed | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Alex Bobowski | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Michael Cooper | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Zachary Graeber | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Caden Hicks | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Chance Tokubo | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Ethan Brooks | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Hayden Brooks | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Nick Herrmann | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Jacob Lawrence | Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Honor Roll

Emily Allison | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Hope Bergmark | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Kirra Fisk | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Maddie Kackley | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Cassidy Kajita | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Fiona McGrath | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Jocelyn Pacheco | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Kayla Towne | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Lauren Villegas | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Stormy Wallace | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Natalie Wieland | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Highest Honors

Kiah Aitken | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Dani Barrett | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Jenna Calvert | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Shae Hill | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Tauren Mitchell | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Kayla Rutz | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | With Honors

Brooke Butler | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Honor Roll

Grace Dunham | Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field | Honor Roll

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Kirby Smith Joins Ohio Dominican as Director of Compliance

Story Links COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican University athletic department announced a new Director of Compliance on Thursday (July 10). As announced by Jeff Blair, the Ohio Dominican Athletic Director, Kirby Smith joins the Panthers athletic department following the retirement of Associate AD/Director of Compliance Sandy Rowley last month. “We are thrilled […]

Published

40 minutes ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican University athletic department announced a new Director of Compliance on Thursday (July 10).

As announced by Jeff Blair, the Ohio Dominican Athletic Director, Kirby Smith joins the Panthers athletic department following the retirement of Associate AD/Director of Compliance Sandy Rowley last month.

“We are thrilled to have Kirby Smith join our staff at Ohio Dominican as our new Director of Compliance,” said Blair. “Her experience in compliance will make her a tremendous asset to the Ohio Dominican athletic department and our teams.”

Smith spent the last three years as the Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance at Eastern Kentucky University. Smith worked to oversee compliance of NCAA, Atlantic Sun Conference and EKU policies and procedures.

“I am very excited to join the Ohio Dominican University athletic department,” shared Smith. “I want to thank Jeff Blair, the hiring committee, and the ODU community for welcoming me into the ODU Athletics family and making me feel at home immediately. I am looking forward to diving in and getting to work.”

She graduated in 2022 with her Juris Doctorate from Southern Illinois University School of Law. Smith earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a Criminal Justice emphasis and a Minor in Forensic Studies from McKendree University in 2019. She was a four-year track and field student-athlete for the Bearcats.

While pursuing her law degree, she was a Compliance Intern at both Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois Universities.

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UTA’s Shadrick, Utah Tech’s Isaacson Chamberlain Named 2024-25 WAC Stan Bates Award Winners

Story Links ARLINGTON, Texas – University of Texas at Arlington men’s track and field student-athlete Brady Shadrick and former Utah Tech University women’s basketball student-athlete Emily Isaacson Chamberlain have been selected as the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Stan Bates Award winners for the 2024-25 academic year. Named in honor of former WAC […]

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1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

ARLINGTON, Texas – University of Texas at Arlington men’s track and field student-athlete Brady Shadrick and former Utah Tech University women’s basketball student-athlete Emily Isaacson Chamberlain have been selected as the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Stan Bates Award winners for the 2024-25 academic year.

Named in honor of former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates (1971-80), the award is given to one male and one female student-athlete who have demonstrated excellence in academic achievement, athletic accomplishment and exceptional character and community engagement. A $10,000 postgraduate scholarship is endowed to the winners.

Shadrick, a native of Killeen, graduated with a 3.88 GPA a degree in clinical and applied physiology from UT Arlington in 2025. Shadrick was included on the Academic All-WAC team in both the winter and spring seasons in 2024 and 2025 and was included on the Sun Belt Conference Commissioners List in 2022. Shadrick also received the B.G. Wilson Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award from UT Arlington in 2024, which is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete who best epitomize the ‘student-first’ and ‘athlete-second’ mantra.

Shadrick claimed four first team All-WAC citations in multis events, earning first team honors in the decathlon from 2023-25 while adding a first team heptathlon scroll in 2024. Shadrick added second team accolades in the javelin (2023 and 2025), the heptathlon (2023) and the pole vault (2025).

Away from the track, Shadrick was a member of the UT Arlington Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) from 2021-25. Shadrick volunteered with the Miracle League of Arlington, assisting special needs children who play baseball, and with Cards for Cubs, a group that wrote and organized cards for foster children, as part of UTA SAAC. Shadrick was also a member and co-leader of Team Student-Athlete from 2022-25, leading meaningful conversations about leadership while trying to find ways to improve the resources available to UTA student-athletes.

Chamberlain, a native of Perry, Utah, graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.98 GPA and a degree in recreation and sport management from Utah Tech in the spring of 2023. Chamberlain was a four-time Academic All-WAC recipient (2020-23, 2025), a 2022-23 College Sports Communicators All-District selection and the 2025 Utah Tech True Trailblazer Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Chamberlain was a three-year starter for Utah Tech, being selected for the all-conference second team in 2021-22 after averaging 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Over 104 career games played (96 starts), Chamberlain registered an average of 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game at Utah Tech. Chamberlain exited as the program’s career leader in 3-point field goal percentage (.400) and 3-pointers made (259), and fourth in career rebounds (599) and blocked shots (66).

Outside of basketball, Chamberlain was a member of the Utah Tech SAAC from 2022-25, serving as the department’s president from 2022-24, and was a Utah Tech representative with the WAC SAAC group in 2024-25. Chamberlain was a scholarship recipient for the NCAA Career in Sports Forum in June of 2024, visiting the NCAA headquarters to take part in interactive workshops and seminars focused on enhancing leadership skills and career readiness in the sports industry.

— WAC —

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Track & Field’s Brady Shadrick Announced As Stan Bates Award Winner

Story Links ARLINGTON, Texas – Brady Shadrick was named the winner of the Stan Bates Award, as announced by the Western Athletic Conference on Thursday afternoon. The annual award was named in honor of former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates and is given to the WAC’s top male and female scholar-athletes. It recognizes […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

ARLINGTON, Texas – Brady Shadrick was named the winner of the Stan Bates Award, as announced by the Western Athletic Conference on Thursday afternoon.

The annual award was named in honor of former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates and is given to the WAC’s top male and female scholar-athletes. It recognizes athletic, academic and community accomplishments. The award includes a $10,000 postgraduate scholarship.

Off the track, Shadrick was very active within the community, volunteering with Miracle League, an inclusive baseball program for children with disabilities, and Cards for Cubs, which sends uplifting messages to children in foster care. He’s supported hazing prevention programs, Fresh Check mental health events with CAPS, and helped collect thousands of food items through canned food drives. He’s also supported clothing drives and volunteered at the Trail or Treat Halloween event, among others.

In the classroom, Shadrick graduated with a 3.88 GPA a degree in clinical and applied physiology from UT Arlington in 2025. Shadrick was included on the Academic All-WAC team in both the winter and spring seasons in 2024 and 2025 and was included on the Sun Belt Conference Commissioners List in 2022. Shadrick also received the B.G. Wilson Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award from UT Arlington in 2024, which is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete who best epitomize the ‘student-first’ and ‘athlete-second’ mantra. He has also been named to the Dean’s List, UTA Student-Athlete Honor Roll, UTA Super Scholar, and earned Texas Trust Credit Union Academic Student-Athlete of the Week honors. Shadrick serves as a Senior Advisor in our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

On the track, Shadrick claimed four first team All-WAC citations in multis events, earning first team honors in the decathlon from 2023-25 while adding a first team heptathlon scroll in 2024. Shadrick added second team accolades in the javelin (2023 and 2025), the heptathlon (2023) and the pole vault (2025).

– #BuckEm –

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2025 NM State Volleyball Schedule Released

Story Links LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State Volleyball released its 2025 schedule on Thursday, 28th-year Head Coach Mike Jordan announced. The Aggies will open with an exhibition on Aug. 23 before commencing the regular season on the road with a pair of Aug. 29 bouts. The slate includes 11 total […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State Volleyball released its 2025 schedule on Thursday, 28^th-year Head Coach Mike Jordan announced. The Aggies will open with an exhibition on Aug. 23 before commencing the regular season on the road with a pair of Aug. 29 bouts. The slate includes 11 total home contests and 16 CUSA matches, concluding on Saturday, Nov. 15 ahead of a potential trip to the CUSA Championship in Miami.

𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙔 𝘼𝙂𝙂𝙄𝙀 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉!?

The countdown is ON#AggieUp | #NoLimitsOnUs https://t.co/QtWWZg4Ek1 pic.twitter.com/FTyoiqZyAT

— NM State Volleyball (@NMStateVBall) July 10, 2025

The Aggies will open with two preseason events at home in August. Spectators will have their first chance to witness the 2025 roster in action during the Crimson & White scrimmage on Saturday, August 16^th at 1:00 p.m. MT. One week later, Lubbock Christian is set to roll into town for the Aggies’ lone exhibition of the campaign.

The 52^nd regular season in program history is set open from the Golden State, with three matches at the UC San Diego Invitational. NM State will battle Eastern Washington and Northwestern in neutral site bouts on August 29^th before taking on the hosting Tritons the following day. Among the trio of opponents, UCSD held the best record a season ago, finishing 17-13 with 11 victories in Big West play.

At the conclusion of three matches in California, Mike Jordan‘s squad will trek to the Midwest for a weekend at the Saluki Bash. Southern Illinois, the host of the invitational, will be the Aggies’ first opponent of the weekend. Later on Sept. 5, NM State will take on Eastern Illinois in the second half of its doubleheader. A day later, Kansas City will await in a rematch of foes that shared the WAC from 2013-19.

Following two weeks away, NM State will return for four matches in the Land of Enchantment. The Aggies’ home opener will take place on Sept. 12-13 in a two-match series against New Haven. The Chargers are primed for their first season of Division I action after joining the Northeastern Conference (NEC) on July 1.

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Crimson & White will then take on their lone intrastate Division I opponent, making a trip north to battle New Mexico in Albuquerque. The next day (Sept. 17), the two sides will clash once more in the Pan American Center in the Aggies’ final non-conference bout in the City of Crosses.

Following the week back in familiar territory, NM State will wrap up its non-conference slate with a trip to the Sooner State for the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational. After taking on the hosting Golden Hurricane (Sept. 19), the Aggies will turn around for a matchup with Little Rock later the same day. At the conclusion of their bout with Oral Roberts on the ensuing afternoon, the Aggies will officially head into their third season of CUSA play.

The squad will begin its conquest to a third-straight CUSA Championship match with a road series, welcoming Delaware to the league from the east coast. After two matchups with the Blue Hens, the Aggies will take on Sam Houston in their CUSA home opener. Last season, the Bearkats split the regular-season series before falling in four sets to NM State in the CUSA Championship Quarterfinals.

As was the case in the 2024 postseason, Mike Jordan‘s bunch will turn its attention from Sam Houston to UTEP. In the last Battle of I-10 installment, NM State came back from a 2-1 deficit, taking each of the final two sets in the thrilling CUSA Championship semifinals over the hosting Miners. The Crimson & White will aim to have similar success against their rivals in two matches on Oct. 10-11 from the friendly confines of the Pan American Center.

Six days later, Missouri State will host a two-match set in the Show-Me State. The second of two additions to CUSA will serve as the site for the Aggies’ Oct. 17-18 contests, as Mike Jordan‘s bunch looks to topple the program with the ninth-most victories in Division I history (1,287).

In a rematch of last year’s thrilling five-set regular-season finale, Middle Tennessee will be the next squad to visit Las Cruces. The Aggies will welcome the Blue Raiders in their penultimate home series of the season on Oct. 24-25, looking to improve on what currently stands as a 13-3 CUSA record in front of the Crimson & White faithful.

Following a two-day trip to LA Tech across Halloween Night and Nov. 1, the group will return home one final time, where they will close out the regular season. Kennesaw State is set to serve as the Aggie opposition for Senior Day, which will be held during the second match of the series on Nov. 15.

For the first time as members of Conference USA, NM State will not face each opponent in the regular season, due to the addition of Delaware and Missouri State to the league. The Aggies are not slated to match up against WKU, the six-time reigning league champion. FIU, the host of the CUSA Championship, is also not on the 2025 Crimson & White schedule, along with Liberty.

The Conference USA Championship will be held in FIU’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center from Friday, Nov. 21 through Sunday, Nov. 23. The top eight teams from CUSA will qualify for the three-round, single-elimination tournament. The champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins Thursday, Dec. 4.

2025 NM State Volleyball Schedule
Saturday, Aug. 16 – Crimson & White Scrimmage (1:00 PM)
Saturday, Aug. 23 – Lubbock Christian (12:00 PM) [EXHIBITION]
Friday, Aug. 29 – vs. Eastern Washington (12:00 PM MT)^
Friday, Aug. 29 – vs. Northwestern (4:00 PM MT)^
Saturday, Aug. 30 – at UC San Diego (4:00 PM MT)^

Friday, Sept. 5 – at Southern Illinois (9:00 AM MT)&

Friday, Sept. 5 – vs. Eastern Illinois (3:00 PM MT)&

Saturday, Sept. 6 – vs. Kansas City (10:00 AM MT)&
Friday, Sept. 12 – New Haven (6:00 PM)
Saturday, Sept. 13 – New Haven (6:00 PM)
Tuesday, Sept. 16 – at New Mexico (5:00 PM)
Wednesday, Sept. 17 – New Mexico (6:00 PM)
Friday, Sept. 19 – at Tulsa (10:00 AM MT)#
Friday, Sept. 19 – vs. Little Rock (3:00 PM MT)#
Saturday, Sept. 20 – vs. Oral Roberts (10:00 AM MT)#
Friday, Sept. 26 – at Delaware (4:00 PM MT)*
Saturday, Sept. 27 – at Delaware (10:00 AM MT)*
Friday, Oct. 3 – Sam Houston (6:00 PM)*
Saturday, Oct. 4 – Sam Houston (12:00 PM)*
Friday, Oct. 10 – UTEP (6:00 PM)*
Saturday, Oct. 11 – UTEP (1:00 PM)*
Friday, Oct. 17 – at Missouri State (5:00 PM MT)*
Saturday, Oct. 18 – at Missouri State (12:00 PM MT)*
Friday, Oct. 24 – Middle Tennessee (6:00 PM)*
Saturday, Oct. 25 – Middle Tennessee (1:00 PM)*
Friday, Oct. 31 – at LA Tech (1:00 PM MT)*
Saturday, Nov. 1 – at LA Tech (11:00 AM MT)*
Thursday, Nov. 6 – at Jacksonville State (5:00 PM MT)*
Friday, Nov. 7 – at Jacksonville State (1:00 PM MT)*
Friday, Nov. 14 – Kennesaw State (6:00 PM)*
Saturday, Nov. 15 – Kennesaw State (1:00 PM)*
Friday, Nov. 21 – Sunday, Nov. 23: Conference USA Championship (Miami, Fla.)
Thursday, Dec. 4 – Saturday, Dec. 21: NCAA Tournament (sites TBD)

* – Conference USA match
^ – UC San Diego Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)

& – Saluki Bash (Carbondale, Ill.)
# – Tulsa Volleyball Invitational (Tulsa, Okla.)
Home matches in BOLD

For complete coverage of NM State Volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@NMStateVBall), Instagram (@NMStateVBall) and like us on Facebook (NM State Volleyball). You can also follow along with Aggie Volleyball via NMStateSports.com.

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Private Equity Now Owns More Than 40 Minor League Baseball Teams, And The Number …

Private equity is the steamroller that crushes all your favorite things. Journalism, for one, and also a once iconic toy store; even bowling these days. Now it has come for minor league baseball, where in little more than three years one private equity firm has managed to buy up a healthy percentage of the MiLB […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Private Equity Now Owns More Than 40 Minor League Baseball Teams, And The Number ...

Diamond Baseball Holdings, a company backed by the private equity firm Silver Lake, has acquired 45 Minor League Baseball teams since its creation in late 2021. They own teams from coast to coast, in cities big and small. This means one company now owns more than 35 percent of all minor league baseball teams. And it shows no sign of slowing down.

They didn’t even pause for MLB’s winter meetings last year, when all 30 teams and league representatives met and conducted business, including announcing free-agent signings and potential changes in the league. While the meetings went on, DBH announced purchases of five new teams: the Syracuse Mets (Triple-A Mets), the Brooklyn Cyclones (High-A Mets), the Modesto Nuts (Low-A Mariners), the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Low-A Dodgers), and the Tri-City Dust Devils (High-A Angels). The day those purchases were announced, DBH released a statement announcing the relocation of the Modesto Nuts to San Bernardino, where the Inland Empire 66ers (Low-A Angels) currently play, triggering what amounted to affiliate musical chairs.

When the music stopped, three California League franchises had relocated: Inland Empire would become the Mariners’ affiliate with Modesto’s move, Inland Empire’s move to Rancho Cucamonga meant that they became the Angels’ affiliate, and Rancho Cucamonga became a new team entirely, in Ontario—a Dodgers’ affiliate, and one that will be playing at a new $100 million sports complex.

How did a sports scene like minor league baseball—backed by a more than 100-year history of silly local mascots, intimate hometown stadiums, local ownership, and famously the most affordable and family friendly baseball experience around—get devoured so quickly by private equity? The answer, as it tends to, lies in the paperwork. Specifically, it goes back to when MLB made changes in early 2021 to the Player Development License (PDL), which is essentially the contract of terms between a MLB team and its minor league affiliate. Before 2021, an ownership group could only own one team in a local minor league baseball circuit. The new PDL got rid of that rule and replaced it with a limit of 50 total, and no more than 14 at one level.

The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players union expires next year, which will open up a window that allows MLB to cut minor league teams for any reason; MLB has been signaling its intention to do so for some time, even after eliminating dozens of minor league franchises in 2020.

At a recent congressional hearing of Small Business Committee called “Beyond the Ballpark: The Role of Minor Leagues in Economic Growth,” Congressman Morgan McGarvey (D-KY) asked the panel of witnesses, which included DBH executive chairman Pat Battle, “One thing that makes me worried is, what happens when baseball goes away? A few years ago, contraction significantly reduced the number of affiliated minor league teams all the way to 120.” McGarvey directed the question to Joe Chamberlain, CEO and managing partner of the West Michigan Whitecaps and the Traverse City Pit Spitters. Chamberlain said he did not necessarily have an answer.

The next day, the MLB Players Association released a statement that pointed out “Major League Baseball’s contraction of 42 Minor League teams in 2020 devastated baseball fans—a move that was aided and abetted by MLB’s court-granted exemption from antitrust laws.” A source with MLB knowledge said that the league has no plans to contract more teams once the restriction on further reducing minor league teams in the MLBPA CBA expires on Dec. 1, 2026, also citing that the PDL agreements run until 2030.

Defector Media reached out to both MLB and DBH for comment. In response, an MLB spokesman gave the following statement: “Since 2021, Minor League Clubs have received PDL licenses from MLB that entitle them to operate in the Professional Development Leagues, ensuring a new set of standards in terms of facilities and player working conditions. The licenses and new system have created many improvements to the experience and lifestyle of Minor League players, such as player salary increases; modernized facility standards better suited for professional athletes; better amenities and working conditions for players and staff; reduced in-season travel for players and coaches; and stronger geographical alignment. Diamond Baseball Holdings is treated the same as every other PDL Club owner.”

DBH gave the following statement: “DBH is committed to high standards of integrity and excellence, which are core to everything we do to cultivate and support the unique local energy and family-friendly, affordable entertainment that Minor League Baseball clubs bring to communities around the country.”

So far, general managers and former minor league team owners have largely sung DBH’s praises in the press. But about a dozen former and current employees of DBH clubs who spoke to Defector, almost all requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation in the small world of professional baseball, said that they felt DBH was an employer less focused on America’s pastime and more on how to regionalize operations and turn stadiums into entertainment complexes. Think Wrigleyville, but in Fresno. Or just think private equity.

The sudden spread of DBH from New York City to the Mississippi to the Pacific can be traced back to something MLB leadership dubbed “One Baseball.”

In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB announced “One Baseball” as a way to vertically integrate the minors. The plan, Baseball America reported, was for MLB to become the ultimate decision-maker on baseball and softball throughout the United States. Under that plan, MLB then went about restructuring the minors, resulting in more than 40 teams and scores of baseball jobs being eliminated. Those lost positions ensured that, even after long-overdue improvements in minor league salaries and accommodations, the player-development process remained something like revenue neutral for big-league franchises.

This is also when changes to the PDL, allowing any ownership group to gobble up many more franchises, went into effect.

A year after One Baseball began, sports executive Pat Battle would tell the Sports Business Journal that he read a story in 2020 about the backlash to One Baseball and decided to pitch MLB on his idea that the best fix for minor league baseball was scale. No more mom-and-pop stuff, it was time to run the private equity playbook. Battle told deputy MLB commissioner Dan Halem about the idea, then connected Halem with Peter Freund, who already worked for MLB as a consultant regarding the Minor League Baseball transition. At the time, Freund owned three minor league teams—the Memphis Redbirds, Charleston RiverDogs, and Willamsport Crosscutters—and also was a partner with the New York Yankees. (A source with knowledge of the restructuring said that Freund was not involved in the removal of the PDL club purchasing limit.)

Memphis is now owned by DBH, while Charleston’s ownership group is the Goldklang Group, which still includes Freund, per the team’s own website. The Williamsport Crosscutters were one of the minor league teams eliminated in the restructuring, though their ownership group page still lists Freund as the principal owner as part of a group called Cutting Edge Baseball LLC, a division of Trinity Sports Holdings.

As part of One Baseball, MLB announced a new facility standard for minor league teams, that required all sorts of upgrades of minor league ballparks. A lot of these requirements make sense and were long overdue—improvements like better field lighting, kitchen space, and having spaces for women on staff. A source with knowledge of the restructuring and facility standards said that this was done to modernize player development.

But it also caused a lot of problems for some teams, especially those in smaller cities that would be more hesitant to throw public money toward a stadium. It’s why the Eugene Emeralds (High-A Giants) are on the hunt for a new home. The Hillsboro Hops (High-A Diamondbacks) have a new ballpark on the horizon, built with public dollars. The Richmond Flying Squirrels (Double-A Giants) have a new park, too, with the help of about $130 million in public bonds.

These standards went into place late in 2020. By December of 2021, The Mississippi Braves were announced as part of DBH, along with nine other teams that were announced the same day.

A welcome/onboarding deck dated that same month and provided to DBH affiliate employees, which was obtained by Defector, showed Battle and Freund as “key spokespeople,” along with Endeavor president Mark Shapiro. “Additional spokespeople” listed on the deck included MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem, MLB CRO Noah Garden, and MLB team presidents and owners Tom Ricketts, Terry McGuirk, and Bill DeWitt. McGuirk is chairman and CEO of Braves Holdings LLC, which owns the Atlanta Braves and previously owned the Mississippi Braves before it was sold to DBH.

An MLB official said that the league had nothing to do with the creation of this slide deck. Ricketts’s PR team said he is not involved in DBH and noted that he is not associated with the New York Yankees, which is inexplicably listed as an affiliation in the DBH welcome/onboarding deck in addition to the Chicago Cubs. This slide deck also lists McGuirk as being part of the Dodgers, which is not a team McGuirk has been affiliated with. According to sources with four different DBH teams, the current onboarding documents do not list Manfred or Halem.

DBH did not answer Defector’s question about what “spokesperson” refers to, either, or why these executives and owners were included at all.

Shortly after DBH announced its acquisition of those 10 teams, The Athletic reported in January of 2022 that the MLB players union took issue with DBH because it had been owned by Endeavor, which has a portfolio that also includes WME Sports, which employs agents who represent baseball players. The union believed that this created a conflict of interest for those agents. The union, Ballpark Digest wrote at the time, “didn’t look kindly on a deal where WME, via Endeavor, owned teams and also represented players.” Months later, Endeavor sold DBH to Silver Lake, seemingly resolving the purported conflict.

In 2024, however, Silver Lake bought out Endeavor outright. (Silver Lake is also an investor in Fanatics.) A Sports Business Journal article about Silver Lake’s take-private of Endeavor noted that the conflict of interest with ownership of both DBH and WME Baseball was once again being reviewed by the MLBPA; WME reportedly looked into selling its baseball agency because of said conflict of interest. The MLBPA declined to comment about the sale. A few months earlier, SBJ published a rather glowing feature on DBH, which mentioned that a deputy MLB commissioner was the one who connected Battle with Freund.

After only purchasing three teams in 2022, DBH ramped up the acquisitions with 16 teams added to its portfolio in 2023, including the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes and Worcester Red Sox. By the end of 2024, they had acquired 12 more, including those three California League teams in Modesto, Rancho Cucamonga, and Inland Empire; that gave them the majority of the franchises in that league.

As DBH swept through the minors, acquiring team after team, rumors swept through the small community of minor league baseball workers. Who were these people? And why would private equity be interested in minor league baseball?

Work environments in the minors have never been ideal, for players or those in the front office. The work means long hours and, often, very little pay. Nights and weekends are gone during the season and work/life balance is a struggle. It’s a job that requires dedication, and which guarantees no payoff.

Yet there is a stark difference between working for an average Minor League Baseball operation and working under Diamond Baseball Holdings, as former and current employees described it to Defector. Of the approximately dozen current and former DBH employees I spoke to across five teams, some noted a distinct lack of transparency from ownership; many employees said they do not know what the group’s end goal is, and that was something that worried them. Almost none of them would speak on the record, for fear of retaliation in the small world of professional baseball.

And with no clear goals, nearly all the former employees said they couldn’t help but speculate. Many were worried about minor league teams being cut, and that DBH’s vacuuming up of teams was part of that future reduction. Given how eager MLB has been to downsize the minors in the past, some employees I spoke to wondered if DBH was working with the league to help bring about more cuts. “I think DBH is a front for MLB,” one employee told me. And it’s not just employees who are confused. Speaking to The Nation for a story earlier this year about private equity buying up minor league baseball teams, longtime minor league baseball owner Miles Wolff asked the publication, “Do you understand how Diamond Baseball hopes to make money? I’m mystified.”

When asked to address the comment that DBH is a front for MLB, an MLB official said this is “categorically false.”

One recurring theme that employees at multiple DBH teams brought up was that, once DBH came to town, they felt a stronger push to grow non-baseball live events at ballparks. That makes some business sense: Ticketed events at ballparks on days when the team is on the road or in the offseason would bring in more money. Some DBH employees noted that new ownership was more focused on the venue than the baseball team. One employee noted having more offseason and off-day events to maximize use of the ballpark for more than just baseball games.

Such a focus that would be familiar to anyone familiar with the Cubs’ team-driven development projects around Wrigleyville, for instance, in which a broader real estate gambit has taken precedence over the baseball team at its center. Abraham Madkour of SBJ said as much on Nov. 18: “Make no mistake, this is a long-term real estate play, and Diamond Baseball has broad ambitions of developing mixed-use districts around the ballparks in which it plays, where it is the biggest event in town, and can aggregate audiences to create energy and commerce around the ballparks, becoming a strong economic driver in its communities.”

The Wrigleyville-ization of Minor League Baseball could very well be part of the One Baseball strategy. This might look like implementing something like Mission Rock, a mixed-use waterfront neighborhood near Oracle Park in San Francisco that capitalized on the real estate of what used to be stadium parking, in places like Charlotte or Fresno.

DBH announced in 2024 its “Music on the Diamond” series, which it described as “a first of-its-kind offering” of concerts at the ballpark, promoted by William Morris Endeavor (WME) and Doussan Music Group (DMG), with some artists lined up being managed by these groups. The concerts were also sponsored by T-Mobile, a major sponsor of MLB. Following the announcement of DBH’s purchase of the Syracuse Mets, Freund appeared on NewsChannel 9 WSYR to talk about the plans for the team. For the most part, those plans have deployed the boilerplate language used to describe the goals of DBH, including the plans to add more entertainment at the ballpark. Freund also talked about scale.

“Where we bring scale and we bring opportunity—as you can imagine when you’re as large as we are—is we can bring technology to the ballpark, we can bring other events to the ballpark,” Freund told WSYR. “We ran a Music on the Diamond tour across our ballparks this summer with Miranda Lambert. We look to do things like that in Syracuse where we can activate the ballpark beyond just the 70 home games a year, and that’s something that DBH can bring to the community as we enter it.”

During the congressional hearing on the role of the minor leagues in economic growth, DBH execs were asked how the development of an entertainment complex around the Louisville Bats’ stadium would help the city.

“When we announced the acquisition of the Louisville Bats probably about 18 months ago, Mayor [Craig] Greenberg pulled us aside at the press conference—in fact he pulled Henry Shepherd [DBH Head of M&A], who Chairman [Brian] Jack mentioned earlier, aside and said ‘We’ve been waiting on DBH to acquire the team. The city owns eight acres of land adjacent to the stadium and we would like to sit down as quickly as possible and figure out how we can partner to help continue to revitalize that part of Louisville,'” Battle said at the hearing. “We have partnered very closely with the Louisville Metro Government. […] We’ve talked about a $250 million investment in building condominium, hotel, entertainment district. All of the things that we think will continue to energize that part of Louisville.”

Another part of that scale appears to be the creation of regional, not local, jobs. With the Modesto Nuts moving to San Bernardino and the affiliate shuffling, DBH has posted new jobs based at the new Ontario club with “regional director” titles, such as “regional director of corporate partnerships” and “regional director of retail merchandise.”

In slides obtained by Defector, a presentation at Winter Meetings stated that in 2025, the Central PDL (Minor League Baseball) is expected to be profitable “for the first time ever.” That revenue growth includes “contractual escalator in DBH agency agreements,” but also Bally’s media rights and online ticketing. One week into the Triple-A season, and the day before the season began for the rest of the minors, Minor League Baseball announced a partnership with Circle K, calling them the official convenience store of MiLB. In the photo attached to the press release sent to reporters, a MiLB spokesperson listed Michelle Linkletter White, director of partnership marketing at Diamond Baseball Holdings, as someone present in the photo. There is no mention of DBH otherwise.

“It is known across Minor League Baseball that DBH also has a role on the industry’s sponsorship sales side, which helps all teams across MiLB,” an MLB spokesman told Defector.

A source with knowledge of the situation said that the league and all PDL club owners were aware of the arrangement and the deal was reviewed by independent committees, also adding that there are safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest.

An additional slide at the Central PDL Executive Board meeting said that long term contractual revenue included “$224M total guaranteed revenue from DBH Agency Agreements in 2026-2030.” This slide also referenced “key uncertainties,” including the Minor League wing of the MLBPA, the MLB Umpires Association CBA expiring after the 2025 season, the media landscape past contract expiration, and Diamond Baseball Holdings. They are also expecting that PDL clubs are projected to earn a three-year total of approximately $11.6M of profit sharing through 2027 with clubs averaging $17,976 in profit shares for 2025 and growing to an average of $44,274 in 2027.

“The drastic increase in the valuation of affiliated Minor League franchises underscores what players and fans alike have always known: that Minor League baseball is an unquestionably lucrative business, and the foundation of that business is the players on the field,” an MLBPA spokesman told Defector.

Minor league teams play a vital cultural role in small cities and rural areas, and fill a void for baseball fans that don’t have easy access to a major league team. These games are less expensive to attend, and the ballpark experience is generally more geared toward families. Teenagers work their first summer jobs at the ballpark; communities are built in the stands, between booster clubs and season ticket holders that gather at home games and follow the team on the road. The community gets to know the team, and the team gives back in return by getting involved in the community. It’s a business, but not the kind of optimized and hyper-efficient kind that private equity seeks to create. It’s something more like a public trust.

Or at least, that’s how it was, and how certain minor league outposts continue to be. But how much longer that can go on remains to be seen. Private equity and vertical integration have overtaken so many other U.S. institutions. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before it came for baseball, too.

How many teams can DBH own? Right now, the limit is 50. But that could change with the next collective bargaining agreement, or DBH could look into new areas of local sports that it sees as potential targets for some more scale and consolidation. Sportico reported in January that DBH was looking into possibly buying lower division soccer clubs in the United States. That’s another thing about private equity—it’s persistent.