#10: Check out more administrative talent moves on The Wire at Collegiate Sports Connect at Ball State, Bowling Green, Delaware, Drake, Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Fresno State (x2), Georgetown (x2), Georgia Tech, Illinois, James Madison, Liberty, Maryland, Miami (FL), Michigan, North Dakota State, North Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn, Rutgers, San Francisco, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCF, UNLV, USC, VCU, Washington State. (link)
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#9: The national four-year Academic Progress Rate held steady at 984, the NCAA has announced. Baseball remained at 977, football fell by 2 points to 962 and men's basketball (967) and women's basketball (982) decreased by 1 point YoY. Meanwhile, over 20,700 student-athletes have returned to school to earn their degrees since 2004. For football, baseball, and men's and women's basketball, more than 10,657 former student-athletes have earned degrees. Full searchable APR database. (link)
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#8: Collegiate Sports Connect reviewed the aggregate compensation data of industry professionals to gauge pay expectations/demands in the talent market. The data comes from Connect users who have provided a salary expectation and list marketing as one of their primary responsibilities. It indicates that expectations range on average from ~$44K starting out to $143K with over 15 years of experience. Some takeaways from the data: As with development professionals, earlier-career professionals maintained similar expectations across their cohort, while the gap (and standard deviation) in salary expectations increased significantly starting with professionals with 10+ years of experience (the standard deviation between those two cohorts jumps from $26K to $46K). On average, Marketing compensation expectations appear to be approximately 11% below Development expectations, ranging from ~7% behind for those with 15+ years of experience to ~14% behind for those between one and six years of experience. Lots of interesting data here. (link)
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#7: Former Big Ten Commissioner Delany joins D1.ticker/Connect’s Eargle to discuss the announcement of new Big Ten Commissioner Petitti, factors contributing to the spate of new commissioners (and a new NCAA president) who come from outside college athletics, strategic steps aspiring commissioners could take to build experience in the current landscape and more. Delany explains that media expertise is a “hirable skill,” and given the increasing importance of media rights as a revenue stream, Delany notes it makes sense that university presidents would seek leaders with that expertise. “At the same time, (SEC commissioner) Sankey and (ACC boss) Phillips are seasoned veterans who have their own experiences and really can obtain the kinds of expertise that is necessary in managing media, both the implementation and the preparation for future changes. At the NCAA level, I think Charlie Baker was a great hire. … We’re at a time where Washington matters, where legislatures matter, and he has probably as strong a set of credentials in that area as I’ve ever observed: a Republican governor in a Democratic state, elected, effective and respected.” Lots more from Delany. (link)
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#6: NCAA President Baker has tabbed management consulting firm Bain & Company for a “top to bottom” review of the association, per CBS’ Dodd. Big East Commissioner Ackerman tells Dodd she would like to see a “clearly defined commercial unit within the national office. [...] The NCAA is a billion-dollar concern because of the money they bring in from March Madness. I think we would all benefit from a clearly defined structure, business unit that would be run by a chief marketing officer and a chief commercial officer who would be entrusted with oversight over television with a dedicated broadcast person underneath them.” Ackerman also points to the possibilities of a partnership with student-athletes on NIL, the need for a dedicated leader to oversee all women’s sports & streamlining FBS football. More Ackerman: “Every time there is a lawsuit about football, the NCAA gets sued, all 350 [Division I] schools. Because these lawsuits are about them, when the NCAA gets sued, we're all sharing in the risk and legal liabilities.” Lots here to unpack. (link)
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#5: Gambling regulators in Ohio instructed the state’s sportsbooks to halt betting on Alabama baseball games after “suspicious wagering activity was detected on the Crimson Tide's game against top-ranked LSU last Friday,” according to ESPN’s Purdum. The activity was flagged by U.S. Integrity, which sent an alert to its sportsbook clients. Purdum notes that “LSU led Alabama 8-1 after seven innings and held off a late rally by the Crimson Tide for an 8-6 victory on Friday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Tigers were around -245 favorites over the Crimson Tide in the game in question.” (link)
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#4: Rhode Island AD Bjorn in a video presentation for trustees last month highlighted the shoddy conditions of some of URI’s athletic facilities. At Meade Stadium (football & lacrosse), for instance, Bjorn noted the press box is “insufficient” and not ADA compliant while a large portion of the bleachers have had to be covered due to “fire code issues.” Bjorn also says the track is unusable as the asphalt needs to be torn out and redone. “We haven’t utilized this facility in close to 30 years. The track’s been condemned, and I have to say, our track programs are some of the most successful programs we have here.” There are additional sensitive issues at the throwing area for track & field, as well as at the softball field. “We talk a lot about the greatness, but our facilities are in such disrepair that it makes it very hard to try to attract the best possible students that can compete for us.” Board of Trustees Chair Cook: “The video is an accurate representation of the poor conditions of some of our athletic facilities and we’ve asked the state to include support for those facilities in this year’s budget.” (link)
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#3: The Las Vegas Aces have unveiled the team’s new 64K-sq-ft practice facility, the first one ever built solely for a WNBA team. The new digs include two basketball courts, a locker room with individual vanities for each player; a player lounge that includes a kitchen; weight and training rooms; family rooms; and a film study room with massage chairs. Have a look here. (link)
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#2: Playfly has acquired The Aspire Group, which will “serve as the foundation of a new business segment around gameday operations, ticketing and hospitality,” Sportico’s Caron reports. Playfly CEO Schreiber: “We don’t participate in gameday revenue opportunities in a big way today, so that opens up everything from ticketing to hospitality to events and experiential opportunities for us. The whole impetus behind Playfly Sports was to help with innovation and growth in a way that creates more of a network effect. We feel like we can do that in some of these gameday revenue categories, so we’re investing in growing into that space. And it should be good for our partners, as well, financially.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (link)
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#1: With a full financial audit coming at Illinois State, WGLT says there was also an audit completed a year ago that determined the athletic department was “high risk” & “needs improvement.” Key details: “Limited resources may be partly to blame. Athletics cited staffing constraints in several of its responses to the auditor’s findings, hoping that additional hiring will ‘provide a pace and focus that allows for more attention to these details.’ Athletics told the auditor it was ‘not straight forward’ to track receipts from over 100 credit card users on staff – more than most departments on campus.” Lots more financial & reporting nuances in the article. (link)
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