Strategic Value of Sports

D3Playbook APRIL 17, 2020 | written by STEVE ULRICH your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III Our goal is to keep you - the influencers in DIII athletics - apprised of what's happening around Division III - the games, polls, news, happenings, awards, calendar of events, and much more. We hope you enjoy d3Playbook and that you'll share this with your friends, colleagues and co-workers.   >> Good Friday Morning! Another week closer to the end of the virus. >> Today's Word Count: 855. Not wasting your time. Smart, concise. An informative read that's just about 4 minutes. >> Thanks for reading D3Playbook. We appreciate your kind words of support. Please recommend us to a friend or co-worker. Or share with your staff and bring them up-to-speed on what's happening in DIII.   Subscribe to d3Playbook 1. Strategic Value of Sports   by Timothy Russell, ITA Mr. Russell, the executive director of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, writes a letter in response to a call to eliminate collegiate tennis and other olympic sports, as all colleges face the financial challenges of the coronavirus. >> Situational Awareness: "Address the true role of sports on college campuses and not simply the what if’s of a downward spiral of financial dominos, starting with a sad and unnecessary premise that schools must, or should, or may have to eliminate sports now." >> Between The Lines: "Athletic directors and college presidents should actually make a pledge to avoid such cuts at this time and commit to structural reconfigurations of the entire athletic enterprise and not simply use these circumstances to make quick fixes while leaving the flawed fundamental business structure in place. Let me suggest that history will not be kind to those who might kill off Olympic sports on college campuses." >> Reality Check: "Intercollegiate athletics have historically held a very important place in higher education. Let’s not simply reference DIII, let’s celebrate the spirit of DIII and that same spirit that lives on the DI campuses that host 26 or 32 sports, and the DI Athletic Directors who have been adding sports in recent years." >> The Key Stat: "The suggestion that because the USTA doesn’t need college to field a small Olympic team is a reason to possibly cut over 600 Division I college tennis programs makes false equivalences to suggest unnecessary outcomes." >> Of Note: "Be clear, college tennis is not simply an “American enterprise,” any more than music departments and engineering departments are simply for Americans within the higher education enterprise. Arguing that tennis should be cut as a major college sport because of the number of international players might be simple to do but, in my opinion, is an unwise course of action." >> Keep Reading   2.  Rivalry Response photo by Dana Jensen, The Day Wow! To our readers. Thank You. The response to our rivalry question was beyond our wildest expectations. So ... who did we miss? The Across The Street Rivalries Cabrini vs. Eastern Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. Pomona-Pitzer Coast Guard vs. Connecticut College Not Across The Street Rivals Albright vs. Alvernia Aurora vs. Benedictine Bluffton vs. Defiance Central vs. Wartburg Chicago vs. Washington U. Clarkson vs. St. Lawrence Fontbonne vs. Webster Johns Hopkins vs. McDaniel Moravian vs. Muhlenberg Nazareth vs. St. John Fisher Whitman vs. Whitworth Wittenberg vs. Wooster As a former Yalie ... we were taught early on that the rivalry is Yale-Harvard and that it is not in alphabetical order. Right Dick Quinn? so ... which school gets your blood boiling? Let's keep it going.   3.  #WatchD3   Our campaign to have past Division III athletics contests made available to those quarantined and looking for quality viewing continues. We are thankful to all of you who have made your games available. A lot of games are not available. #WatchD3 is becoming a thing. "Rebroadcast rights, or the ability for a network to show a game it originally aired, can be restrictive. Now we're starting to understand at the end of games exactly what 'without the expressed written consent of the league' really means," said David Carter, Southern California associate professor and sports business expert. "The lifeblood for these sports networks is live sports. So now, all the sudden, a league's library of old games has a lot more value."      Today's Feature   2020 Men's Basketball Conference Final Johns Hopkins vs. Swarthmore   A top-10 showdown between the #1 Garnet and the #8 Blue Jays for the Centennial Conference championship. And the game was decided at the buzzer by the CC Player of the Year.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J16ZKYHViLU&list=PLfKkuUUGJGS1Wdnl5qO4wNlaupR562-VT&index=9&t=0s   all we ask is that you add #WatchD3 as a hashtag when you post a video from a past game at your institution.     SPONSORED MESSAGE Would you like to sponsor this newsletter? Would you like to advertise an open position in your department for a head coach or administrator? Contact d3playbook@gmail.com to get your job opening in front of more than 700 decision-makers in small-college athletics.   4.  Furloughs Today   University of Rochester University of Wisconsin system 5. The List Each day, we'll provide a list of what we think is a fun fact about Division III sports. Hopefully, you'll find the walk down memory lane to be an interesting read. Unique College Nicknames Centenary (La.) Ladies and Gentlemen Concordia-Moorhead Cobbers Connecticut College Camels Emory & Henry Wasps Heidelberg Student Princes Knox Prairie Fire Mary Baldwin Squirrels McDaniel Green Terror Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels Tufts Jumbos UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs Webster Gorloks Williams Ephs Most Common Nickname Eagles Tigers Bulldogs Panthers Wildcats (yeah, you know where this link goes, We're all in this together.)   6.  1 More Bruce Thing   If this doesn't get your Friday morning started ... nothing will. Hard to believe that this was 32 years ago. Sting, Peter Gabriel ... what a show! Hang in there, D3 peeps! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvGbWO_DIk&list=RD2d3NR0UEMlY&index=7 In the end, I will convert you to @springsteen Have a great weekend!   Subscribe to d3Playbook

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