👋 Good Morning! Has your staff signed up for D3Playbook yet? Send them this link if they haven't.

🗞 Headlines. ‘Going to Bet Regardless’: College Athletes Are Ignoring Gambling Bans. How the DOJ's Investigation of the NFL Could Affect College Football. Men’s Volleyball Readies For National Championship Tournament. Here Come The Finfluencers.

🗓 What’s Happening Today. The DIII Management Council begins a two-day virtual meeting. The DIII Men’s Volleyball Selection Show begins at 10 a.m. ET

🎶 Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On. Jerry Lee Lewis

🙏 We’re Asking For Your Support. D3Playbook is your best source for news from around Division III. If you like what you see in our newsletter, please support us with a subscription.

Remember when the news was about what happened, not how to feel about it? 1440's Daily Digest is bringing that back. Every morning, they sift through 100+ sources to deliver a concise, unbiased briefing — no pundits, no paywalls, no politics. Just the facts, all in five minutes. For free.

Read the newsletter trusted by 4.5 million fact-seekers.

“Charlie was not supposed to be betting. As a soccer player at a Big East school, NCAA rules prohibit athletes like him from wagering. Yet he says betting was woven into the social fabric of weekends: “A lot of us did it.”

Amid widespread legalization of sports betting, gamblers are getting younger. According to 2026 research from the National Council on Problem Gambling, one-third of adults ages 21–44 placed a sports bet before turning 21, compared to just 11% in the 55-plus demographic. College students are a huge part of that swath: Some researchers estimate 75% of college students gambled in the past year, including 18% who do so weekly.

Despite the ban for NCAA athletes—as well as coaches and other athletic department staff - gambling is rampant. “We were going to bet regardless, no matter what,” says Charlie, a recent graduate who gambled daily during his eligibility. “I think that any non-revenue-generating athlete should be able to.”

» Driving The News. “He says fraternities - including his own - often had “one or two bookies.” Some also had a freshman sports “betting pledge,” whose explicit role was to gather and present the best prop bets for the frat across different games. Charlie’s collegiate soccer career ended after three seasons, due to a combination of injuries and a coaching change that made him realize he no longer loved the game. But he never stopped betting, both on campus and after graduation.”

» Reality Check. “Guys are betting because they want more money than what their school is giving,” says Lenny, who transferred into the Ivy League last year, and asked for his real name to be withheld. “For a kid who comes from less-fortunate circumstances or is focused on providing for someone, the idea that you can make quick money just by keeping your [own stats] the same sounds like a great idea to them.”

» Why It Matters. “It’s hard to catch all the athletes breaking rules. Illegal gambling can be even harder to catch at smaller institutions, since they’re not able to afford tools that flag unusual betting activity.”

» The Final Word. “The protection of student-athletes regarding not being able to bet in sports in general is beneficial for athletes.. These companies don’t care about the livelihoods of people. They don’t care about whether or not it’s your last dollar. They’re going to take that money from you and laugh in your face and walk away.”

“Six days after President Donald Trump released an executive order that claims to “save” college sports but probably won’t result in many actual changes, we learned the executive branch is doing something that might unintentionally have a profound effect on college sports.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Department of Justice is probing the NFL’s media rights agreements. Essentially, the league is about to squeeze Paramount/CBS, Fox, Amazon and other broadcast rights holders for more money. The DOJ, with the support of some legislators, is examining whether the NFL should be afforded the antitrust protections it and other pro leagues enjoy thanks to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.”

» Court Awareness. “College sports aren’t included in the SBA, which grants a slim antitrust exemption to professional football, basketball, baseball and hockey leagues so that league members can pool their broadcast rights and sell them as one package. The law acknowledges that while competing clubs are economic competitors in most cases, they are partners in this case.”

» Between The Lines. “What makes this interesting is that a group of leagues and at least one large private equity entity have taken up the cause of getting the SBA rewritten to include college sports. They’ve been actively lobbying members of Congress for more than a year with this specific goal in mind. Meanwhile, the Big Ten and SEC — the two richest, most dominant leagues — have pushed back against that idea.”

» Why It Matters. “What does the DOJ investigation into the NFL mean for college sports? It could mean that no matter what any of the college leagues want, college sports may be along for the ride if the law gets rewritten.”

Fourteen teams punched their ticket to the Division III men’s volleyball championship through automatic qualification after winning their respective conference tournament title.

The 21-team field for the DIII national championship tournament will be announced at 10 a.m. ET this morning. The first round begins on Thursday.

» Automatic Qualifiers (14). Buffalo State (AMCC), New Jersey City (CUNYAC), Carthage (CCIW), Juniata (CVC), Wentworth (GNAC), Stevens (MAC), Wittenberg (MCVL), Endicott (NEVC), Dominican (NACC), Randolph-Macon (ODAC), Thiel (PAC), St. Joseph’s, L.I. (SKY), Lancaster Bible (UEC), MIT (UVC)

» Projected At-Large (7). Springfield, Cal Lutheran, Southern Virginia, Messiah, New Paltz, NYU, Loras.

» First Four Out. Illinois Wesleyan, Aurora, Lasell, MSOE.

» In Memoriam. “Mary Beth Spirk didn't just coach basketball — she shaped the soul of Moravian athletics for nearly five decades.” Our condolences to her family, friends, colleagues and the entire Moravian University community. May her memory be a blessing.

» Water Polo. Macalester won the CWPA championship with a 14-9 decision against Carthage. Both teams qualify for the USA Water Polo DIII National Championship on April 25-26.

» Track and Field. Geneseo senior Ryan Hagan etched his name in the DIII record book, running the fastest 1,500-meter time in history in 3:38.67. He shattered the old mark of 3:40.06 held by MIT’s Ryan Wilson. And Central junior Kale Hobart established a DIII record in the decathlon, racking up 7,580 points to break a 39-year-old mark.

“More than any other generation, Gen Zers invest by sowing what they scroll. And between all those videos of AI fruit, they’re scrolling through a lot of financial influencer, or “finfluencer,” content.

“Suddenly, you have someone who doesn’t look like your dad’s financial advisor. You have somebody who looks like I could be anybody’s college best friend,” Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF - a Wall Street trader turned finfluencer businesswoman - told Fortune. She’s one of many young creators who net hundreds of thousands to millions of views per video by explaining personal finance tips like a chronically online friend would on FaceTime.

Older generations may raise their eyebrows at advice that doesn’t come from a licensed advisor or a finance publication, but finfluencer content has a heavy hand in younger generations’ investment decisions:

☕ Thanks for starting your day with us.
Please support D3Playbook with a subscription

Copyright © 2026, D3Playbook.com All rights reserved