MAY 1, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

What administrators, coaches, parents and fans are reading. #whyD3
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TOP STORY
1. House v. NCAA Settlement Has a Little-Known Federal Lobbying Provision

by Amanda Christovich, Front Office Sports

“The House v. NCAA settlement has several controversial provisions - including one over roster limits that has prompted Northern District of California judge Claudia Wilken to threaten to reject it. But there’s another, less talked about requirement that would prevent plaintiff counsel from engaging in some of the biggest debates in Congress over the future of athletes rights.

The provision, laid out in a short paragraph in Article 7 of the settlement, aims to ensure the plaintiffs’ lawyers won’t disrupt the yearslong, multimillion-dollar federal lobbying campaign in Congress the NCAA and Power 5 conferences have waged to protect amateurism and rein in the athletes’ rights movement. The settlement essentially says lawyers for the college athletes - who have sued the NCAA - must support any legislation in line with the settlement, and remain publicly neutral on key related issues, like athlete employment.”

» Court Awareness. “The NCAA’s lobbying campaign began in 2019, when it became clear state laws would force the NCAA into allowing players to profit off their NIL (name, image, and likeness). Using several of the top firms in the country, as well as a bipartisan public relations strategy, the groups are asking for a federal law that creates a situation unlike any other industry in the country: College athletes would get paid for their labor, but wouldn’t be classified as employees. Such a law would theoretically allow the NCAA to impose salary caps and restrict player movement.”

» Why It Matters. “The NCAA’s wishlist goes something like this: It wants a federal bill that will, first, preempt any and all state laws relating to college sports, and second, give the NCAA antitrust protections to shield it from future athlete pay lawsuits. Depending on how far the antitrust protections extend, the NCAA might even have the power to roll back some of the rights athletes have gained. The NCAA and Power 5 are also lobbying for a bill to include a provision prohibiting athletes from being deemed employees.”

» Continue Reading

TENNIS (M)
2. Stags, Big Red Are 1-2 in Ranking

It’s Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Denison sitting 1-2 atop the latest ITA Division III men’s tennis rankings. The Stags’ Advik Mareedu is the top-ranked singles player in the land, while the tandem of Andri Leonov and Pat Otero from Chicago are No. 1 on the doubles chart.

» Top 10 Teams. 1-Claremont-M-S (21-0); 2-Denison (21-2); 3-Tufts (19-1); 4-Case Western Reserve (25-3); 5-Chicago (19-3); 6-Emory (14-3); 7-Johns Hopkins (13-7); 8-Swarthmore (12-6); 9-Bowdoin (15-3); 10-Rensselaer (16-2).

» Top 10 Singles. 1-Advik Mareedu (CMS); 2-Kael Shalin Shah (Denison); 3-Alex Feies (Carnegie Mellon); 4-Vuk Vuksanovic (Tufts); 5-Ethan Green (Denison); 6-Alexander Ekstrand (Chicago); 7-Aiden Drover-Mattinen (RPI); 8-Mark Kneiss (Bowdoin); 9-Noah Laber (Middlebury); 10-Michael Melnikov (Swarthmore).

» Top 10 Doubles. 1-Leonov/Otero (Chicago); 2-Gonzalez/Vuksanovic (Tufts);
3-Green/Shalin Shah (Denison); 4-Koduri/Melnikov (Swarthmore); 5-Mallampati/ Goldman (Pomona-Pitzer); 6-Gohl/Haddorff (Gustavus Adolphus); 7-Garcia Muriel Pasquel/Hester (Washington U.); 8-Ardila/Blenkiron (Johns Hopkins); 9-Liew/Feng (Emory); 10-Devaraj/Hishinuma (CWRU).

» Complete Rankings

TENNIS
3. Color the Top of the Net Rankings ‘Maroon’

Chicago, the defending national team champion, continues to top the latest ITA Division III women’s tennis rankings released Wednesday. Emory’s Emily Kantrovitz is the No. 1 singles player, while the duo of Caitlin Bui and Eleanor Archer from Washington U. is the top-ranked doubles team.

» Top 10 Teams. 1-Chicago (17-0); 2-Emory (14-4); 3-Claremont-M-S (14-2);
4-Middlebury (13-2); 5-Pomona-Pitzer (11-3); 6-Wesleyan (16-2); 7-Bowdoin (14-4);
8-MIT (14-2); 9-Washington U. (13-7); 10-Carnegie Mellon (16-4).

» Top 10 Singles. 1-Emily Kantrovitz (Emory); 2-Jacqueline Soloveychik (Wesleyan);
3-Olivia Soffer (Babson); 4-Angie Zhou (Pomona-Pitzer); 5-Clara Zou (Chicago); 6-Erica Ekstrand (Chicago); 7-Sahana Raman (Middlebury); 8-Matia Cristiani (Babson); 9-Lane Durkin (Wesleyan); 10-Eleni Lazaridou (MIT).

» Top 10 Doubles. 1-Bui/Archer (WashU); 2-Mikos/Mikos (Chicago); 3-Raman/Farhat (Middlebury); 4-Soffer/Cristiani (Babson); 5-Berman/Antanavicius (Emory);
6-Youngberg/Durkin (Wesleyan); 7-Markey/Zhou (P-P); 8-Ishikawa/Ladaga (Williams); 9-Weis/Schaeffer (CNU); 10-Nouaime/Lazaridou (Kenyon).

» Complete Rankings

FOOTBALL
4. Opendorse, HCAC, NCAC, OAC & PAC Announce Second Year of Opendorse Bowl Series

“Opendorse, the leading NIL technology, data, and service company, has renewed its partnership as title sponsor of the Opendorse Bowl Series. The series is set to return to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, on November 22, once again uniting top programs from four premier DIII conferences.

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