🍹 I’ve Got Friday On My Mind. Penultimate weekend

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. Friday, I’m In Love. The Cure

“A new eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA could give thousands more players a fifth year of eligibility - this time from Divisions II and III.

This week, Division III men’s basketball player Benjamin Pearce filed a federal proposed class action lawsuit arguing that Division II and Division III athletes from the freshmen class of 2022, who had previously completed four years of eligibility, should be granted a fifth year.”

» Court Awareness. “The case, filed in the Southern District of California, asks for an injunction that not only prevents the NCAA from implementing its restrictions on the class of 2022 in D-II and D-III, but also prevents it from enforcing roster limits and revenue-sharing caps from the House v. NCAA settlement as a way to keep these players from landing roster spots.”

» Why It Matters. “If Pearce is successful, the ruling could apply to all lower-division athletes from this group across the country.”

» Of Note. “Pearce is seeking a fifth year in part because he has received interest from multiple D-I programs, the complaint says, which could open doors not just for potential future professional competition, but also NIL (name, image, and likeness) and revenue-sharing opportunities. He was one of the few athletes who entered the transfer portal during the 2026 window.”

“Headlines and news commentary routinely criticize college athletes and, more pointedly, their decisions to transfer to new schools and sign name, image and likeness deals.

Perhaps some of that scrutiny stems from fandom — the intensely personal connections we have with college sports — combined with the insulated, protective structure of collegiate athletics.

But the result is a profound misunderstanding and contextual mischaracterization of college athletes and college sports more broadly. College athletes, after all, did not create the increasingly commercial structure of college sports.”

» Situational Awareness. “The annual transfer rate among traditional college students at four-year universities hovers around 13%. Among NCAA athletes, the transfer rate was 7.7% in 2025, up slightly from 7.3% in 2024. Simply put, NCAA athletes transfer at a lower rate than their non-athlete peers. When athletes do transfer, their reasons are often both rational and familiar.”

» Worth Noting. “Division II and Division III athletic departments have average employee turnover rates of 58% and 44%, respectively. Those figures are comparable to turnover rates in sectors such as food service, general retail, and construction — industries defined by part-time status and consistent labor mobility.”

» The Final Word. “College athletes did not negotiate billion-dollar media-rights agreements, expand athletic department staffs, approve escalating coaching salaries or spark the facilities arms race that for decades has defined major college athletics. Yet athletes are frequently positioned as the source of instability when they transfer, seek greater compensation, or make decisions based on their economic interests. That framing gets the economics backward.”

“Of the 42 conferences in the NCAA’s third and largest division, none has a wider footprint than the Coast-to-Coast Athletic. With members in states along the Atlantic and Pacific, and another in America’s Heartland, it truly is from sea to shining sea.

Which is why the C2C, known as the Capital Athletic from 1989-2020 before expanding and rebranding, is the only conference in Division III that does not set a regular-season conference schedule. Just a postseason championship for its 16 sports (seven men, nine women).

Maybe it’s not an ideal setup. But neither is loading college students on an airplane and sending them across the country multiple times on a D-III athletic budget.”

» Notable. “The 2025-26 season was successful for the Coast-to-Coast. Of the 317 D-III schools listed in the final Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, the Coast-to-Coast had four in the top 90 — CNU was 21st, Salisbury 22nd, Mary Washington 77th and UC Santa Cruz 87th. Only seven of the other 41 conferences had more.”

» Of Note. “Although there is no regular-season conference schedule in any sport, the postseason is bound to involve some airports. Last season, four teams from the Mid-Atlantic states flew to California for championship events in men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball and men’s basketball. Those trips were long hauls involving jet lag, but they also provided valuable experiences.”

» Yes, But. “Going into the 2026-27 season, the C2C faces a numbers issue. The addition of Alverno gave the conference its sixth full Division III member, and that’s the minimum for automatic qualifier status in NCAA events. But as an all-female college that doesn’t compete in tennis or lacrosse, Alverno’s addition will only help the AQ issue in basketball, soccer and volleyball. No other sports, including all of the men’s, will have an automatic qualifier for at least the next two seasons.”

» Quotable. “When we first started (in the C2C), there was a little concern about what it was going to look like. Are we going to be able to fill our schedules with competitive games? But at least from our standpoint, it’s turned into an opportunity to create a unique student-athlete experience.” - Patrick Cutullo. Mary Washington AD

» Revenue. “The NCAA on Thursday announced it has entered into a sponsorship sales agreement with Playfly Sports, the sports industry’s leading revenue maximization company.”

» DIII Working Group Analysis. “To support the development of the case study, the working group directed staff to collect additional data, including time to degree for Division III students, the number of Division III institutions with graduate programs, information on student-athlete participation in study abroad, internships and co-ops, and the cost associated with attending school for a fifth year. The working group anticipates finalizing the case study at its September meeting. It will then share it with the membership to help frame the discussion on this topic.”

» Streaming. “Beginning this month, select FloCollege events and original programming will reach a wider national audience through the FloSports Channel on Prime Video, YouTube and other FloSports-managed platforms. Fans will also be able to watch game archives for free on the FloCollege website and app beginning 24 hours after each live event ends.”

» Ice Hockey. “The Hockey News says ‘Geographically, Endicott makes sense to join Hockey East. Despite starting play in 2015, Endicott has appeared in eight conference championships, winning five. The team's best season was in 2022-23, going 23-3-2 and reaching the NCAA Semifinals before falling to eventual champion Hobart 3-1. These factors, coupled with a solid group of professional alumni, gets the Gulls the number five spot on our list of most viable DIII Schools to go DI.”

» Compensation. “With universities competing to pay athletes millions of dollars, some states now are propping up their strained sports budgets in ways not previously seen. The state dollars aren’t going directly to star athletes. But by funding facilities and administrative costs normally borne by the schools, states are freeing universities to use their own dollars for other purposes.”

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

Copyright © 2026, D3Playbook.com All rights reserved