Jake Wimberly

Two Time Award Winning Broadcaster| PG | Afternoon Drive | Voice of Hinds Eagle FB| Voice of BHS FB| Conerly Trophy| Biletnikoff-CFB HOF Voter| #BOE #GoEagles

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

Sen. Maria Cantwell says she “believes” that the ACC and Big 12 sent supportive letters for the bill because they fear their league will, eventually, go the way of the Pac-12 and be picked apart by the SEC and Big Ten. They “think that’s what is going to happen to them next.”

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

In an interesting portion of her testimony, Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould believes that the industry should engage in honest conversations around “student-athlete employment and collective bargaining.” She’s the latest respected administrator to suggest a CBA. Momentum grows.

[ESPN @espn]

Breaking: Russell Wilson has officially retired from the NFL after 14 seasons, he announced on social media.

[Andy Staples @AndyStaples]

Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, who used to run NBC Sports, tells senators that the best way to make the most money from TV rights is a super league.

Then he says he doesn't want a super league.

Then he offers a sample super league schedule.

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

Without Congressional action, Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua says a "super league" is inevitable.

"You’re going to only have a small number of universities who can invest to field a nationally competitive football team."

[Breaking911 @Breaking911]

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban delivered his full opening statement before a Senate hearing focused on protecting the future of college sports.

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

Saban suggests that the only remedy to this competitive recruiting battle among the conferences and schools is a new governing body and commissioner with authority to regulate the industry, enforce rules and limit the fractured nature of college athletics.

[Trey Wallace @TreyWallace]

Nick Saban, discussing collectives, outlines what Alabama was working with

Says he had $2.7 million in his first year of NIL, then $7 million, and then $10 million.

After he retired, he said it jumped to $17 million, then $24 million.

“Now you have schools at $40 million”

[Matt Hayes @MattHayesCFB]

Pooling media rights is optional, not mandatory, in the bill.

The bill does, however, eliminate future expansion and/or a Big Ten/SEC breakaway.

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

Given the drama unfolding related to the Senate bill, get caught up on an explainer from earlier ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

“The success of the SEC and Big Ten has created an incredibly uneven playing field for everyone else.”

👇

[Shannon Terry @ShannonTerry]

There are more than 1,000 active NCAA schools and over 550,000 NCAA athletes. Yet more than 90% of the industry's revenue comes from college football and men's basketball. There are approximately 8,000 Power Four football and basketball athletes—roughly 1.5% of all NCAA athletes—driving about 90% of the revenue, or approximately $12 billion annually.

The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 is a solid start, and those involved should be applauded for getting the legislation to this point. We can debate all day about what it does and does not do to protect athletes, schools, conferences, or the broader institution of college athletics.

My fundamental issue is that I don't believe Congress is the ultimate solution to the long-term health of college sports.

The NCAA is systemically broken. More importantly, it is no longer built for what college athletics has become over the past several decades. We can all reminisce about what college football and college basketball once were. But whether you like it or not, college athletics has become a major business, and that reality is not going to change.

I could spend time listing all the ways the NCAA has mismanaged and failed as a steward of college sports over the years, but that's not really the point. In its current form, the NCAA cannot effectively govern or enforce. It is largely powerless.

No system built around those economics is sustainable in its current form.

The only model that won't continually break under this financial reality is a new association or governing structure that properly categorizes and serves the different levels of college athletics. High-level college football and basketball are neither amateur athletics nor fully professional sports. They exist somewhere in between. But if we're being honest, they are much closer to professional sports than they are to softball, tennis, swimming, or many of the other sports operating under the same NCAA umbrella.

That's why any effort focused primarily on protecting or preserving the NCAA is, in my view, a short-sighted approach to a much larger issue. It's treating the symptoms rather than addressing the disease.

So while many will look at the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 and see meaningful progress—and there is certainly a lot of good in it—I believe it ultimately misses the larger issue. Even if it passes, it does not solve the fundamental structural problem facing college athletics. In many ways, it simply prolongs the inevitable.

What college sports truly needs is a governing body designed for the realities of modern high-level athletics, not one built for a world that no longer exists. A system that recognizes the economic realities of Power Four football and basketball while still supporting and protecting the broader collegiate athletic ecosystem.

Until that conversation happens, we will continue applying temporary fixes to a structural problem.

Just my opinion.

[PEARatings @PEARatings]

Odds to Win Championship

During regionals, the #1, #2, #7, and #9 teams in PEAR's odds all went down.

Georgia overtakes as the favorite to win the National Championship. North Carolina with higghest odds to reach the Finals. Alabama with the highest odds to reach Omaha.

[Chris Marler @Vern_Funquist]

There are only 2 Super Regionals that feature National seeds.

One of them starts at 11 AM EASTERN time and Noon the next day.

The people running college sports simply do not like college sports.

[RedditCFB @RedditCFB]

SMU is launching a crypto coin in 2026. Excited to learn about their pivot to AI in 2031.

[Ross Dellenger @RossDellenger]

Here’s the Senate Commerce Committee majority spokesperson’s statement in responding to the SEC and Big Ten’s earlier joint release against the Senate bill

[Breaking911 @Breaking911]

NEW: Crumbl just launched a drink containing a staggering 186 grams of sugar — nearly half a pound of sugar in a single serving. That’s about the same as drinking 5 cans of Coke or eating roughly 19 Krispy Kreme donuts.

[Pete Nakos @PeteNakos]

The Big Ten and SEC have come out against the Protect College Sports Act as drafted. Senate hearing set for tomorrow.

"It also shifts the ongoing rulemaking to Congress, limiting the ability to adapt quickly."

https://t.co/phFv7uH6hW

[Blake Levine @blake_levine]

BREAKING NEWS: The MHSAA has passed a 1.5 multiplier for private schools that compete in the Association.

That means that the private school enrollment numbers will be multiplied by 1.5 and that will be the number used for which level they compete in.

The MHSAA counts grades 9-11 for reclassification. This will go into practice for the 2027-2028 season.

[PEARatings @PEARatings]

Tournament Trapezoid of Excellence

There are 5 teams still alive in the trapezoid, both Ole Miss and Mississippi State outside the bounds.

Florida, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Georgia Tech were all teams inside the trapezoid that lost in regionals. UCLA lost before the regional final.

[On3 @On3]

NEW: Kirk Herbstreit will not appear in College Football 27, @PeteNakos reports🎮

https://t.co/HltfqJyEqz