Mississippi

Mississippi colleges look to adapt in new era of athlete compensation

Published

2 days ago

July 1, 2024

Mississippi colleges look to adapt in new era of athlete compensation

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – Changes to transfer rules and NIL laws have shifted the way college football rosters will look for seasons to come.

WLOX Sports Anchor Matt Degregorio spoke with Yahoo Sports Senior College Football Reporter Ross Dellenger about the financial effects for the NCAA member institutions and athletes moving forward.

College sports fans have spent the past three seasons trying to understand the ins and outs of both the transfer portal and NIL along with the impact each one has on their favorite programs. During that time, major lawsuits including the House v. NCAA were taking place in court to determine if, when, and how college athletes will be compensated.

Dellenger, a Mississippi Gulf Coast native and Mercy Cross High School graduate, has followed these changes in the NCAA at a national level for the past six years.

“NIL is about three years old,” he explains. “It was started from the state level. State lawmakers said what the courts are saying now, you need to compensate athletes. So, the NCAA lifted its rule, allowing athletes to earn compensation on their name, image, and likeness — NIL — and now we’re onto the next evolution with the NCAA and power conferences trying to settle these lawsuits. Along with that settlement is basically a revenue sharing concept so they will begin to share a certain portion of their revenue with college athletes.”

With schools set to have the ability to pay athletes out of pocket, one question comes to mind: How will Power 5 schools like Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and LSU share revenue with their athletes?

“We don’t really know yet,” said Dellenger. “Each school will have its own discretion, but as part of the settlement, they’ll have to share 22% of their revenues at the power conference level. It’s an average power conference revenue number that they generate and they’ll have to share 22% of that. It ends up coming out to the low 20 millions. Bottom line is each school will share around $20-23 million a year with their athletes. They’ll be permitted to that. They don’t have to. They’re not required to.”

Power 5 schools, especially in the Big 10 and SEC, are expected to spend to the limit allowed — but what does the revenue-sharing change look like for Group of 5 schools such as Southern Miss?

“A school like Southern Miss almost certainly will not,” he claims. “In fact, I can’t imagine Southern Miss being able to afford to share much revenue with athletes at all. I think they will, but it will be a small portion probably just like it is now. In the world of NIL now, those Group of 5 programs average around $1-2 million that their NIL programs generate for their rosters. You look at power conference schools — like an Ole Miss, for instance — generating 8, 10, 12 million dollars a year for their roster. It will equate to probably the same in the revenue-sharing world. You’re going to have schools, especially Group of 5, C-USA, Sun Belt, that are not being able to afford to share revenue with athletes.”

Schools will not be paying their athletes directly for the upcoming season, so what does the timetable look like?

“All of this is on a delay,” Dellenger concludes. “It’s not going to be implemented immediately. The settlement isn’t even finalized. It should be by early next year, by January or February of next year. It will be implemented next August, probably the Fall semester of 2025 schools will be permitted to be able to pay athletes directly.”

Next summer will certainly be interesting as the transfer portal has the potential to look even more like NFL free agency.

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Mississippi

Mississippi River causes widespread flooding in Wabasha

Published

5 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi River causes widespread flooding in Wabasha

WABASHA, Minn. (KTTC) – Many Minnesota communities living close to the Mississippi River faced flood warnings as water levels rose over the weekend. The city of Wabasha is one of the most significantly impacted areas with many streets and parks under water.

(Figure 1 of 2): Wabasha on Tuesday(KTTC)

“We had a flood here last year, and it was our fourth highest crest in history,” City of Wabasha Emergency Management Director Riley Castello said. “This one is about two feet shy of that.”

According to Castello, water levels at the river peaked on Monday; on Tuesday afternoon, it sat at 15-feet.

(Figure 1 of ): Mississippi River water levels on Tuesday at Wabasha(National Water Prediction Service)

“We’ve had to close down five of our major parks and a couple of streets in town.” Castello said.

Due to the severe weather and flooding, both the city and Wabasha County declared a local state of emergency, being one of the 22 counties approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a federal disaster declaration.

“It’s frustrating that we can’t just get in moderation. We just came out of a drought. Last year was incredibly dry and the river level was low comparatively. This year, we just can’t stop getting the rain. And now we have water standing in fields.”

According to the National Eagle Center, the severe weather did not significantly impact the amount of visitors it received. “Overall, I don’t think the number of visitors have been impacted by the weather,” Director of Marketing and Communications Ed Hahn said. “ Maybe a little bit when it rains, you get fewer people going out.”

Castello shared there are currently many uncertainties with how the flood waters will be cleared and the restoration process will undergo. He said property damage estimates cannot be determined until water levels go down.

“We gasped when we saw the flooding,” said Maria Gorde, who was in Wabasha on Tuesday for a visit. “We had seen it online, but seeing it in person was like, ‘Wow.’”

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Mississippi

Mississippi probation officer arrested on seven counts of embezzlement

Published

12 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi probation officer arrested on seven counts of embezzlement

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A probation officer was arrested on seven counts of embezzlement.

Lacosta Lee is accused of receiving court-ordered fines and fees from those on probation and using them for her personal use.

She is a contracted probation officer for Court Programs, Inc.

Lee was served with a $7,558.50 demand letter at the time of her arrest.

She faces up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years per count if convicted.

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Mississippi

Mississippi River not cooperating, but Riverfest will still Riverfest in La Crosse

Published

19 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi River not cooperating, but Riverfest will still Riverfest in La Crosse

The river parts of Riverfest near downtown La Crosse won’t be happening this year. Well, there’s just one part, really.

The River City Water Ski Team had to cancel its part of the show, because the Mississippi River is too high and will actually crest at 15 feet Wednesday, the opening day of Riverfest.

Past events on the river haven’t happened in a few years, including flyboarding — where water jets on your feet simulate floating — and pole vaulting off a barge in the Mississippi.

“We actually have trouble finding a barge that we can rent, basically that business has taken off exponentially,” Riverfest board member Brad Pitel said. “So, when the barges are being used, we don’t have that opportunity.”

Cancelling events hasn’t happened often, and sometimes they’re not even river related. In 2018, the July 4 fireworks had to happen on July 5.

“There was a massive storm that blew through with like 60-70 mph winds right through La Crosse,” Pitel said.

Riverfest opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Riverside Park and runs through Saturday night, with multiple big musical acts.

Josh Ross, Drake Milligan and Blue Collar 40 kick things off. The finale Saturday night is Country Line Drive. Check the full schedule of events here.

The stage is coming together on July 1, 2024, two days before the start of Riverfest in downtown La Crosse at Riverside Park (PHOTO: Rick Solem)

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