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Michael Hegarty
2.1K posts
@JTweetsTennis @PatrickMcEnroe @WSJopinion The problem is college tennis is NOT TV friendly. 6 random courts on TV for singles. Bouncing back & forth from court to court. It doesn’t work. It’s why college tennis needed to be creative with their format years ago to make it more fan and TV friendly. other sport made changes
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College sports is the Wild West.
College tennis helped shape my life. Now the sport is facing a serious question:
Where are all the Americans in American college tennis?
Thanks to @WSJopinion for giving me the space to make the case.
Wall Street Journal Opinion@WSJopinion
Where are all the Americans in American college tennis? The professionalization of college sports is reshaping athletic programs beyond football and basketball, writes @PatrickMcEnroe on.wsj.com/4dk2DZi
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@PatrickMcEnroe @WSJopinion There won’t be any roster spots for anyone if the sport doesn’t get on TV. Almost every other NCAA championship is on ESPN (exclusive rights holder), but not tennis. Any calls you can make at ESPN to change this?
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@joshkilejones @PatrickMcEnroe @WSJopinion There was tons of international players in college tennis when Patrick played~~ why the 40yr delay in addressing it? Weird
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@PatrickMcEnroe @WSJopinion Same, @PatrickMcEnroe. College tennis gave me life changing opportunities I am grateful for. My parents took a gamble investing in tennis programs and travel they couldn’t really afford. It paid off. The same risk/reward paradigm doesn’t exist today for the American kid.
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@5CHRISPONCE @heitner If this new rule passes in the May vote then you will be out of luck. No more seasons for you. Go ask about a waiver now
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@heitner I never redshirted but played my last year this past season 25-26. Would I get one more year to play but it would have to be this season 26-27?
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Get your waiver requests in (through your compliance departments) before July 31, 2026!
Ross Dellenger@RossDellenger
The NCAA distributed a chart to member schools outlining the implementation scenarios of the 5-year, age-based eligibility concept. It’s clear the NCAA is expecting to adopt the concept for 2026-27. Important: Final waivers under current rules must be submitted by July 31.
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@heitner My son is a 2023 grad. Entering his 4th season in football in 26-27 season and did not redshirt. He’ll make 22 in March of 2027. Will he get a 5th year under the new system with the waiver.
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@scottguzman @heitner It's not official yet, but that's where it appears the rules are headed.
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@florianederer Hilarious these prices- Ecuador vs Curacoa will end up almost free
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In the latest instance of its completely intransparent ticket sales mechanism, FIFA is now selling "Suite Essentials" hospitality tickets which are apparently located in corporate suites (or provide access to them?) and yet priced below Cat 1 and Cat 2 tickets.
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@Jmratcliffe3 @florianederer Demand is not high and supply is extremely high! Plenty of deals coming- Yoi think 80k are going to pay big bucks for Ecuador vs Curacoa?? lol
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@florianederer People don't like paying a high price, but that's what happens when supply is limited and demand is high. People REALLY don't like paying a high price AND feeling like they're getting scammed.
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@florianederer Going to be a lot of cheap tickets the day before games just be patient
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FIFA seems to be constantly manipulating the stock of tickets available for purchase.
They're releasing expensive front seats for sale for many games but also pulling seats for some (overpriced) games to maintain the illusion of (artificial) scarcity.
Election Watcher@CdnElectWatch
That release was just the start. It looks like at least 47 more games saw the release of a few dozen expensive "front" seats. Also, it appears that ~800 more seats were pulled for the overpriced US opener. Regular seats remain available for 16 games (only Cat 1 for 5 of them).
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@WinterSportsLaw 24yr olds need to get out of college and get a job. Good rule.
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This is why the NCAA will keep getting sued regardless of what its eligibility rules are.👇
We’ll probably see a class action relating to the age based eligibility rule change.
Michael McCann@McCannSportsLaw
New NCAA eligibility rules won't stop eligibility lawsuits, since the same issue remains: an athlete deemed ineligible on account of having been in college sports too long contends they are in a sports labor market where they sell athletic services to schools in exchange for NIL and revenue-share opportunities, and that schools want to buy their services and would offer them money but for the rule. The rule is subject to antitrust scrutiny, since it isn't collectively bargained and it excludes members of a labor workforce (who are also college students, but college students can be in a labor workforce; those two statuses are not mutually exclusive). The NCAA wins most of the cases but not all, so it can't enforce the same set of rules nationally. So some schools get a leg up over others by playing seasoned athletes who courts deem can play despite the rule. If this script sounds familiar, it is, and it has been playing out since 2024. sportico.com/law/analysis/2….
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@JimmmyMorgan @TheMrBowz California and Florida might benefit a bit more from the in-state +4 than Arkansas and Alabama 😭😭😭
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@TheMrBowz No thanks. This is awful and u are getting lost in the weeds. The best American players are only going to go to a handful of schools. The real problem is allowing 24 year old “freshmen” to be eligible. Many schools will not even be able to to field teams under your proposal.
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This is my fix to the roster fiasco. My formula would require everyone to get complaint. FWIW only 🎾 would have to work at it…outside of 🎾 I’ll bet no more than 20 other teams of any sport in all of NCAA would be negative scored today. Everyone plays by same rules…its fair
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Does anyone know if the tennis courts at the Univ. of Arkansas are also for use to the public? Indoors and outdoors? If they aren't that's a decent revenue generation opportunity that is lost that maybe could have saved the men's and women's programs there...
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@billytall @coachhegs @TennisPublisher tenniscenter.indiana.edu/memberships/in… IU
auburnal.gov/parks/faciliti… Auburn
tennis.umich.edu UM (just starting googling random schools with indoor courts-- all had public programming ...
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@johnfd73 @slmandel @ArkRazorbacks @HunterYurachek And on the back of an equally inept Athletic Director. 15 years of terrible leadership is it any wonder the Hogs have become a joke
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@slmandel Our problems are obvious, even to outside observers. 9+ years of insidious decline, but @ArkRazorbacks can’t get to the root cause of the distress. Its Leadership. How much damage will @HunterYurachek be allowed to wreak on Razorback Athletics before he is dismissed for cause?
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Arkansas is currently paying Sam Pittman three-plus years of tennis expenses to not work.
Brandon Marcello@bmarcello
The Arkansas men's and women's tennis programs spent a combined $2.5 million and brought in $3,284 in revenue for the 2024-25 reporting year, according to the school's NCAA Membership Financial Reporting Survey.
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@LifeLongHogFan @slmandel HY will surely be gone soon. Three winless SEC football seasons in the last seven seasons what a leader
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@slmandel HY should be held accountable for his decisions instead of ty tennis teams. That’s what it boils down to. Hunter makes bad decisions and other people pay for it.
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When they drop to $60, I will be there.
Florian Ederer@florianederer
$380 minimum for Curaçao vs Côte d'Ivoire in Philadelphia Tons of empty seats These ticket prices are going to drop like a rock a few days before the match.
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@PatrickMcEnroe Patrick why werent you beating this drum for the decade where you ran American tennis? You saw this issue first hand even when you were a college player, but forty years later you’re outraged? Weird
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@LBknowsBall Paying college football teams 20-40 million bucks is not sustainable; it is stupid and surely will change at some point
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For every $4 million quarterback that signs with a Power Four school, will there be a tennis player, a swimmer, a gymnast, someone who did everything right, losing their sport entirely?
This is where the story stops being about money and starts being about something much harder to quantify. The sports that are being sacrificed on the altar of college football aren't just line items on a budget. They are the primary pipeline feeding the United States Olympic program.
College Sports Wire@College_Wire
Arkansas cutting tennis is an ominous preview for non-football sports 📸 Jasen Vinlove, Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports collegesportswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/c…
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@TennisPublisher Randy the wildcard event can indeed become one of the marquee events in American tennis~~ we need as many of the dinosaur type folks to give up on the 15-day ncaa Tment from the olden days
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My story from last year on what may now be the most prestigious individual event in college tennis.... USTA’s U.S. Open Collegiate Wild Card Event Can Grow Into An Important Part of American Tennis Landscape worldtennismagazine.com/ustas-u-s-open…
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