The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) report on Tuesday, which offers a snapshot of academic performance over a four-year span.
How it works: 1,000 is the top score, and programs are penalized with reduced scholarships and postseason bans if they dip below 930 — a score that predicts a 50% graduation rate.
Athletes Unlimited is a new network of leagues that hopes to reinvent women's sports by bucking the traditional city-based model in favor of a more modern approach.
Driving the news: The plan is to launch three women's leagues over the next three years, beginning with softball, which will debut this August in Chicago, and volleyball, which will debut next February (location not announced).
Why it matters: This is the first major initiative in Kevin Warren's young tenure as the new Big Ten commissioner, and it will help elevate the mental wellbeing of athletes at a time when so much of the focus is on physical health.
The NFL is expanding the Rooney Rule, effective immediately, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports.
What's happening: The rule, which was established in 2003, has required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any head coaching vacancy. Now, teams must interview at least two external minority candidates for any head coaching vacancy and one minority candidate for any coordinator job.
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down college sports, forcing athletic departments to search for any cost-cutting measures they can find.
Why it matters: While some of those are temporary, like furloughing employees, halting travel and asking head coaches to take pay cuts, others could be more permanent as schools take a closer look at their budgets and revisit why they were spending money on certain things in the first place.
