Utah News

On July 1, college sports entered a new frontier.

For the first time ever, universities began directly paying their players as part of the “House v. NCAA” settlement. The settlement allows each university to pay its student-athletes up to $20.5 million per year, which works out to approximately 22% of the average athletic department revenue at Power Four schools. The vast majority of that money will go to pay athletes in football and men’s basketball, the two most revenue-generating sports for most universities.

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With the revenue-sharing agreement comes a crackdown on NIL (name, image and likeness) deals. Prior to revenue sharing, the NIL was the Wild West, and essentially boiled down to pay for play.

The new system attempts to make NIL what it was originally intended to be — sponsorship opportunities for athletes at a true market value.

“Biggest issue is we’ve got to have somewhat of a level playing field with the NIL space, I shouldn’t say NIL, but with what we’re paying them.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Every NIL deal will now be sent through a clearinghouse managed by accounting firm Deloitte, which will assess those deals and has the ability to approve or deny each NIL deal according to if it meets “fair market value.”

Already, the system is working, sending some NIL deals back for reworking — including a few at the University of Utah.

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“I will say with the settlement, with the cap, with NIL Go and our athletes have been submitting on NIL Go. Since the settlement was decided three or four weeks ago, the turnaround has been pretty quick,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in an interview on ESPN 700.

“We’ve had all but a few approved here at Utah, the ones that haven’t been approved, we go back and we help the student-athlete restructure to make sure it’s in that range of compensation.”

From the beginning, Harlan has said Utah will be “all-in” on revenue sharing. Men’s basketball player Keanu Dawes was the first to receive a revenue-sharing deal from the university, with others, including football players, following shortly after.

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Utah was able to retain key players like offensive tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, cornerback Smith Snowden and others, and got New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier and Washington State running back Wayshawn Parker out of the transfer portal.

“We’re excited to be able to, again, to have a dramatic increase for what football had,” Harlan said. “You don’t retain two first-rounders (Fano and Lomu) and guys like Smith Snowden and others if you don’t have capital and great donors involved. It’s never enough because there’s always someone that’s got more, obviously Texas Tech.”

Texas Tech, as Harlan mentioned, has made waves in the past year, signing one of the top transfer classes this offseason, including Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and North Carolina offensive tackle Howard Sampson, spending over $10 million, according to The Athletic.

Texas Tech followed that up by signing five-star high school offensive tackle Felix Ojo, who will receive “an annual compensation of $775,000 per year for three years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool,” according to The Athletic.

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There was a mad dash to sign and pay out NIL deals before July 1; deals paid out thereafter would be subject to review by Deloitte. One NIL deal platform, Opendorse, had its biggest day in company history on June 30, processing nearly $20 million in payments.

“There’s teams that are front-loading all the extra money they had prior to the rev share kicking in,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We got teams spending supposedly $50 million or more on players, and that’s five, six times what we got.”

The Houston Chronicle reported that Texas will spend $35-$40 million on its 2025 roster, between revenue sharing and NIL deals, many of which were signed before the NIL clearinghouse went into effect.

“Biggest issue is we’ve got to have somewhat of a level playing field with the NIL space, I shouldn’t say NIL, but with what we’re paying them,” Whittingham said.

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“Bottom line, they’re professionals, they’re getting paid like professionals and we’ve got to get a handle on that. We can’t have X amount of schools paying, spending $50 million on rosters and the rest of us $12 million … There’s about 12 teams that’ll have a chance to win it all every year and that’s it. So I would say leveling the playing field with a salary cap, again, back to the NFL model, and making things more uniform. It works in the NFL, so why can’t it work at this level?”

The big question around college sports is this — will the revenue-sharing cap and “true market value NIL” bring a sense of parity in terms of what teams can spend?

That’s the hope — but Whittingham is unsure if it will work in practice.

“I don’t think the rev share is an equalizer or is going to be the equalizer that everyone thinks it’s going to be because they’re going to circumvent it,” Whittingham said.

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“They’ll find ways around it just like everyone always has. And so you’re still going to see a big disparity in the opportunity to build rosters. But again, until we get to an NFL model, where there’s a salary cap and that’s it, and if you break that cap, then you get huge penalties — I mean huge penalties, then it’s not going to work.”

Fueled by the infusion of money into the space, the unlimited transfer portal has turned college football from a place where players would be developed for three or four years at one school into one in which half or more of every annual roster is comprised of new players.

“Instead of 20 or 30 guys turning over each year, it’s 60 guys. Half your roster is new,” Whittingham said.

The new age, where players can transfer without penalty, has both helped and hurt the Utes. This offseason, Utah lost star defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa to BYU and star cornerback Cam Calhoun to Alabama. After spring practices, promising receiver Zacharyus Williams took off for USC.

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Meanwhile, Utah has used the transfer portal to its advantage with players like Dampier, Parker, Cal receiver Tobias Merriweather and cornerbacks Don Saunders (Texas A&M) and Blake Cotton (UC Davis).

Even players not in the transfer portal are being contacted to play for other schools.

In a video published by the Daily Universe’s Sam Foster, Snowden replied to a question about if BYU reached out to him this offseason.

“It wasn’t directly to me,” Snowden replied. “… BYU wasn’t the only school (to reach out), it’s kind of what the name of the game is right, with the transfer portal. I wouldn’t say that it was any tampering type thing, it was more of agents and all that type of stuff.”

Nowhere else in sports is every player a free agent after every season, except in college sports right now. But after the NCAA and the Department of Justice reached a settlement in 2024, the NCAA was permanently barred from restricting a player’s eligibility. In the previous iteration of the rules, athletes had to sit out a year before joining their new team.

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A solution to all of it could be collective bargaining, just like what happens in all of professional sports, but the implementation could be extremely difficult.

Collective bargaining could make players employees of the schools, set a clear total salary cap and perhaps create contracts that lock a player into a school for a certain number of years.

Nearly every Big 12 coach at media days told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that they support employment/collective bargaining.

“I think it’s heading that way,” Whittingham said of collective bargaining.

“I don’t know if I support or don’t support it. I know that the system we have in place is not sustainable and even with the rev share and the changes that have been made, I’m still not buying the fact that it’s the answer.”

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Whittingham supports going to an NFL minor league model, he said this week.

“I realize when you say, well, college football’s not the NFL, but the NFL has been doing some good things for a lot of years and we ought to take some pages from them on how to implement salary cap, collective bargaining if it comes to that,” Whittingham said.

“I think that’s the only real way to get a grasp and a handle on things. As distasteful as it might sound to some people, I think an NFL minor league model is the best direction to head personally. That’s my own opinion.”

Whittingham has long said that there will eventually be a “super conference,” and he doubled down on that this week.

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“I still believe that super conference concept is on its way. I really buy into that and I think that there’ll be X amount of teams that break away. They’ll have their own conference commissioner and they’ll do things the way they want to do and everyone else is going to kind of have to fend for themselves,” Whittingham said.

Another avenue for change in college sports would be congressional action.

On Thursday, members of the House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill — the SCORE act — that would make conferences exempt from antitrust lawsuits and would let the NCAA once again set parameters “for the manner in which a student-athlete may transfer between institutions, if such rules provide that at least one occasion each student-athlete may transfer between institutions and be immediately eligible.”

It would also codify into law the House settlement, including the current 22% revenue-sharing cap and the new NIL rules. NIL deals would need to serve a “valid business purpose” and have fair market value compensation.

“Instead of 20 or 30 guys turning over each year, it’s 60 guys. Half your roster is new.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

The bill wouldn’t advance collective bargaining, in fact, it would prevent college athletes from being employees of their schools, conferences or an athletic association

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The bill would also provide protections for athletes, such as requiring schools to provide “coverage of medical expenses for athletic injuries for up to 3 years post-enrollment,” and would cap agent fees at 5%.

It would also establish a process for registering and certifying agents and “setting parameters for the ability of member institutions to negotiate with agents who are not registered under such process.”

Capping agent fees is something Whittingham is in favor of.

“I think it would help the players. Some of these guys are taking 20, 25% from these guys. That’s outlandish. It should be 3 to 5%, just like the NFL is, and certification would be certainly, absolutely a step in the right direction.”

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One thing is clear from talking to coaches across the Big 12 — the current system is unsustainable.

Whether through the new NIL rules and revenue-sharing cap being tightly enforced, collective bargaining or an act of Congress, the powers that be feel like change needs to come to college sports.

A rapidly growing and still-uncontained fire that’s already destroyed five buildings in eastern Utah is fast approaching the state line with Colorado.

The fire first broke out on Thursday, north of Utah State Route 46 and southeast of Moab, Utah, and could reach Paradox, Colorado, in Montrose County on Sunday. The fire was 8,925 acres with 0% containment Sunday morning, according to Utah Fire Info, a task force comprising state and federal agencies.

“Yesterday, fire behavior increased dramatically on the northern side of the fire perimeter due to very strong, terrain-driven winds through the Hangdog Creek area,” Utah Fire Info wrote on Facebook.

“As the fire burned north into the 2002 Hangdog Fire scar, fire intensity was reduced and helicopters and airtankers were able to effectively drop water and retardant on the flames.  Fire activity on the southern edge was less active and the fire continues to hold north of Highway 46.”  

Over 300 firefighters, 10 fire engines, three helicopters, a plane, and other resources are being used to fight the fire.

Hot, dry, and windy conditions are complicating the efforts, and Montrose County is already experiencing multiple wildfires in the area.

As of noon on Sunday, firefighters were battling the Sowbelly Fire at 2,251 acres, the South Rim Fire at 3,556 acres, the Wright Draw Fire at 160 acres, and the Turner Gulch Fire at 512 acres, all in or near Montrose County. The cause of those Colorado fires was all determined to be from lightning strikes but the cause of the Deer Creek Fire was still under investigation.

You can see a list of active wildfires in the U.S. here.

In 1848, when the newly arrived Mormon pioneers were ready to harvest their first crop necessary for surviving the coming winter, millions of crickets descended on their fields and gardens, threatening the settlers’ survival. The pioneers responded immediately, doing everything in their power to fight the crickets: stomping on them, burying them in trenches and attempting to drive them away with smoke, fire and loud noises. But no matter how many crickets were destroyed, they kept coming in huge black waves.

Then, in what many considered a miracle, tens of thousands of seagulls from the Great Salt Lake descended on the landscape, devouring the invading insects and saving the harvest and the people. Towards the end of his life, church President Joseph F. Smith recalled how pioneers were “literally preserved from starvation by the welcome visits and persistent efforts in the destruction of the devouring hordes by these beautiful winged saviors.”

Since that historic time, Utahns have honored the seagull, erecting a monument to it on Temple Square in 1913 and making it the official state bird in 1955.

By an ironic turn of fate, today, because of the shrinking Great Salt Lake, it is the seagulls as well as the people who are in danger due to water diversion and drought.

The lake has lost two-thirds of its water and more than half of its surface area. A new scientific report predicts that within the next few years, the lake could reach a point of no return. The lake area, which includes 800 square miles of dry, exposed sediment, releases toxic dust laced with arsenic, mercury and other toxins into the air, which is breathed by every creature who lives in the area — and, if nothing is changed, every creature who will live here in the future. That means that our children and grandchildren and the generations who come after them will be victims of what one source has called “an environmental nuclear bomb.”

While some may consider that an exaggeration, consider the following:

• Pollution from the lake is currently causing significant increases in cardiac and lung disease, cancer and other deleterious diseases, as well as increases in premature births and deaths.
• More disturbing is the research predicting that unless the lake is saved, the entire populace living in proximity to the lake will lose an average of more than two years of longevity! Imagine all 2,800,000 people living along and just beyond the Wasatch Front losing an average of two years of life! That equals 5,600,000 lost years or 56,000 centuries of human life!
• The fallout from the present state of the lake is expected to cause billions of dollars in financial losses, including to tourism, tech, ski, health and other industries as well as to property values and population growth.

Put simply, if we don’t act, as the lake continues to dry up, it will increasingly poison our air, shorten our lives, devastate wildlife, negatively impact business and industry, and leave an irreversible scar on the landscape.

What can we do? According to Brigham Daniels, Director of the University of Utah’s Great Salt Lake Project, “The Great Salt Lake is really presenting a question to us: ‘Which future do we want?’ And because its challenges are caused, by and large, by people, we actually have an opportunity to navigate toward human-led solutions.”

Those solutions include water conservation, better water management, increasing water flow, community awareness and perhaps, especially, every citizen becoming engaged in some way, however modest, in helping to solve the problem.

Fortunately, as the seagulls once saved the people, the people now have the opportunity to save the seagulls (and other birds and living creatures) as well as themselves. One important difference: The seagulls saved the people based on instinct; we can actually choose whether to save the seagulls — and ourselves.

The pioneers once saw the gulls as heaven-sent. Perhaps that was true. But miracles don’t happen without faith, and faith without action is not really faith. July 24 is Pioneer Day. Whether you are a descendant of pioneers or not, whether you believe in miracles or not, believe you can make a difference and do something to save a lake whose future is critical to our future.

Jen Larrick didn’t try to hide the disappointment Saturday night, interrupting her postgame media availability to cast her gaze to the other side of TCO Stadium where the Utah United were celebrating their 1-0 victory over her Minnesota Aurora in the USL W League national semifinals.

“It’s hard to watch them dancing right now,” said the first-year Aurora head coach, whose team finished its season 12-1-2 overall.

“We work so hard to go undefeated and it stings when you lose and don’t get a chance again.”

Instead, it is Utah in its inaugural season who will go on to host defending league champion NC Courage U23 — which defeated Asheville City SC 2-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal — in the national title game on July 19.

A goal by Utah’s Ellie Walbruch in extra time at the end of the first half proved the difference, lifting her team to victory before a crowd of 5,607 gathered on a hazy Eagan night in which the poor air quality from Canadian wildfires necessitated regular hydration breaks.

Aurora defender Charley Boone and her teammates were trying to advance to the franchise’s first national championship game appearance since the team’s inaugural season in 2022.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Boone said. “You can almost taste (a berth in the national championship game). But hopefully this is just fuel for next season.”

Utah — which entered play leading the league in goals — controlled the tempo for much of the first half, keeping the pressure on Minnesota goalkeeper Taylor Kane and the Aurora defense.

“I think we started a little junkier than I anticipated,” Larrick said. “We’re used to this home crowd, so usually it rattles the other team a little more than it rattles us. But we were a little off during the first 10 minutes.”

Yet, Aurora forward Ava Westlund started to assert herself as play went on, firing off a shot from just to the left of United goalkeeper Taylor Rath, then breaking free in front of the Utah net before Rath stepped up to make another save.

“I thought those were our best chances of the night,” Larrick said. “On a different day, I think Westy puts at least one of those, if not two, away. But they’re people. They’re humans and she was giving us all she can.”

That meant it was Walbruch who scored first, beating Kane to the ball and driving it into the net to put the United up by a goal at halftime. It marked just the second goal the Aurora had surrendered at home all season.

“I’m not going to lie, it was hard to have that happen right before halftime,” Boone said. “But we tried to use that as fuel going into the (second) half.”

The goal meant the Aurora found themselves trailing, a position in which a team that had allowed just four goals all season entering Saturday’s game, hasn’t found itself in very often.

“It’s definitely a bit of a mental battle,” Boone said. “You go from being level with a team to being below them a little bit, so it’s always in the back of your mind that you have to score. The pressure is on.”

Yet Minnesota did not go quietly, continuing to create opportunities — including three shots that sailed high of the net in extra time. But Boone and company could not find a way to get the ball past Rath.

“We were building,” Boone said. “I think if you gave us another five minutes, we would have created a few more chances for ourselves. We just ran out of time.”

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Rudy Gobert won three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Jazz.

The Utah Jazz have been called home by a number of NBA legends and great players throughout their 51 seasons in the Association. This list highlights the two players who have won a Defensive Player of the Year award while playing for the Jazz, Mark Eaton and Rudy Gobert, who each won multiple trophies.

Mark Eaton – 1985, 1989

Eaton was a hulking defensive presence for the majority of his 11-year career, which he spent entirely in Utah. The 7-foot-4, 275-pound lefty blocked more than three shots per game in each of his first seven seasons, including four straight with at least 4.1 bpg from 1984 to 1987. Eaton’s career mark of 3.5 blocks a night is an all-time record, and he also holds the all-time records for total blocks (456) and blocks per game in a season (5.56), achieving both feats during the 1984-85 campaign. That same year, he led the league in blocks for a second consecutive season while pulling down the most defensive boards a night (8.8), culminating in the best average rebounds (11.3) of his career.

Originally drafted in 1979 by the Phoenix Suns, Eaton chose to go back to college until he was selected by the Jazz in the fourth round of the 1982 draft. Although not much of a scorer, the big man was one of the greatest shot-blockers in the history of the sport, as he paced the NBA in blocks four times, all of which came in a five-year span. Eaton was also incredibly durable, appearing in all 82 games on five occasions, including 1988-89, when he won his second DPOY award and made his lone All-Star team. He tallied 6.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.8 blocks that season and was named to his fifth and final All-Defensive team (three first, two second).

Rudy Gobert – 2018, 2019, 2021

The Jazz made Gobert the 27th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, and the Frenchman rewarded them by becoming one of the best defensive anchors over the last decade or so. Gobert has been a walking double-double in addition to his shot-blocking prowess, averaging at least 12.0 points and 10.7 rebounds in each of his last nine seasons. He led the league in blocks (2.6) in 2017 and total rebounding (14.7) in 2022, and he swatted at least two shots per game in eight consecutive seasons (2015-22). Gobert recorded either a 98 or 99 defensive rating for four straight years from 2015 to 2018, and his 101 rating in 2021 was an NBA-best.

Not only did Gobert earn several individual accolades for his defense, but he was also the backbone of some of the stingiest defenses in the three seasons he won DPOY. Utah ranked first in defensive rating in 2018 (103.0), second in 2019 (105.3) and third in 2021 (107.5) with the French Rejection as the last line of protection. The three-time All-Star has been named to eight All-Defensive teams (seven First) and four All-NBA teams (one Second, three Third) throughout his 12-year career. After winning his fourth career DPOY with Minnesota in 2024, Gobert, along with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo, have each won the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy a record four times.

AI-assisted summary
• President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have led to a significant increase in arrests, exceeding the daily rate of the past decade.
• Texas, Florida and California have seen the highest number of arrests, with Florida experiencing a 219% increase in daily arrest rates compared to 2024.
• While arrests have risen sharply, the administration’s impact on deportation rates remains to be seen.

As President Donald Trump continues his mission to carry out the biggest mass deportation in history, multiple reports show how much daily immigration enforcement arrests have ballooned nationwide.

The administration has set its sights on deporting 1 million people annually, which would more than double the annual peak set during the Obama administration that helped earn him a critical reputation of “deporter in chief.”

Trump’s directives to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand its deportation efforts have led to widespread protests, more assaults on federal officers and multiple legal battles.

A Reuters analysis of ICE and White House data shows the national daily arrest rate has doubled under the Trump administration compared to the last decade. A New York Times analysis of obtained data shows average daily arrest rates have more than doubled in 38 states compared to the 2024 rate.