I’ve owned Heartland College Sports for over 10 years. And I’ve written thousands and thousands of stories for the website. However, I’ve never had a dedicated Monday column for you. It only seems appropriate to start now and play off of Monday, Mundo and Musings. So here we go with the fifth-ever, Mundo’s Monday Big 12 Musings: Edition 5.
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NIL Go is Doomed to Fail
As part of the House vs. NCAA settlement comes plenty around what the future of college athletics looks like. NIL Go will be the clearinghouse that will approve NIL deals, and as Forbes’ Kristi Dosh noted on social media this past weekend, part of the approval process will be based on the local market and the market reach of the student-athlete’s institution.
That’s BS. And could hurt the Big 12.
I have no idea how strict any of this will be, and the reality is there will be lawsuits when the first rejections start rolling in. But the reality is a star player at Oklahoma State could have a much more substantial “market reach”, despite being in Stillwater, Oklahoma, than a Big Ten player who goes to Rutgers, about an hour outside of New York City.
Why? Because people in Oklahoma actually care about college football. No one in the New York City metro does, and if they do, it’s probably not for Rutgers. Just sayin’. So how can the market size and the “reach of an institution” be properly quantified? That’s a scam that will benefit the big brands, and if they’re strict about it, will require a lawsuit.
EA Sports 26 Tier 1 Programs
This drew some controversy in recent days. EA Sports dropped its College Football ’26 tier programs, and the two Big 12 Tier 1 teams may surprise you: Oklahoma State and Utah.
Notably, the pair of programs struggled significantly in 2024, with neither team achieving bowl eligibility. Oklahoma State went winless in conference play, finishing 3-9 overall (0-9 CONF), while Utah finished 5-7 overall (2-7 CONF).
Now, if they’re based on Top 10 finishes the last decade, then one bad outlier of a season for each program is not going to change a decade worth of results.
But no matter what, it still goes to show you that these two programs need to get back to competing atop the Big 12. The conference needs it badly.
Congrats, Texas Tech Softball
The Texas Tech Red Raiders softball team has helped set an all-time viewership record on ESPN. According to the TV outlet, Texas Tech vs. Texas’ Game 3 rubber match of the 2025 Women’s College World Series set a record with 2.4 million viewers last week.
The NiJaree Canady contract that was mocked last off-season for a reported $1 million was worth every penny. Tech invested heavily in a star in a sport that isn’t football or basketball, but is a sport rising very quickly in popularity.
And it got Texas Tech millions of new eye balls this spring as a result.
Before this year, the Red Raiders had made six previous NCAA Tournament appearances. Texas Tech had never won a conference title, a conference tournament title and certainly had never been to the Women’s College World Series.
Now, they’re setting viewership records. Canady was worth every penny, and then some.
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