Only Congress Can Save College Sports

[IndianaVol]

This reminds me of two anecdotes from Ronald Reagan.

The first is his famous quote that says "The scariest phrase in the world is 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'".

The second is the story of how the Nevada state government took over the operation of the famous brothel The Mustang Ranch and within a year it was completely bankrupt and had to close. Yes the government ruined the only business in the world that could never fail.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

The Supreme Court ruling created this situation. It's time they make some decisions which can clear up the mess they created.

The Supreme Court didn't create this. The NCAA's illegal sports model did it. The courts simply applied existing law. They could have done that decades ago if anyone had brought the lawsuits then.

 

[feathersax]

Bingo. Imagine thinking Congress can actually fix anything. Those inept, corrupt douche canoes probably couldn’t put two Lego pieces together without screwing it up.

This meme says it all, folks.

 

[livefaith]

Congress is not famous for fixing stuff

LOL ... ya think?

 

[livefaith]

This meme says it all, folks.

Sir, this actually quite offensive ... to baboons!

 

[Chad F]

Then the sport is screwed. All we have in government now are left AND right wing crazies who think that any type of cooperation or compromise is immoral and that those who disagree with them are evil.

 

[Remy]

We ended probably the most competitive season of college football in my lifetime and I’m of the seasoned citizen variety. There probably should be some tweaks here and there but limiting the NCAA’s influence somewhat and empowering the players more especially concerning $ (why does the NCAA not get a massive funding cut???) is better for college football than it’s ever been. Competitive? When was the last time you heard of a school like NIU beating Notre Dame at South Bend? How many decades ago before this past season was when Vandy beat a highly ranked Bama team?

 

[loservol]

We ended probably the most competitive season of college football in my lifetime and I’m of the seasoned citizen variety. There probably should be some tweaks here and there but limiting the NCAA’s influence somewhat and empowering the players more especially concerning $ (why does the NCAA not get a massive funding cut???) is better for college football than it’s ever been. Competitive? When was the last time you heard of a school like NIU beating Notre Dame at South Bend? How many decades ago before this past season was when Vandy beat a highly ranked Bama team?

Once the SEC was eliminated from the playoffs, television ratings went down by a lot. This current system is not going to work. The real SEC schools can't compete with Texas. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Miami and Notre Dame in paying star players.

The Big Ten, Texas and Notre Dame is loving this chaos, so they have zero reason to form a minor league with the SEC.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

You'll likely still need an Antitrust Exemption to put a salary cap on a pro league. That means Congress will have to do something.

Capping salaries is, by definition, anti-competitive and illegal. Pro leagues do it via exemptions and a basic agreement to use a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and player's union.

Correct.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

The Supreme Court ruling created this situation. It's time they make some decisions which can clear up the mess they created.

The Supreme Court ruled that Congress's Antitrust laws applied to college sports, i.e. that the NCAA as it was constituted was a monopoly. Only Congress can change the Antitrust laws, the Supreme Court said so in the Alston case. If Congress does change the Antitrust laws, by providing an antitrust exemption for college sports, it will resolve the legal issues the sport faces. Politically, what would be most likely to pass is some sort of conditional anti-trust exemption whereby the NCAA (or whatever governing body Congress sets up to run the sport) have to share at least ____ percent of revenue with the athletes, and in exchange, as long as they do share the revenue, they can make enforceable rules, about NIL, about transfers, etc. If the governing body is no longer considered a "monopoly" because it fits within the antitrust exemption, then all of those rules are enforceable based on voluntary participation.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Once the SEC was eliminated from the playoffs, television ratings went down by a lot.

Do you have a source for that? Haven't been able to find ratings for the playoff games other than the national title match (which was down a little from last year, but not much). Meanwhile, viewership for all the non-playoff bowl games was apparently up quite a bit over past years.

Ratings: Bowl season, NBA, NHL

The non-playoff college football bowl games hit a five-year high on ESPN; the NBA on TNT started the new year on a quiet note; and more.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

CFP national championship game averaged 22.1 million viewers, drop from 2024 title game

Monday's College Football Playoff national championship game between Ohio State-Notre Dame drew in an average of 22.1 million viewers. Here's more:

www.usatoday.com

So if you can share a link, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[wellsea180]

Correct.

The MLS has a salary cap and no antitrust exemption

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

I’ve been a life long die hard Vol fan since 1964 when I was 8. This last season my interest started to wane. Previous years I would make sure I could watch all the games or at least the vast majority of them. This past year I didn’t watch one complete game. NIL and the portal are killing it for me. I don’t know what will happen this year. It’s sad

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

The MLS has a salary cap and no antitrust exemption

Yes. IF the schools will rip the bandaid off and declare players as employees, they can use a Collective Bargaining Agreement to avoid Antitrust issues. That's what pro leagues do that aren't covered as well as MLB is with a blanket Antitrust Exemption.

So, yes. With a player's union negotiating contracts, free agency, salary caps, etc, etc with the league, there's no Antitrust issues.

All college ball has to do is become pro ball and a lot of this goes away.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

The MLS has a salary cap and no antitrust exemption

Title IX is not also an issue in MLS. College Sports has to have an antitrust exemption to address all the various issues or it's not going to make it.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Yes. IF the schools will rip the bandaid off and declare players as employees, they can use a Collective Bargaining Agreement to avoid Antitrust issues. That's what pro leagues do that aren't covered as well as MLB is with a blanket Antitrust Exemption.

So, yes. With a player's union negotiating contracts, free agency, salary caps, etc, etc with the league, there's no Antitrust issues.

All college ball has to do is become pro ball and a lot of this goes away.

And if college ball becomes pro ball, only football and basketball are really viable businesses. They won't be able to remain associated with the Universities though because of Title IX. We'll have the Vols, Inc. minor league football and basketball teams maybe leasing UT facilities for their home games or something like that.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

We ended probably the most competitive season of college football in my lifetime and I’m of the seasoned citizen variety. There probably should be some tweaks here and there but limiting the NCAA’s influence somewhat and empowering the players more especially concerning $ (why does the NCAA not get a massive funding cut???) is better for college football than it’s ever been. Competitive? When was the last time you heard of a school like NIU beating Notre Dame at South Bend? How many decades ago before this past season was when Vandy beat a highly ranked Bama team?

Exactly! Well said.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

And if college ball becomes pro ball, only football and basketball are really viable businesses. They won't be able to remain associated with the Universities though because of Title IX. We'll have the Vols, Inc. minor league football and basketball teams maybe leasing UT facilities for their home games or something like that.

Wrong. If they are employees, or even contractors, Title IX no longer applies like it does to the student population.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

The Supreme Court ruled that Congress's Antitrust laws applied to college sports, i.e. that the NCAA as it was constituted was a monopoly. Only Congress can change the Antitrust laws, the Supreme Court said so in the Alston case. If Congress does change the Antitrust laws, by providing an antitrust exemption for college sports, it will resolve the legal issues the sport faces. Politically, what would be most likely to pass is some sort of conditional anti-trust exemption whereby the NCAA (or whatever governing body Congress sets up to run the sport) have to share at least ____ percent of revenue with the athletes, and in exchange, as long as they do share the revenue, they can make enforceable rules, about NIL, about transfers, etc. If the governing body is no longer considered a "monopoly" because it fits within the antitrust exemption, then all of those rules are enforceable based on voluntary participation.

I think the issue is "share at least ___ percent" might have a hard time passing by the Court. Without some "give and take" on what that percent should be, athletes aren't really free to negotiate like they are with other exemptions Congress allows.

With no collective bargaining, the athletes are left at the mercy of Congress and the NCAA (or whatever replaces it) to decide "what is fair compensation." I don't think that's workable even with voluntary participation.

The athletes become at the mercy of rules they can only challenge via the court BUT even that is removed? There has to be collective bargaining on some level for the services of the athletes.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

Title IX is not also an issue in MLS. College Sports has to have an antitrust exemption to address all the various issues or it's not going to make it.

No, it doesn't. It's fine. The sky is not falling.
We've been hearing that doom and gloom since 2019, and college sports are better off than ever. More viewership. More NIL support. More games. New conference alignments, with more to come. More money. More merch sold. Now stadium and field naming rights, and the potential for private equity. The courts shutting down the NCAA's rules that violated the law. Anyone who has the ability to discern should be fine with it. Let the market decide.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

And if college ball becomes pro ball, only football and basketball are really viable businesses. They won't be able to remain associated with the Universities though because of Title IX. We'll have the Vols, Inc. minor league football and basketball teams maybe leasing UT facilities for their home games or something like that.

That's what I've been saying. If the major schools cared about college athletics they'd dissociate the high revenue sports from the schools so non-revenue sports survive and athletes who appreciate the scholarship and college athlete experience can continue to enjoy it.

As it is, big revenue schools like UT are doing everything they can to dismember the NCAA and create a free-for-all situation for all sports.

It's wrong. Spin off the high revenue, essentially pro sports before the whole thing sinks.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

Yes. IF the schools will rip the bandaid off and declare players as employees, they can use a Collective Bargaining Agreement to avoid Antitrust issues. That's what pro leagues do that aren't covered as well as MLB is with a blanket Antitrust Exemption.

So, yes. With a player's union negotiating contracts, free agency, salary caps, etc, etc with the league, there's no Antitrust issues.

All college ball has to do is become pro ball and a lot of this goes away.

The problem with that is that the NCAA is fighting tooth and nail to maintain their old "amateur" model. They hate the idea of professional college sports more than they do NIL, the portal, revenue sharing,, and expanded eligibility for junior college athletes put together.

The solution is for the FBS schools to ditch the NCAA completely, form a new governing body, and have rules that are legal and focused on in field competition, and stop telling the schools and athletes how they can do business.

 

[loservol]

The problem with that is that the NCAA is fighting tooth and nail to maintain their old "amateur" model. They hate the idea of professional college sports more than they do NIL, the portal, revenue sharing,, and expanded eligibility for junior college athletes out together.

The solution is for the FBS schools to ditch the NCAA completely, form a new governing body, and have rules that are legal and focused on in field competition, and stop telling the schools and athletes how they can do business.

This model won't work. Regular fans are angry about all this garbage and losing interest in college football, quick. A minor league is just another far fetched investor group pipe dream. Better if Congress just gave power back to the NCAA, so things can start moving back to status quo. The whole bucking the NCAA so thry could make Nico rich was just plain dumb on the Vols part.

 

[loservol]

Do you have a source for that? Haven't been able to find ratings for the playoff games other than the national title match (which was down a little from last year, but not much). Meanwhile, viewership for all the non-playoff bowl games was apparently up quite a bit over past years.

Ratings: Bowl season, NBA, NHL

The non-playoff college football bowl games hit a five-year high on ESPN; the NBA on TNT started the new year on a quiet note; and more.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

CFP national championship game averaged 22.1 million viewers, drop from 2024 title game

Monday's College Football Playoff national championship game between Ohio State-Notre Dame drew in an average of 22.1 million viewers. Here's more:

www.usatoday.com

So if you can share a link, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

Losing millions of viewers is not progress after making a change. This current anarchy is going to kill college football.

 

[n_huffhines]

I've been saying this for over a year. I know it's a bad situation for college sports to be in because Congress is not famous for fixing stuff, but they are the only ones, in this situation who can fix it. Here it is in the Federalist today:

Only Congress And The President Can Save College Sports

Saving college sports this time will require comprehensive federal legislation that touches some of the most complex areas of law.

thefederalist.com

Give me a break.