The NCAA's Transformation Committee, formed by outgoing president Mark Emmert and an executive group of university presidents, is in the process of, essentially, reimagining the NCAA rule book from scratch, and so far what they've imagined is radically different from the current one.
the NCAA is envisioning a future in which the NCAA shifts much of the burden to each individual conference. Essentially, "the NCAA" as an entity could simply be an organization that exists to manage championship events and not get sued. In doing so, the NCAA would pass the authority to write and enforce bylaws to each individual conference.
Several athletic administrators and college sports insiders discussed the Transfer Committee's concepts under the condition of anonymity. They include (1) eliminating scholarship caps on sports that offer only partial scholarships; (2) abolishing the limitation on the number of coaches per team; (3) expanding direct payments from schools to athletes; (4) reconfiguring the recruiting calendar; and (5) implementing closed periods in the NCAA transfer portal. At least the first three items will be left in the decision-making hands of individual conferences, if the concepts are approved.
On one hand, I think it's about time that the NCAA and their member institutions stop pretending that they are not professional sports organizations. On the other hand, the sport we love is going to change (big time) and it's tough to know if it's next iteration will still be as fun, wacky, and entertaining.
Comments
Yikes.
While the NCAA is incompetent AF at dealing with many, many issues, at the very least, they represent a single authority. If we try to go to some form of athletic confederation, how are the bigger issues addressable if they cross conference lines?
(1) Makes sense on the surface for me. Tennis teams only gives 4 full scholarships meaning that 2 players are on partials but starting.
(2) and (3) will lead to a handful of the rich programs consolidating even more talent and success. We're already headed down this road. Maybe we end up with the SEC becoming a super league after they take all the big programs from each P5 conference. Then the SEC is its own and everyone else plays separately.
(4) and (5) make sense
Like you my worries originated when reading about 2 & 3. This is very much a case of rich get richer. Texas now with 30 coaches.
Imagine how great it will be when Texas and it's 30 coaches lose to Kansas though.
Gotta agree on 2 and 3 both of those ideas will really really mess stuff up taking the limits off the scholarship cap could be a big pain in the rear for smaller teams. The gap already exists in a big way but this will only give more leverage of the bigger programs.
I don't really see the removal of the cap on number of coaches being a huge deal. I can't imagine there are many head coaches that would want to manage even more assistant coaches than they have now. In addition, it could become confusing to players if they have too many coaches in their ears. At some point, there are too many cooks in the kitchen and it becomes counter productive
On the other hand, you give a coach a cushy title and analyst/consultant responsibilities and keep him away from a competing school
IDK, I think D2Dash has a point. Saban has a staff of 35+ analysts, many of whom are/were well known coaches. But he pays them $30k/year. There is nothing stopping him from paying them $500k/year and taking them off the market, or giving them a more attractive title, but he doesn't.
Offset language in buyouts, for one and mainly. If I recall, Bret Bielema and Arkansas got into a legal battle that he was manipulating his job titles and compensation to thread the needle of a bunch of loopholes to double dip on his salary and buyout. Obviously varies contract to contract
Wrestling is 9.9 full scholarships for a roster that approaches 30 guys. That change would be a big shakeup for recruiting in all sports where available scholarship dollars plays a role.
While it might happen, I wouldn't hold my breath on seeing as much benefit in men's sports. I haven't seen it anywhere, but the way I read it is that lifting the scholarship cap is a means of letting schools balance out benefits to women's sports for Title IX compliance. I.e., if you spend more on football, you need to spend more on women's sports to offset that. One way of doing that is letting schools give more scholarships out.
Interesting take. Title IX could be a moderating factor in the future NCAA state. I like it.
I think it will hurt men's sports a lot as now you have to choose what mens sports to sacrifice foe football and basketball.
The problem with leaving the decisions to each individual conference is that there will not be rules parity between the conferences and certain conferences will set up their rules to give themselves a competitive advantage.
The NCAA continues to exemplify a total lack of leadership.
there's no way this can't fail spectacularly
I can imagine a way that it doesn't fail spectacularly (not sure how likely it is).
European Soccer is super top heavy (just as much, if not more than CFB), doesn't have salary caps, has owners that are okay losing money (similar to boosters who give 'for fun'), and has leagues with varying levels of competitiveness, and it works for them. People are fans of Sunderland, even though they have no chance of winning Champions (much less Premier) League. By my count, there have only been 9 Champions League unique winners since 1998. There have 14 unique CFB National Champions in that same time period.
I think the problem is that ESPN & the media in general has shifted the focus towards the playoff and National Championship. 30 years ago (and to a lesser degree, 15-20 years ago), fanbases just cared about winning their conference and a bowl game. If VT fans can be happy winning the ACC, then this model works. That said, I think the toothpaste is out of the tube.
Same energy.
With the way Saban operates, I can see Bama having like 10+ former head coaches on his staff every year as they rehab their rep before their next HC job.
Just on the defensive side. And of course each of those might need an assistant.
1 Safeties Coach,
2 Defensive Back Coach
3 Outside Line Backer Coach
4 Inside Line Backer Coach
5 Defensive End Coach
6 Defensive Tackle Coach
7 Passing Game Defensive Coach
8 Rushing Game Defensive Coach
9 Defensive Coordinator...
Nickel Package Run Game Offensive Coordinator Coordinator
Nickel Package Run Game Defensive Coordinator
Nickel Package Pass Game Offensive Coordinator
Nickel Package Pass Game Defensive Coordinator
Nickelodeon Slime Game Special Teams Coordinator
Dime Package Blitz Liaison
Dime Package Blitz Pickup Coordinator
Curl Route into Soft Zone Coverage Coach
Curl Route into Press Man Coverage Coach
Curl Route Offensive Coordinator
Curl Route Coverage Defensive Coordinator
Assistant Offensive Coordinator and Associate Head Coach Of Curl Routes Run
Assistant to the Regional Manager!
Chris Bickell '97 Head Football Coach
What could possibly go wrong with this well-thought through framework?
It's almost like the NCAA is giving up and intentionally trying to blow the whole thing up.
This is the crux of the issue and the reason this is bound to go poorly. The NCAA doesn't even pretend to try doing the right thing. They're just trying to protect themselves. Kick the can down the road. Shirk all responsibility by pushing it down to the conferences. But keep your name on the Championships for some profit. Gutless. Shameful. Completely unsurprising, unfortunately.
okay, these are all fair points. I almost didn't put it in there because the "right" thing is fairly subjective. I guess what I meant is that the organization doesn't even pretend to serve the people it is ostensibly meant to serve (student athletes). And I imagine you'd agree with this as you've pointed out the conflict of interest. It is what it is.
Key word: Ostensibly - The NCAA was never designed to serve student athletes. It was designed to serve universities, despite being marketed to the public as a way to serve student athletes.
precisely why I chose that specific word ;)
Bingo!
Maybe in its current iteration, but the NCAA was originally founded to protect players' safety. College football was gaining in popularity but the rules were inconsistent and players were getting seriously injured and even killed.
The moment that Alonzo Stagg got paid football the NCAA lost its control (which was 20 years prior to the NCAA's creation)
Once Stagg got paid his team wasn't 100% amateurs anymore. That leads to all kind problems that no one saw happening because no one thought NCAA football would start to rival pro sports in revenue.
NFL made just shy of 18 billion, 49% goes to players meaning 32 teams split 9 billion which is about 280 mil.
Bama made 180 mil in revenue and they play 5 less games in a season (12 regular season vs 17 for 2021). So at 70% the regular season games, Bama made 64% of the revenue. Texas, Georgia, OSU are all over $150 billion a year in revenue. OU, USC, Michigan, UF should all be around there too.
None of those numbers include the fact that NFL teams have to have more overhead because they have their own HR, janitorial staff, etc when colleges borrow from the athletic department or university. Pro teams don't have other money funneled into the facilities through the athletic department.
At this point I'd almost rather colleges field teams from the student body similar to club sports.
i predict the next few years will be enjoyed immensely by sports journalists, who love covering all the changes in college sports.
SEC and Big Ten teams will also love any changes.
unfortunately, i think this will suck for us. i don't see any changes benefiting us at all, it's gonna be a lot more difficult for us to compete in the future.
I feel like we are nearing the tipping point where popularity of collegiate sports as a whole falls off a cliff. We've already seen that attendance at games is waning, and viewership of the playoffs is stagnating, if falling off. And to now announce plans to basically just let the inmates run the asylum with little to no official oversight? And during a time where players are now making 5 or 6 figures while their classmates are taking on a lifetime of debt just to attend the same classes?
This isn't going to end well, and for the first time I genuinely feel like we are nearing the complete collapse of the collegiate athletic system.
This isn't inmates running the asylum. This is the weakening, potentially getting rid of the middle man (the NCAA), that the conferences/schools created to begin with.
Viewership/attendance is down in professional sports, as well. It's a societal thing, not a college sports things. There's more to do now.
Just because college is expensive for most people doesn't mean athletes shouldn't get anything. They're not mutually exclusive things. You can think college athletes should be paid what they're worth, while also acknowledging the cost of college has gotten outrageously high. And if you don't want to pay the total tuition cost you can be good at things other than sports to get scholarships, and lessen that cost.
There has always been money in college athletics (football most especially). Now, because some of it is going to the players instead of coaches, or administrators, or superfluous facilities, it's unwatchable? Are you able to tell someone is being paid by how they play football?
Outside of being an athlete or just being born with a silver spoon in your hand, there is very little that can currently be done to financially offset the costs of tuition now and into the future.
There are scholarships for all kinds of things. Is it hard to get them? Yes, but it's also hard to be good enough to get a scholarship for playing sports. That's why elite athletes are considered so valuable.
Plenty of trades jobs out there. Uncle Sugar still pays tuition, also.
Join the military.
I disagree, and I think you chose two bad indicators. Stadium attendance is declining because the TV product is better and more accessible than ever. Not to mention the fact that some of the most popular teams are in places that are difficult to get to. The NFL, for example, limits the availability of their content, has blackout rules in place so people have to buy tickets. Every team is located in a city with a major airport.
Regarding the playoffs - They're getting decent viewership. Here's the high rated television events of 2022. Of the top 25 events, 21 are NFL games. The other four are the CFP Championship, the Rose Bowl, the Olympics, and the State of The Union. I also think that because the first round playoff games tend to be lopsided, they don't do well (though, you could argue that playoff games are lopsided do to other issues in the sport).
I still don't understand how this is relevant
I'm pretty confident that college football will be completely different in 15 years. I'm not ready to say that it will be better/worse than it is now.
i think also because people tend to do other things on NYE