NCAA Football 2023-2024

[grumbler]

Lots of turbulence in NCAA football this offseason:  conference realignment, the Deon Sanders story (basically kicking out all of Colorado's players and starting over), but, especially, NIL developments.  The latter culd change/ruin college football in a fairly short amount of time.

The most fascinating development in NIL came yesterday, when the state of Texas enacted a new law that says, basically, that the NCAA cannot enforce its rules in Texas Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs transformative NIL bill.

The revised Texas legislation includes a number of provisions that are school and student-athlete friendly. But the most notable change appears to provide cover for state schools from being punished by the NCAA for any NIL-related violations, including any committed by collectives that have been set up to support student-athletes through deal facilitation.

According to the legislation: "An athletic association, an athletic conference, or any other group or organization with authority over an intercollegiate athletic program at an institution to which this section applies may not enforce a contract term, a rule, a regulation, a standard, or any other requirement that prohibits the institution from participating in intercollegiate athletics or otherwise penalizes the institution or the institution's intercollegiate athletic program for performing, participating in, or allowing an activity required or authorized by this section."

Texas arguably has one of the most expansive and striking groups of NIL collectives in the country. Collectives have become crucial ways for schools to keep talent on rosters and attract talented recruits.

Now, this legislation is absurd on the face of it.  The state of Texas has no authority whatever to prohibit or control the actions of interstate organizations like the SEC and NCAA.  But this sort of blustery contempt for the facts seems highly appealing to Texas voters.  Other states like NY have passed laws that have some similar provisions, but the Texas law, because it applies to so many institutions and because Texas law now allows schools to get directly involved in the NIL payment system, is the one that most fundamentally attempts to undermine college athletics in the name of bragging rights.

The NCAA has to respond strongly or it is finished.  Schools in flagrant violation of NCAA rules must be expelled.  States seeking to undermine the NCAA's authority must lose any hosting of NCAA activities, like the NCAA basketball tournament (in which its teams would be unable to participate).  No results of games with non-NCAA members will be counted towards regular-season records. 

If the NCAA yields control of intercollegiate athletics to the state legislatures, then it becomes nothing more than an advisory institution, and intercollegiate athletics doesn't need more of those.

[Grey Fox]

What can the NCAA do? They've been fucked ever since the NIL ruling.

Maybe institute a salary. 🤔

[grumbler]

The NCAA can enforce the single limiting rule they placed on NIL deals:  no signed deals can be contingent on a players signing with a given school.  Violators should be tossed out.  Deals made after signing are okay.

[Jacob]

I know basically nothing about NCAA... so is this essentially that the NCAA has a number of rules intended to institute some sort of even playing field among schools, and Abbott basically said "those rules don't apply to Texas schools"?

And does this apply just to football or to all college sports?

[grumbler]

I know basically nothing about NCAA... so is this essentially that the NCAA has a number of rules intended to institute some sort of even playing field among schools, and Abbott basically said "those rules don't apply to Texas schools"?

And does this apply just to football or to all college sports?

The rules apply to all college sports.  New York and Oklahoma have laws that similarly bar the NCAA from being the NCAA in their states, but the Texas law is different because it allows the schools themselves to run NIL collectives and provide athletic department benefits to those who contribute to the collectives.

[Jacob]

Slightly more clear now. Thank you

[grumbler]

Slightly more clear now. Thank you

I should have pointed out that the bag of worms is that the NCAA explicitly does not allow the schools to run the NIL collectives because that makes the players employees of the school.  Making players employees has two huge downsides:
1. Many/most/nearly all public schools can only hire people to carry out or support the school's educational goals or directly benefit the students (sports falling in the latter category).  My alma mater, for instance, could not hire football players.
2. If football players are employees, then the schools cannot require them to be students, as that would be a restraint of trade (employees cannot be discriminated against for factors unrelated to the job for which they are hired).  Similarly, the schools could not fire players simply because there is a, say, better quarterback available.  The NFL can do this because doing so is part of the NFL Players' Association contract with the league.  There is no collective bargaining institution for college football players.  I suppose each school could set one up with that school's players, but then competitiveness goes out the window because larger schools could field much larger teams and be much likelier to field better talent (unlike the NFL or NBA, where the teams are all the same size in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement).

Texas is cutting the throat of college sports for the sake of a transitory advantage in recruiting.  Other states with short-sighted legislatures will follow suit, and there will be a race to the bottom with the sane-state schools left out in the cold.

[grumbler]

A seismic shift in NCAA football today, as Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah join Colorado in bolting the Pac 12, and, as a result, Washington and Oregon leaving for the Big Ten.

The Pac is left with four members.  All will probably have to find homes in Group of Five conferences, as the conference has failed to get a TV deal even with ten members, let alone four.

One hundred and eight years of tradition just... poof! gone.  This sucks for college football and even for the Big 12 and Big Ten.

[Valmy]

It kind of seems like College Sports is being killed in many parts of the country. It is really sad how what is (once was?) a national obsession is seemingly being driven to be a regional obsession.

This has been a long time coming though.

[Grey Fox]

Is Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?

[grumbler]

Is Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?

If ND joins a conference, it will be the Big Ten.  They care about academics.  But I think that they will ride the Independent/not independent horse for a while yet.

[Valmy]

Is Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?

If ND joins a conference, it will be the Big Ten.  They care about academics.  But I think that they will ride the Independent/not independent horse for a while yet.

Notre Dame is in the ACC. Their independence is just for show and for football only.

[grumbler]

Notre Dame is in the ACC. Their independence is just for show and for football only.

Notre dame is an associate member of the Big Ten for hockey and has a different Grant of Rights than the other ACC members.  Conference alignment is about football.

[CountDeMoney]

A seismic shift in NCAA football today, as Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah join Colorado in bolting the Pac 12, and, as a result, Washington and Oregon leaving for the Big Ten.

The Pac is left with four members.  All will probably have to find homes in Group of Five conferences, as the conference has failed to get a TV deal even with ten members, let alone four.

One hundred and eight years of tradition just... poof! gone.  This sucks for college football and even for the Big 12 and Big Ten.

It's all such a goddamned shame.

[Valmy]

It's all such a goddamned shame.

It really is.

However, there are still some good west coast schools out there. A pacific coast conference can be assembled that can be pretty good at most sports...but not a football. Which is really what this is about.