logo
Opinion: College sports leaders act like children in CFP squabble

Opinion: College sports leaders act like children in CFP squabble

But there was one issue creating significant debate within the room: A proposal that would allow schools to pay for lodging, meals and entertainment for up to four family members on official recruiting visits.
To normal people, unencumbered by the bureaucracy of tedium that rules college sports, this is common sense. Of course an athletic department with a nine-figure budget trying to attract top talent should pay lodging, meals and entertainment expenses for up to four family members.
But for these folks, College Athletics Brain always takes over. So naturally, someone in the room wanted to litigate exactly what that meant. After all, if you're at UCLA, entertainment expenses could mean four courtside seats to a Lakers game that might be worth more than a two-bedroom house in, say, Starkville, Mississippi. And wouldn't providing that for recruits just be ... unfair?
That was the moment I realized most of these people representing the richest schools and conferences - many of whom are still in position to shape the future of college sports a decade later - were simply incapable of governing themselves, even though they had portrayed the ability to govern themselves as necessary to save the NCAA.
It's not that the people who work in college sports lack the intellectual capacity to understand that these tiny, perceived competitive advantages from school to school and conference to conference are ultimately inconsequential to their collective business interests. Their culture simply doesn't allow them to see the big picture through a froth of constant concern that one of their competitors is pulling a fast one.
It's slightly humorous - but mostly pathetic - how little has changed in what drives the so-called leadership of college sports even as everything else in their world has changed immensely in the decade since.
Now here comes SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, the thin-skinned pedant of Birmingham, all up in his feelings as the league's spring meetings get underway this week in Florida because some of his colleagues have dared to question the motivations behind Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti jockeying for four automatic bids each in a new 16-team CFP.
"I don't need lectures from others about good of the game," Sankey said Sunday, meeting with reporters before what will surely be intense internal discussions about what the next CFP should look like. "I don't lecture others about good of the game. And coordinating press releases about good of the game, OK, you can issue your press statement, but I'm actually looking for ideas to move us forward."
Keep in mind, this was Sankey's response to a series of questions about a proposal that would assign four CFP bids every year to the SEC and Big Ten before a single game has been played, while the ACC and Big 12 get only two guaranteed bids. If Sankey was expecting his colleagues to lap up that gruel and leave a five-star review, he's not living in the land of reality. You can't offer a strongarm and expect a handshake in return.
"In our own room, I've had athletics directors tell me directly that we've given too much away to arrive at these political compromises, that we move teams from outside the (top 12 in the rankings into the playoff)," Sankey explained. "How many of those compromises does it take?"
The scale of structuring a 16-team playoff may not be comparable to free meals on a recruiting visit, but they come from the same place: A never-ending battle in college athletics between those with the most power stacking the deck in their favor and those fearing that every acknowledgement of inherent inequality will be a ticket to second-class citizenry.
And the especially childish part of this debate is the SEC and Big Ten would be virtually assured of getting at least four teams into the Playoff organically nearly every year, notwithstanding a possible outlier here or there. It should be equally clear that codifying the so-called "4-4-2-2-1-1-1-1" structure into the CFP format would be a toxic indulgence by the SEC and Big Ten, yielding no practical value either for themselves or greater public confidence in the sport.
But the underlying takeaway is the same as it was when I listened to those debates in 2016 between the really rich schools and the kinda rich schools over recruiting visits: If this is how difficult it's going to be for the SEC and Big Ten to reach an accord with the ACC and Big 12 over something that should be driven by common sense, what chance in hell do they have of pulling together and fixing the truly difficult issues swallowing their industry?
Intelligent, well-educated men and women making seven figures to be executives of a sports league are being reduced to children in a fight over playground territory because they overthink themselves into paranoia that one decision on the margins of a $1.3 billion annual enterprise is going to be unfair to them.
And you wonder why college sports is at a complete gridlock, now in Year 6 of begging Congress for legislation that will mitigate the chaos of the transfer portal and NIL.
But what gums up progress in college sports isn't an ideological battle between the big schools and the small schools over the direction of the NCAA and how flexible its rules should be. It is, was and has always been the inability of the big schools to treat each other fundamentally as business partners rather than competitors.
The CFP debate is merely a symptom of a much more invasive disease, one that the key stakeholders in college sports would rather pout about than make any significant concessions to cure.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Exclusive: SEC plan says existing staff cuts help meet DOGE targets
Exclusive: SEC plan says existing staff cuts help meet DOGE targets

Reuters

time14 hours ago

  • Reuters

Exclusive: SEC plan says existing staff cuts help meet DOGE targets

June 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street's top regulator told the White House in March it had already made substantial progress toward meeting President Trump and Elon Musk's demands for leaner government via voluntary workforce reductions, according to a planning document obtained by Reuters. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also told the Office of Management and Budget that it is legally required to seek input from Congress before any "significant reorganization" and that changes beyond certain budget thresholds need lawmakers' approval, according to the March 13 document provided in response to a Reuters' public records request. The SEC submission for "reduction in force" and reorganizations, which Reuters is the first to report, responded to February's call from Trump and erstwhile ally Musk for federal agencies to develop plans for "large scale" cuts as part of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Though much of the text, released under the Freedom of Information Act, is redacted, the visible portions suggest agency leadership at least in part believed voluntary reductions already in progress could weigh against the need for further cuts. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment beyond recently installed SEC Chair Paul Atkins's public statements and the agency's recent budget request. The Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment. Since he took office in January, Trump's government-slashing efforts have stirred unease and concern among some SEC staff uncertain about the future of the agency's workforce and its political independence. Critics have said the workforce reductions could hinder the SEC's performance in times of crisis but Atkins has brushed off such concerns. Officials affiliated with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency continue to work on restructuring and cost cutting at the SEC. The March plan was compiled by then-Acting Director Mark Uyeda, who while serving as interim agency chief also rewired top agency positions in Enforcement and Examinations to have them report to new deputy directors. Uyeda declined to comment on the document. The plan predates Atkins' arrival in office in April. In response to an OMB query about how the agency planned to achieve staffing cuts and costs savings in the next three fiscal years, the document highlighted workforce reductions already underway. The "SEC has already used a variety of tools to achieve efficiencies," the memo said, referring to early retirement and resignation programs. It also said that, in addition to voluntary departures, the SEC had "eliminated over 550 authorized positions," leaving agency headcount at that point at 4,300 and falling. "This is below the lowest headcount level during the president's first term in office," it added. Agency data previously released to Reuters shows that by April 600 people had taken the administration's various buyout offers. The SEC last month asked Congress to approve funding for the coming fiscal year that would roughly preserve staffing at around 4,100 full-time positions. In response to a query about working with Congress on agency restructuring, the Uyeda plan pointed out that legally any "significant" restructuring required consultation with the House and Senate appropriations committees and that major funding shifts required those committees' approval.

Ten amazing pictures of huge cycling event across Glasgow
Ten amazing pictures of huge cycling event across Glasgow

Glasgow Times

time2 days ago

  • Glasgow Times

Ten amazing pictures of huge cycling event across Glasgow

City centre roads closed for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women as a huge crowd gathered to watch. Following a thrilling race, Ally Wollaston sealed the title by the narrowest of margins ahead of Cat Ferguson. Speaking on her victory, she said: 'I am feeling very overwhelmed, it is so exciting and it really couldn't have gone any better for me today. I was lucky that there were a lot of seconds up for grabs. "The plan was to get as many seconds as I could, and unfortunately, Cat was on my wheel for every single one, so it really came down to the last sprint. 'The team were so amazing today, I really couldn't have done it without them. I'm just so grateful for the work that they did. I couldn't be happier in this team, so I am very grateful for the support I have received over the last four days. 'Mum and Dad will be a bit shocked, I imagine. I called them last night and said that the plan was to go for all three bonus sprints, and I said Cat will probably be thinking the same thing! I think they will be super proud back home.' Here are ten wonderful pictures of the event. READ NEXT: Hotel near SEC to get whole new look after refurb (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image: (Image:

Trump golfs with college sports' most influential figures as president weighs move days after groundbreaking ruling
Trump golfs with college sports' most influential figures as president weighs move days after groundbreaking ruling

Daily Mail​

time2 days ago

  • Daily Mail​

Trump golfs with college sports' most influential figures as president weighs move days after groundbreaking ruling

President Donald Trump is reportedly on the golf course with a pair of college sports' most influential figures on Sunday days after a judge approved the settlement in the House v. NCAA case. Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua are the college-sports duo getting facetime with Trump on Sunday. At Trump's request, Bevacqua and Sankey are joining the president to discuss the future of college sports, per Yahoo! Sports. Judge Claudia Wilken's ruling paves a pathway to allow colleges and universities to directly pay their athletes and changes the dynamic of American collegiate athletics forever. A decade ago, college athletes were treated as amateurs and were not directly compensated for their contributions to athletic departments, nor were they able to be paid by outside companies. With the rise of name, image, and likeness agreements in 2021, athletes could sign endorsement deals with companies and collectives of donors could pool money which could be given to athletes. Some of the highest earning college athletes via NIL deals have been Arch Manning with an estimated $6.5 million alone with Livvy Dunne who earned $4.1 million. Now, with this landmark 'House settlement', the NCAA's member institutions will be allowed to pay their athletes directly in the form of revenue sharing agreements. As part of the agreement, the NCAA will give up more than $2.7billion in back pay to thousands of former athletes who were barred from earning revenue over the years. Over the next year, the House settlement will allow each school to share up to $20.5m a year with their athletes. The focal point of this case began with Arizona State swimmer Grant House, who sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences at the time - the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, and Pac-12 - to lift restrictions on revenue sharing. Wilken gave approval to a final proposal after months of negotiating multiple finer points of the deal - including roster limits. How exactly Sankey and Bevacqua were chosen to represent the sport is unclear. However, Sankey runs the most prestigious college conference and Bevacqua is on top of one of the most profitable athletic programs in the nation.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store