Jon Joseph Moderator No. 1 Share Posted February 25 (edited) First and Foremost, no matter what happens in college athletics and with college athletes, Puddles will make a 5 by 5 landing with both web feet squarely on the ground. Pending a trial and possible appeals, Federal Court Judge Clifton L. Corker - Eastern District of Tennessee - has perhaps put the final nail in the NCAA's coffin. Another in a series of NCAA losses in courts from State Courts to the Supremes. From Judge Corker's (this is not from an elected 'country bumpkin' judge but from a Federal District Court Judge with a lifetime appointment) Restraining Order against the NCAA: "Effective immediately, the NCAA ... is restrained and enjoined from enforcing the NCAA Interim NIL Policy, the NCAA Bylaws or any other authority to the extent such authority prohibits student-athletes from negotiating compensation for NIL with any third-party entity, including but not limited to boosters, or a collective of boosters, until a full and final decision on the merits in the instant action." The Judge further opined that he is issuing the Restraining Order because in his opinion the NCAA's NIL policies violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and that the plaintiff, the State of Tennessee, will likely prevail on the merits of its pleadings. "Essentially, players are going to be employees, they're going to sign (enforceable) contracts, there is going to be collective bargaining . . . that's going to happen." Andy Staples of On3. "NCAA recruiting pay-for-play is here, and the only surprise is how fast it happened." Stewart Mandel of The Athletic. Stewart, it may be counter-intuitive, but here is one old-timer who is not the least bit surprised as to how fast this inevitable ruling happened. The timing of media agreements and other contractual agreements is not going to slow down changes to college football (CFB), even radical changes. It was only a matter of time before the NCAA tried to bull its way into the NIL China shop and as is usually the case when the NCAA ventures into court, be left to pick up the pieces. We Grey Beards have witnessed a lot of changes to CFB. We watched one game a week on black and white TV with one announcer in the broadcast booth. We watched One-Platoon CFB. We watched four bowl games, Rose, Sugar, Cotton, and Peach, and eight teams only playing in the CFB postseason. The CFB champion was decided by polls with most of the polls coming out before the four bowl games. Successful coaches were paid less than 50,000.00 dollars a year, etc.., and likely Ad Nauseam for younger readers so I'll stop. One thing that is permanent in life is change. And in the wired world in which we reside, change keeps coming faster and faster. So, where is CFB headed? Most likely in the direction described by Andy Staples above. Most likely to further consolidation of CFB into a League of Big Boys which can and are willing to pay the cost to compete at CFB's highest level of competition. (I have assigned an NFL 'sponsor' to the teams listed below; however, I think there is likely to be one more interim step of some kind before CFB finds itself as the NFL's AAA League.) WEST - OREGON - 49ers UCLA - Chargers USC - Rams WASHINGTON - Seahawks ARIZONA STATE - Cardinals COLORADO - Broncos NEBRASKA - Chiefs OKLAHOMA - Raiders ARKANSAS - Patriots LSU - Saints TEXAS - Cowboys TEXAS A+M - Texans IOWA - Bills MINNESOTA - Vikings MISSOURI - Bears WISCONSIN - Packers EAST - ALABAMA - Giants AUBURN - Jets OLE MISS - Dolphins TENNESSEE - Titans CLEMSON - Commanders FLORIDA - Buccaneers FLORIDA STATE - Jaguars GEORGIA - Falcons MICHIGAN - Lions MICHIGAN STATE - Steelers NOTRE DAME - Colts OHIO STATE - Browns KENTUCKY - Bengals MARYLAND - Ravens NORTH CAROLINA - Panthers PENN STATE - Eagles 1 INDEPENDENT/ 2 B12/ 3 ACC/ 13 B1G and SEC - The interim step before the NFL steps in? The B1G adds Notre Dame and North Carolina. The SEC adds Arizona State, Clemson, Colorado, and Florida State. I am reasonably certain that Notre Dame, North Carolina, Clemson, and Florida State would be in the CFB Championship level mix. ASU and CU could certainly be replaced by say, NC State and UVA. And more than 32 teams could pay the freight to play in CFB's upper echelon. Would B1G member Northwestern and SEC member Vanderbilt, for example, want to stay in the mix and spend the money to compete at the highest level of CFB? Would the B1G and SEC stay intact for all sports other than football and remain NCAA members in all other sports? I think this would likely be the case. One entity or another has to manage and administrate college post-season title events. For what it is worth, using SP+ 2024 preseason rankings, below would be the field for a 14-team NFL-style Playoff. WEST - Bye - 1. OREGON vs the lowest remaining seed. 7. Wisconsin at 2. Texas 6. USC at 3. Missouri 5. Oklahoma at 4. Texas A+M EAST - Bye - 1. Georgia vs the lowest remaining seed. 7. Notre Dame at 2. Ohio State 6. Ole Miss at 5. Michigan 5. Penn State at 4. Alabama Would this be the format? Possibly. But as is the case in the NFL from time to time, higher-ranked teams in the East would be left out in favor of lower-ranked West teams. Changes to College Football are not, of course, moving at The Speed of Light, Einie has yet to be proved wrong, but hold onto your hats, it is coming close to 186,000 miles per second. Edited February 25 by Jon Joseph 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 2 Share Posted February 25 Latest ruling against NCAA paints radical future for NIL deals WWW.YARDBARKER.COM On Friday, a federal judge in Tennessee landed a massive blow to the NCAA, suspending name, image and likeness restrictions for athletes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie No. 3 Share Posted February 25 What's next? "Salary" caps for NIL? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 4 Share Posted February 25 On 2/25/2024 at 10:40 AM, Jon Joseph said: Rose, Sugar, Cotton, and Peach Well JJ, are you mixing up your fruits? I thought the Orange was the 4th and had the best halftimes of them all. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 5 Share Posted February 26 On 2/25/2024 at 5:52 PM, Steven A said: Well JJ, are you mixing up your fruits? I thought the Orange was the 4th and had the best halftimes of them all. Spot On! And my mega bad! Thank you for the correction. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solar No. 6 Share Posted February 26 "NCAA recruiting pay-for-play is here, and the only surprise is how fast it happened." Stewart Mandel of The Athletic." With all due respect to Stewart and his perspective, the NCAA has been violating the Sherman Anti-Trust act for 115 YEARS! It's taken way to freaking long. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevada Dawg No. 7 Share Posted February 26 In its defense, the NCAA was structured to govern amateur college football and not whatever the courts have made it today--a more nauseating version IMO. I am fine with NIL preventing what was close to involuntary servitude, and i am not even against the establishment of minor pro football leagues. But...let the damn NFL pay for it and let's not pretend it is COLLEGE football. Were it allowed on the forum, I might get a record number of downvotes for this post. But I could care less--this is my opinion and I am getting pretty sick of the exaggerated focus on money at all levels of the game that I once loved for its traditions and pageantry. That pastime. mi amigos, is dead. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 8 Share Posted February 26 Annie, the NFL has no limits on what players can earn from their NIL. It has a salary cap limit. You ask a very good question: If players are employees can there be a restriction on salaries without running afoul of antitrust issues with NIL? After all, the universities will be the employer but the 'NIL/salary' payments will for the most part come from boosters. Even in Alabama, I doubt that the taxpayers want to be taxed to pay college athletes. This is one reason that I believe a Players Union is inevitable. An entity that 'management' can bargain with to arrive at agreed-upon restraints on transfers, etc. Then, such an agreement can receive Congressional support and relief from certain anti-trust issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 9 Share Posted February 28 Kirk Herbstreit confirms that the NCAA is cooked with latest NIL developments FANSIDED.COM The latest NIL developments suggests that it is the beginning of the end for the NCAA. Okay, that may be putting it lightly. The NCAA has a terminal condition, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 10 Share Posted March 2 What other choice did NCAA president Baker have but to pause NIL enforcement? Trying to make this sound like it was the NCAA's decision is typical NCAA backfill. Pathetic. 'Leadership' and the NCAA do not belong in the same book let alone sentence. Change coming to NCAA after president pauses 'NIL-related enforcement' WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Radical change is coming to the NCAA when it pertains to name, image and likeness rules for schools and players. For now, at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
