the BREAKAWAY…OUR Goals

- editorial -

by TexCane

In part one of this series, we took a deep dive into how college football got off the tracks, including special interests, the move to national footprints (conference realignment), and the recent manipulation of the college playoff format.

So, “if I were commissioner of college football, what would I do to save OUR game?”

After months of research and thought, I have come up with a business model that would bring logic and common sense back to the management of OUR game.

It’s not going to be popular. At least to the “good ole boys.”

ESTABLISH ACCOUNTABILITY

College football does NOT have a commissioner to strategically guide the organization. I would assemble a transparent assembly of fans, coaches, players and business leaders to lead a selection committee for a NEW college athletic commission. Hire a national executive search firm to bring forth viable candidates for the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Successful and very strong business leaders, politicians, former players, former coaches and college administrators should apply.

ESTABLISH STRATEGIC GOALS

As a starting point, we would set out three strategic goals. More to come later.

1. Level the playing field for all.

Every conference and every school will have an equal chance to compete on the field of play. No more loading up of selected conferences to control playoff selection. No more CFP automatic bids. Earn your place at the table. Win your conference if you want to get a place at the table (CFP). Not by rankings, they’re a fake. Not by secret selection committees.

More on this later.

2. Return to regional conferences.

Conference realignment over the past fifteen years has been and still is driven by the networks to financially entice conference to seek a “national footprint.” Their goal was to increase viewership across time zones. While it was successful, this also increased team travel time away from the classroom and subsequent increased costs for those schools. Does it make sense for Rutgers’ women volleyball team to travel to Oregon to play a game against the Ducks? Get real. The networks don’t care about the student-athletes and coaches. They only care about the eyeballs watching the Oregon-Rutgers football game on their network. Give the game back to the fans.

More on this later.

3. Establish parameters for the TRANSFER PORTAL.

While the freedom of movement is admirable to the courts, it is not in the best interests of the college student-athlete. What is the strategic goal of college athletics. Why are we here? Earn a degree.

Currently, college student-athletes can transfer at anytime, as many times as they want. Transferring negatively affects their chances to earn a degree that would give them a chance to be successful after their athletic career. Have you seen the latest data on graduation rates of college athletes?

Restrict transfers to one time. If the courts disagree on antitrust basis, then make ALL college athletes employees of the university. End of discussion. Of course, that will impact costs to the university, with a rippling affect on network rights fees. That in turn increases advertising costs for the network. But it’s the right thing to do for the student-athlete.

BOTTOM LINE:

If these three strategic goals are accomplished, we can get OUR game back. But wait, there are more! Coming soon…

In part three, we will continue our strategic goals by looking at the way to make college athletics more competitive by breaking up the NCAA.

Until then…

GO CANES!