Think Tank: Saving College Sports

-EDITORIAL-

by TexCane

The management of college athletics has been in a state of change and chaos for nearly a decade. We have seen multiple massive conference realignments, the emergence and impact of the Transfer Portal and Name, Image & Likeness (NIL).

The chaos that has followed impacted fans, administrators, coaches and student-players across the country.

Last week, President Trump brought together people from varied backgrounds, to the White House to participate in the first "Saving College Sports" round table with vice chairs Secretary of State Marco Rubio, New York Yankees president Randy Levine and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leading the discussion. As a result, President Trump promised to write an executive order within a week that will "solve all of the problems" brought forth.

Perhaps the chaos in college athletics can be resolved with a few simple moves.

Here are our suggestions.

Reduce Division I:

Reduce Division I from 133 schools to 96 schools. This move will reestablish a manageable top tier of college athletic competition. Schools not selected will move to a new Division II with their own championship tournaments.

Reorganize the new Division I:

Organize into eight conferences with 12 schools in each conference. These conferences will report directly to a new College Commissioner and be managed centrally. Each conference will be hired and managed by a senior-vice president reporting directly to the College Commissioner. These eight new conferences will be organized geographically, thus reducing travel for fans, players and coaches.

Media Rights:

All media rights agreements will be owned and managed by the NCAA.

Revenue Distribution:

All regular season revenue from media rights agreements will be distributed evenly among the 96 schools. All post season revenue will be performance based on how far your school advances.

Roster Reduction:

In recent years, the size of football rosters has ballooned from 85 to 105 scholarship players. We propose reducing the rosters to 95 players. This move will allow athletic directors to shift resources to their Olympic sports programs.

The College Football Playoff:

The CFP will consist of sixteen schools that include the eight conference champions and the eight second place schools in each conference. No polls. No selection committees. Berths in the CFP are earned on the field of competition.

Name, Image & Likeness: (NIL)

There appears to be agreement that college athletics should share in the fruits of their labor with our student-athletes. We do NOT suggest our student-athletes be restricted on how much they should get for their rights. However, NIL spending by schools has gotten out of hand. It is not negatively affecting each school’s ability to fund the Olympic sports programs at their institution. If something is not done soon, we should expect schools to begin closing down certain sports programs.

We propose to put a spending cap on every school, but not an earrings cap on the student-athlete. What such a cap should be is debatable, but we suggest $10-15M per school annually. This move would bring back sanity to athletic budget management.

Transfer Portal:

The Transfer Portal has given student-athletes more freedom of movement. However, this has caused chaos in the coaching ranks over roster management each year. Fans no longer can identify with the student-athletes. Their teams are in constant change.

We propose a student can transfer within one window each year. However, there will be a cost for that freedom…one year of that student-athlete’s eligibility. In addition, the student-athlete must pay a buyout fee commensurate with his/her last year of NIL. Student-athletes would maintain the freedom of movement but, like life, it comes at a cost.

BOTTOM LINE:

With the above moves, college athletics will experience the stability needed by all parties while maintaining what’s great about college athletics.

GO CANES!