BREAKING SCOTUS Rules NCAA Compensation Violates Antitrust Law

[selmaborntidefan]

So assuming the Power Five does breakaway and forms their own league, what does that do to the recently proposed “fairness and inclusion” expansion of the CFP?

Assuming you take the 65 Power 5 (conference members plus Notre Dame), possibly expand it to take a handful the stronger G-5 schools to push the number to 68-70 members, it would seem 6-8 teams would be more reasonable.

Ya see the power brokers in Power Five knew this Supreme Court ruling was coming. It was the only reason they agreed to be “fair” and expand to twelve teams. They knew it would never be a reality. Guess this means the G-5 teams will form their own conference too and “draft” Tammy Brando as there President, commissioner or grand poobah.

I was about to write, "Someone just saved the CFP a bunch of work. There ain't gonna be no expanded playoff."

 

[B1GTide]

I don't think the P5 has to break away anymore. This ruling gives the P5 schools what they wanted already. Other schools/conferences may choose to walk away from the Bowl subdivision, but the P5 needn't do anything anymore.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I don't think the P5 has to break away anymore. This ruling gives the P5 schools what they wanted already. Other schools/conferences may choose to walk away from the Bowl subdivision, but the P5 needn't do anything anymore.

This is kind of where I lean as well. The part that will get interesting - at least in my view - is the NFL may have no choice but to help subsidize it to sustain their minor league. They might get faced with a choice of, "You either subsidize your minor league or it goes out of business, and you have to build one from scratch."

 

[KrAzY3]

I'm not as worried about this as I am some other things in the pipeline. If I understand the ruling in this particular case, the problem wasn't that they weren't getting "paid" it's just that the restrictions on education based benefits were too strict. Strictly speaking I agree with this and have long argued for relaxation on things such as insurance provided for athletes, total scholarship numbers, generally have argued that all the athletes needs should be met. Some of the NCAA restrictions were there to try to hold the big schools back.

In either case, with the NIL stuff coming up, it's a good thing that Alabama as a university won't be limited entirely by what their boosters can scrape together to pretend to hire a player for endorsements. However, Title IX is still looming large...

 

[TexasBama]

If the NCAA wasn't already irrelevant, it is now.

Finally.

 

[crimsonaudio]

So assuming the Power Five does breakaway and forms their own league, what does that do to the recently proposed “fairness and inclusion” expansion of the CFP?

The CFP will either be a thing of the past (replaced by the new league) or will only be for the new P5 league.

 

[crimsonaudio]

I don't think the P5 has to break away anymore. This ruling gives the P5 schools what they wanted already. Other schools/conferences may choose to walk away from the Bowl subdivision, but the P5 needn't do anything anymore.

Well, there needs to be some kind of oversight and the NCAA has proven it isn't up to the job.

Not to mention the NCAA makes 10 figures annually (literally) from the schools, much of which could be up for grabs under a new oversight.

 

[TexasBama]

Well it’s like a few of us on here said all these years… major college football is not an amateur sport and hasn’t been for ages. Either the P5 would form its own group or the NCAA was going to get destroyed in the SCOTUS was the inevitable path forward.

These kids spend 12 months a year training and participating. I was able to work summer jobs when I was in school. Adding this income they lose out on isn't unreasonable.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

These kids spend 12 months a year training and participating. I was able to work summer jobs when I was in school. Adding this income they lose out on isn't unreasonable.

And it never has been.

I mean, what used to perturb me to no end was, "School X got put on probation because they gave a recruit a $12 T-shirt, which the NCAA considers an illegal benefit." I was always like, "Damn, if a guy can be bought for $12, he's probably not very good in the first place!"

 

[TideEngineer08]

Nope.

It's going to change, and some of those changes might not be for the better. But I can't see it dying over this in particular. The ncaa as an enforcement body is done, however. As it should be.

 

[KrAzY3]

This is kind of where I lean as well. The part that will get interesting - at least in my view - is the NFL may have no choice but to help subsidize it to sustain their minor league. They might get faced with a choice of, "You either subsidize your minor league or it goes out of business, and you have to build one from scratch."

I just wish this ruling could have happened quite a bit earlier, it could have allowed power 5 colleges to pivot in another direction and move towards more education based benefits. That could in theory have blown away what semi-pro teams pay players (they already compensate more than semi-pro teams). This could have blunted some of the other stuff and at least gave them time to do things in an orderly fashion. Now with the NIL stuff, the playoff stuff, this is kind of adding to the chaos.

So, I continue to fear for the short term. There are some obvious implications people have brought up, but one thing I don't think I've seen asked, much less answered is what of losing eligibility at all? If we're going to openly call these players professionals, then what becomes the justification for telling them they have to leave their job just because they've already had it for four years? That's a potentially massive change to the sport and someone is going to sue when he has to leave his job for no reason other than he's had it for a few years.

 

[bamadwain]

With this ruling and playoff expansion this is also the end for the G5, there is no way they can compete against the big boy's. Also with NIL you still have to some kind of restrictions, if you self impose yourself teams like LSU&Auburn will go bat crazy and we all have read that book b4!

 

[B1GTide]

With this ruling and playoff expansion this is also the end for the G5, there is no way they can compete against the big boy's. Also with NIL you still have to some kind of restrictions, if you self impose yourself teams like LSU&Auburn will go bat crazy and we all have read that book b4!

IMO, they now have to give up their dreams of winning a championship, but almost none really has that - even as a dream. Most of them know who they are, and they are happy to be where they are.

 

[TRU]

I think it is clear where this is going to end up. The universities are all going to offer a standard scholarship package to the players. And then the players are going to be able to solicit and take endorsement and appearance money from whomever they want. This may even get rolled into their offer. And this will be fair under Title 9, as any student will be free to solicit endorsements as well. Not just the starting QB for the football team, but the wing on the women's field hockey team can chase the money. It will just be that some will be successful in cashing in and some will not. It is going to be similar to how universities already pay their star faculty and staff. At UAB, the salary the clinicians earn from their faculty appointment is a pittance compared to the clinical income they get through the practice plan. And what is CNS's base salary? Like $275K? The rest comes from outside deals linked to his position.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Well, there needs to be some kind of oversight and the NCAA has proven it isn't up to the job.

Not to mention the NCAA makes 10 figures annually (literally) from the schools, much of which could be up for grabs under a new oversight.

And therein lies my question.

I cry no tears for the NCAA. But as I've asked in several threads, what replaces it? I don't like the idea of, "Nothing.....and ain't it great!!!!!"

Now suppose the P5 Presidents and ADs try to replace it with something else. What's to keep a court from ruling that "something else" invalid from an anti-trust perspective? If the answer is nothing, there's no longer any distinction between college sports and the minor-league teams that several sports already have.

Are we to the point of open bidding for players? We might be, and I don't think anybody wants that.

There are several parallels between this and the movement to defund the police. The general population doesn't like the authority because it's so often unjust and clearly plays favorites...which favorites evolve over time. So the population rises up and abolishes the authority, or cuts its power so much as to make it ineffective.

Dancing in the streets....until that same population realizes that nature abhors a vacuum, and something else far worse is beginning to fill the void.

Ask Portland, East St. Louis, Chicago, and New York how that's working out. Better yet, go take a walk in Washington Park after dark. Take note of who sets and enforces the rules there, and how they do it.

There will be governance. It's a question of who's governing, who they're answerable to (if anybody), and how they enforce their power.

As much as I dislike politicians in general, and the US Congress in particular, this is why I think they (Congress) will have to step in with a uniform set of federal laws to govern intercollegiate athletics.

God help us.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

And therein lies my question.

I cry no tears for the NCAA. But as I've asked in several threads, what replaces it? I don't like the idea of, "Nothing.....and ain't it great!!!!!"

Now suppose the P5 Presidents and ADs try to replace it with something else. What's to keep a court from ruling that "something else" invalid from an anti-trust perspective? If the answer is nothing, there's no longer any distinction between college sports and the minor-league teams that several sports already have.

Are we to the point of open bidding for players? We might be, and I don't think anybody wants that.

There are several parallels between this and the movement to defund the police. The general population doesn't like the authority because it's so often unjust and clearly plays favorites...which favorites evolve over time. So the population rises up and abolishes the authority, or cuts its power so much as to make it ineffective.

Dancing in the streets....until that same population realizes that nature abhors a vacuum, and something else far worse is beginning to fill the void.

Ask Portland, East St. Louis, Chicago, and New York how that's working out. Better yet, go take a walk in Washington Park after dark. Take note of who sets and enforces the rules there, and how they do it.

There will be governance. It's a question of who's governing, who they're answerable to (if anybody), and how they enforce their power.

As much as I dislike politicians in general, and the US Congress in particular, this is why I think they (Congress) will have to step in with a uniform set of federal laws to govern intercollegiate athletics.

God help us.

Not to be a contrarian (I promise), but it seems to me the problem that makes it unique to the NCAA is that we're talking about an organization that out of one side of its mouth argues "it's a voluntary organization" but out the other says "you can't do this AND IF YOU DO WE WILL PUNISH YOU AND YOUR SCHOOL!" That's been the real rub, and the NCAA has been pulling that card from the time they bullied Penn and Notre Dame into signing away their TV rights by 161 other schools (including Alabama I should add) or else all those schools would withdraw from games scheduled against them. And what caused that? The fact that Pitt's athletic director was terrified at the prospect of another in-state school (even an Ivy League one) showing games on television.

Ever since they pulled that, the NCAA has been the proverbial equivalent of a loose cannon, aiming indiscriminately left and right at whatever targets they could and just making up rules on the spot.

Of course, I agree with you in the realization of what just might happen and it's not good to contemplate. I'm not willing yet to declare the demise of college athletics in America, but the reality is that even the 25 schools making something of a profit have to have someone to play and beat, which is why I've always said to the Tide fans who gave me the old, "I don't care about the rest of the SEC," well, you'd better care enough to have enough concern your football only survives if you have someone else to play. Now, the schools in the SEC and the Big Ten MIGHT be spared because they've become as dependent as a crack addict on those TV monies regardless of how many times they're shown on TV.

One thing I learned long ago is that regardless of the Chicken Littles, most things in the world do survive in an altered form as they adapt to changing times, which is why I'm not willing to throw in with this being the end of the world. There tends to be someone out there who thinks outside of the box and comes up with something workable.

That being said, I'm willing to acknowledge this will alter the landscape dramatically, too.

 

[Elefantman]

Does this mean players can receive free textbooks and sell them after they are finished using them?? And does this mean we can get our missing 21 wins back?? Just asking for a friend.

 

[B1GTide]

Does this mean players can receive free textbooks and sell them after they are finished using them?? And does this mean we can get our missing 21 wins back?? Just asking for a friend.

Or that players can trade golden pants that they earned for tats? And that OSU can beat the heck out of Notre Dame in 2012 instead of Alabama? Asking for a friend.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Or that players can trade golden pants that they earned for tats? And that OSU can beat the heck out of Notre Dame in 2012 instead of Alabama? Asking for a friend.

 

[NationalTitles18]

I, for one, don't see the NCAA going anywhere. They will adapt as much as they are forced to. There may come a time, say 10-15 years from that the P5 break away, but I have my doubts. What will replace it anyway? Another incompetent organization? Why not stick with the incompetents you know?