Can we be honest for a minute?
While no one has ever accused members of my profession of having tangible intelligence, I left this week’s SEC spring meetings in a strange place.
Confused, even.
The myriad of issues surrounding the ongoing legal settlement over athlete compensation is enough to stymie a lawyer. We talk about the intersection of antitrust law, security regulations, Title IX, collective bargaining, and all the other big words this side of catch and land.
Don’t just take it from me.
“A lot of questions were asked,” Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel said. “More will probably come out.”
We’re talking about dense and frankly boring stuff.
It’s not really the kind of thing that interests sports fans, but it is the foundation of the uniquely American phenomenon that is the collegiate sports model.
We’re talking about major changes in structure and execution, the kind you might see that other changes won’t.
The challenge is to distill this entire puzzle into a readable, understandable, bite-sized form. This is true for several reasons.
- The House vs. NCAA rules are not yet a public document. There have been widespread leaks of what it contains, but not enough for anyone outside the negotiations to fully understand it.
- Everyone has an angle.
- Competing interests abandon the internal route; however, the dust settles, so the people with the information are already in spin mode.
First, for some context.
The SEC spring meetings are that annual rite of summer, as league officials, coaches and administrators gather at a Destin complex to discuss the business of the day. In the past, they have tackled relatively mundane issues like granting scholarships, satellite camps, scholarships, and attacks on the courts.
“It’s pretty nice when you’re just talking about eight or nine conference games or cream cheese on bagels, right?” » Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said after emerging from a few hours of meetings Wednesday, referring to the battle headlining the 2023 SEC spring meetings. “There are obviously much more important points that now need to be discussed and that is what we are doing.”
To be clear, while reporters are in Destin covering the meetings, we are not physically in the meeting rooms. Most of the time, they spend their time hanging around the lobbies, waiting for coaches and administrators to come out. Those who have something to say will stop for interviews.
Florida AD Scott Stricklin spent at least 45 minutes in the press scrum giving his views on complicated issues.
At the end of each day, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey gives a 30-40 minute press briefing, during which carefully selected words convey the league’s message on legislative issues ranging from conference bylaws to the laws she would like to see adopted by the United States. Congress.
Separating facts from manipulations is more difficult than usual while much of the basic material remains not only confidential, but incredibly complex and confusing.
See Heupel quote above.
Understanding where everyone stands is important for context when reading a story, digesting a quote from someone in these meetings or involved in these processes.
- Schools and administrators are entering the era of paying athletes not because they want to, but because it is now legally required.
- Administrators want you to know (or think) that this new financial burden will be monumental to overcome. According to the report, schools will be able to spend up to 22% of their annual income within the known parameters of the regulation.
- Athletic departments are already designed to spend as much of their revenue as possible. That revenue is expected to increase next year with the expansion of the College Football Playoff and the SEC’s new television deal with ESPN. Alabama’s Byrne said it’s not as simple as adding these new income brackets and subtracting compensation for new athletes. And even though I am not the accountant of this house, I would be interested in an in-depth study of these schools to see how the balance sheets are evolving in this new reality.
- The House vs. NCAA rule is not the silver bullet to get college sports out of the quagmire. They will still need more legal protection to protect themselves from the peril of legal action. This is where antitrust exemptions, safe harbors, and panhandling in Washington come into play. No one seems optimistic that the legislative and executive branches of our federal government will pass legislation in an election year.
- Here too, the November vote will go a long way in determining the balance of power. A Republican majority and the White House would be more favorable to college administrators, while Democratic victories would likely be more favorable to athletes.
- Questions about how the new pool of money for athletes will be distributed.
- List sizes might also change here. The idea of football players is under discussion and coaches are not ready to reduce rosters of up to 120 players to 85.
- We have come this far without talking about NIL and the collectives that become the unintended consequence of the concept. But that’s all part of it. But who knows, what that means. “If someone tells you they know exactly what’s going to happen to the collectives, they’re a lot smarter than me,” Byrne said, “which doesn’t mean much, but when you read the agreement , there will be potential fair market value governance and that could impact what collective societies do. I can’t sit here and tell you where this is going to end up, but I think you should at least lend to it. attention.
- School administrators are opposed to collective bargaining entering the revenue-sharing arena and are even less interested in athletes gaining employee status. “To have collective bargaining, you have to be in an employment situation,” SEC Commissioner Sankey said. “No student-athlete has come to me and said they want to be taxed as an employee. » Athletes, to be clear, are already taxed on their zero income.
- Once again, everyone has a perspective.
We could go on all day about how one thing leads to another, but you shouldn’t be punished further for reading this far because a smooth-witted sports writer is trying to explain smart guy stuff instead of depth charts and box scores.
But the most important point is worth noting: we live in delicate and confusing times and everyone is fighting for their interests to prevail.
Other topics will become more important as the summer progresses and we move closer to games on the field rather than in beachside meeting rooms.
Keep your head turned and we will do our best to avoid any spins and keep you aware, as these are crucial times in our great intercollegiate athletics experience.
Are you still confused?
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ParCasagrande Or on Facebook.