Co-Chair Saban + the College Sports Commission
Nick Saban will reportedly have a new title—College Sports Commissioner (sort of). If true, he’ll co-chair a new presidential commission tasked with reining in the chaos of modern college athletics, from booster money and the transfer portal to TV deals and athlete pay.
Kneel before ye college sports czars: Legendary football coach Nick Saban has been selected—alongside oil billionaire and Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell—to co-chair a soon-to-be-announced presidential commission on college athletics, according to to multiple reports, as the university-athlete system teeters on the precipice of establishing guardrails to surround its new historic era.
The commission will reportedly examine a wide range of issues, including:
- The transfer portal
- Unregulated booster payments to athletes
- The debate over college athlete employment
- Title IX
- Potentially even conference membership makeup and TV contracts.
What do presidential commissions typically do? Conduct investigations and research on specific issues, then deliver a report summarizing their findings and recommending policy changes. Think: a Red Bull-and-Adderall fueled persuasive college essay, but with bigger implications than a letter grade.
There’s precedent: President Gerald Ford formed a commission on Olympic Sports in 1975, which led to the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 and substantive reform that boosted America’s performance in subsequent games, The Athletic reports ($).
But…It’s unclear how this development will impact the impending House v. NCAA settlement.
The NCAA and power conference attorneys, along with plaintiffs’ attorneys, last week submitted an amended settlement proposal that would grandfather in roster limits, in an attempt to address a key issue raised by Judge Claudia Wilken regarding the previous agreement. Hanging in the balance—$2.8 billion in back-payments to ~14,000 student-athletes and universities being able to pay athletes directly for the first time.
Not waiting around for the rubber stamp: Though they may have to put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube, many schools have started cutting players in preparation for the settlement's implementation on July 1, while the University of Kentucky last month approved a plan to convert its athletic department into a company.
