NCAA antitrust settlement

[Jaybird]

So, to reduce this to a totally micro level, for the next decade (if I understand all this correctly, and there's an excellent chance I do not), Creighton will forego revenues of a little over 1/2 million/year to help pay a bunch of 30-year old ex-nebraska football players. nebby will forego revenues of roughly $1 million per year during the same period. So, for every, say, a hundred bucks the corndogs ante up, we kick in more than fifty bucks.

Now if only we had won fewer NCAAT games, this would cost us (and everybody else in the BE) at least a little less. OTOH, by not winning ANY tournament games, the corndogs helped keep their costs down. Those cagey bastards down there in Lincoln. All along, sucking must have been part of the plan. All this time, they've been playing three-dimensional chess while we've been playing, well, winning basketball. (Except, apparently that's their strategy in football and baseball too).

This gives me an idea: Next time I need to paint my house or get a new roof, I'm going to ask my neighbors to cost-share. No, it's not their problem exactly, but they are my house-adjacent, and we're all part of the same neighborhood. I'll even put 'em on a ten-year plan because I don't want to be a jerk about it. Btw, do basketball players of the past share in this windfall too? Baseball? Tennis, cross-country?

I'd propose a nice raise for Val for her heroic effort in leading the opposition to this out-of-whack revenue-sharing plan, but it doesn't look like there'll be enough money left. Hey, how about a plan where all the non-P4 schools get to share in the football revenues of all the FB playing schools? Tickets, seat licenses, TV, swag, parking, hot dogs, beer (again, tea-totaling nebby's one step ahead of everybody else); we need a cut of all of it. If we're going to pay for all their middle-aged ex-football players, it seems only fair.

[WBR Tom]

Yeah, that's the gist of it. That's why the SEC is on the hook for less than the ACC, too -- they've been less successful in hoops.

It feels to me like the Big Ten and SEC (and to a lesser extent, the Big 12) are baiting someone like the Summit or Big West (or a group of smaller leagues) into suing them over this; then they can break away and place the blame on someone else instead of taking all the heat. Sort of a "they made us do it" deal.

[Chicagojayfan]

...

I'd propose a nice raise for Val for her heroic effort in leading the opposition to this out-of-whack revenue-sharing plan, but it doesn't look like there'll be enough money left. Hey, how about a plan where all the non-P4 schools get to share in the football revenues of all the FB playing schools? Tickets, seat licenses, TV, swag, parking, hot dogs, beer (again, tea-totaling nebby's one step ahead of everybody else); we need a cut of all of it. If we're going to pay for all their middle-aged ex-football players, it seems only fair.

Nice that she's raising the issue now, but it's a legitimate question to know how/why the BE is getting rolled in different issues right now. Do we have any clout whatsoever in the NCAA selection committee? How on earth is something like this making it this far without the BE intervening?

Maybe there are some good reasons and there's nothing she can do, but she wasn't a conference commissioner before, and hadn't even been a major college athletic director before. We are where we are, but does the BE need to think about who is running the show for them during these times?

[LJay]

NCAA has signed on now. Big East is going to take it in the shorts percentage wise more than any conference out there. So we have that going for us, which is nice. Gunga, Gadunga.

[PAJay]

This structure of this lawsuit and the complexity of the settlement make it difficult to analyze. The only Defendants are the NCAA and the 5 Power (football) conferences. Those 6 Defendants must approve the settlement. But it would not be unusual to give others a chance to object to the settlement, i.e., NCAA members who do not have major football teams. When it comes to a hearing where the judge decides whether to approve the settlement or not these objections could carry weight. So it seems as if the Big East would have a basis for objecting to the structure of the deal (how the NCAA will pay off the settlement). There could also be Title IX objections, anti-trust objections, and objections around NIL issues.

[Jaybird]

I believe that a majority of conferences have to vote to accept this settlement, which would mean 17 yes votes are the minimum requirement. There are already four "yeses" right out of the box. (Don't know about the P12, or P2, or who even controls their vote). The trouble is, none of the other leagues are hit nearly as hard as the Big East, and they may be willing to swallow this and get it over with, without risking what's behind door #2. It's almost as if the BE is uniquely targeted by this settlement. Maybe Val is Joan of Arc in this battle, but she might not have an army behind her.

So, I for one look forward to, first, seeing my school, which hasn't had football since World War II, engaging in a decade of reparations payments to an ex-Alabama linebacker who's a software developer by now; an old Ohio State punter who's a high school principal somewhere; a one-time USC pulling guard who's an entertainment lawyer in Pasadena; and an ex-nebraska anything who's probably just finishing up a prison sentence; and, second, figuring out how to plug that massive hole in the budget, whether by laying off staff, cutting expenses like maybe recruiting or even eliminating a program; or passing the shortfall on to fans, or, possibly, some of all of that.

[TXJaysFan]

...

I'd propose a nice raise for Val for her heroic effort in leading the opposition to this out-of-whack revenue-sharing plan, but it doesn't look like there'll be enough money left. Hey, how about a plan where all the non-P4 schools get to share in the football revenues of all the FB playing schools? Tickets, seat licenses, TV, swag, parking, hot dogs, beer (again, tea-totaling nebby's one step ahead of everybody else); we need a cut of all of it. If we're going to pay for all their middle-aged ex-football players, it seems only fair.

Nice that she's raising the issue now, but it's a legitimate question to know how/why the BE is getting rolled in different issues right now. Do we have any clout whatsoever in the NCAA selection committee? How on earth is something like this making it this far without the BE intervening?

Maybe there are some good reasons and there's nothing she can do, but she wasn't a conference commissioner before, and hadn't even been a major college athletic director before. We are where we are, but does the BE need to think about who is running the show for them during these times?

Big East might be a power conference in basketball ... but basketball doesn't really matter. The major football conferences are driving the ship. That's been the case forever. I'm not sure why you expect Val to do. She objected it. It was ignored. The NCAA can't risk pissing off the Big Ten and SEC for fear they will just completely abandon ship.

We win some (conference realignment leading to a strong, core Big East including CU) and we lose some.

[LJay]

Pretty big loss.

You have to have enough sports to stay D1 but money hogs like a full roster of baseball and softball players may give way to sports with few roster spots. Golf comes to mind of a sport presently in place. Can’t think of a low volume sport that could be added but I’m sure there are some not presently supported by Creighton.

If I’m in sports admin I’m also probably sprucing up my resume.

[WBR Tom]

...

I'd propose a nice raise for Val for her heroic effort in leading the opposition to this out-of-whack revenue-sharing plan, but it doesn't look like there'll be enough money left. Hey, how about a plan where all the non-P4 schools get to share in the football revenues of all the FB playing schools? Tickets, seat licenses, TV, swag, parking, hot dogs, beer (again, tea-totaling nebby's one step ahead of everybody else); we need a cut of all of it. If we're going to pay for all their middle-aged ex-football players, it seems only fair.

Nice that she's raising the issue now, but it's a legitimate question to know how/why the BE is getting rolled in different issues right now. Do we have any clout whatsoever in the NCAA selection committee? How on earth is something like this making it this far without the BE intervening?

Maybe there are some good reasons and there's nothing she can do, but she wasn't a conference commissioner before, and hadn't even been a major college athletic director before. We are where we are, but does the BE need to think about who is running the show for them during these times?

Big East might be a power conference in basketball ... but basketball doesn't really matter. The major football conferences are driving the ship. That's been the case forever. I'm not sure why you expect Val to do. She objected it. It was ignored. The NCAA can't risk pissing off the Big Ten and SEC for fear they will just completely abandon ship.

We win some (conference realignment leading to a strong, core Big East including CU) and we lose some.

Yeah. It made it this far without the Big East objecting because the league found out about it when everyone else did.

So as for Val specifically, it's hard to fault her when she (and everyone else) found out about the settlement terms when they leaked via media. From all indications, the power football leagues met in private, hammered out the settlement in private, and shared only vague high-level details with the other 27 leagues.

That's fine, I guess -- those five are the defendants here, not the Big East or any of the other 26 -- but handing them a bill you settled up on and gave them no courtesy briefing of, much less an opportunity to weigh in on, speaks volumes.

[anotherjayfan]

Big East may be a great basketball league but afraid we're going to be on the outside looking in when the dust settles at the end of the NCAA era which appears to be rapidly approaching.