Every revolution begins with a voice crying out from the wilderness

I have never been a fan of Congressional intervention into college sports, but considering the futility and ineptitude of the NCAA I’ve come to the conclusion that like it or not, Congress has to be involved. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, hasn’t the faintest idea what to do to reform college sports before they implode so it has turned to our elected officials in Washington to come up with solutions.  

To their credit, senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) have mustered up support on both sides of the aisle for a bill that takes a stab at regaining control. The Protect College Sports Act is an attempt to halt an impending disaster by injecting practical, common sense rules and regulations. The bill in its current form won't go before a Senate vote until September at the earliest and then it will have to be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to the president for signing into law. Months are almost sure to go by before the bill becomes reality.

The bill has its share of flaws, which is why the Southeastern Conference is opposed to the legislation in its current form. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has responded with 10 tweaks to the bill that if implemented would result in the full scale support of the most powerful conference in all of collegiate athletics.

Sankey and the SEC have made it perfectly clear they are willing to go it alone if their suggestions are ignored. This was considered nothing more than saber rattling by many in the national media attending SEC Media Days in Tampa last week. They think the idea of the SEC breaking away is preposterous and that this is simply an attempt to bully Congress into favorable legislation.

After his state of the SEC speech a week ago, Sankey spent the next three days denying that the SEC is on the verge of declaring independence from the NCAA. The Commish knows that leaving the NCAA is impractical at the moment since there are no what to do next plans in place offering guidelines in the event further there is escalation of the problems currently kneecapping college sports.

Every revolution begins with an idea. Ideas evolve into debates in which grow into a movement leading to consensus agreement that radical steps for change are necessary. Leading up to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, writers such as Thomas Paine called for revolution. Delegates from the 13 British Colonies met and sent envoys to England to ask King George to compromise what they believed to be harsh and unfair taxation.

The compromise request bought time for planning what next in the event the king refused. When the king responded negatively, independence declared and with it came a plan to fight. This is not all that dissimilar to what the Southeastern Conference is doing.

If nothing else, Sankey’s 10 suggestions buy time. Once Congress returns from its August recess it will have to decide whether to reword the bill to accommodate the SEC or reject the suggestions altogether. Either way, it gives the SEC time to plan out what is next. If there is compromise and the SEC accepts the provisions of the Protect College Sports Act there is time to see how the new rules are enforced and/or if they impede the league from doing business. If there is no compromise, things will drag on, again allowing the SEC enough time to plan for the next move.

The Protect College Sports Act may be just what the NCAA needs, but given its history for choosing poorly and selectively enforcing rules, this legislation is probably just a band-aid when a tourniquet is required to stop the bleeding. The NCAA desperately tries to hang on to the notion of the student-athlete. That concept probably works down in Divisions II and III where scholarships are limited (Division II, non-existent Division III) and there is zero in the way of NIL money. Athletes can be held accountable for their work in the classroom, but sports in Division I are a full-time job. This is professional sports, something for which the NCAA was never prepared. It is also a multi-billion dollar enterprise that requires shrewd business people making decisions. The academic people who lead the NCAA are mostly clueless when it comes to sports and even less savvy when it comes to business.

Although Sankey spent last week insisting that the SEC is committed to remaining in the NCAA he is smart enough to read the tea leaves. The NCAA and college sports as we know them are incompatible but leaving the NCAA is a rather complicated proposition. To its credit, the NCAA runs outstanding championship tournaments and events (college football is not one of them). The NCAA also has television contracts for the multi-billion dollar NCAA basketball tournament. For the non-football playing Division I schools, the basketball money is vital to their existence.

There are leadership and timeline questions that have to be answered. Is there a leader with the business savvy and the sports knowledge capable of being the CEO? Who would pay for setting up the new organization? How long would it take to set up a new organization so it could operate efficiently from day one? Would the non-football schools be willing to join a football-centric organization?

These are only a few of the questions that will have to be answered before the NCAA is put out of its misery. A more practical solution would be to make this a step-by-step process that starts with football being granted autonomy to operate completely outside the web of the NCAA. Let football establish its own organization with its own rules, a plan for enforcement and a commissioner with absolute authority. Send this up as a trial balloon to work out the kinks while turning it into an organizational model that can be replicated if and when all the other sports elect to jump the NCAA ship. There is also the possibility that an organization is the long term solution for football while the other sports remain under the NCAA umbrella, but this has its own set of complications. Football would probably bring in record amounts of revenue but would fair shares of the football money be spent to support the other sports that can’t make it on their own?

Whenever the NCAA tries to defend itself after it gets caught doing something stupid it is quick to point out that membership is voluntary. However true that may be, those voluntary members have to know that an organization that continues to fight losing battles in court eventually will go belly up. At the moment there is no Plan B in place for that moment when the NCAA collapses. Right now all we have is Greg Sankey and the SEC serving as a voice in the wilderness.

There has not been a call for an all-out revolution just yet. Revolutions are never spur of the moment overnight occurrences. They begin with a single voice crying out while circulating brand new ideas. At SEC Media Days last week, Greg Sankey was the voice in the wilderness. He didn’t call for the abolishment of the NCAA nor did he confirm the SEC is in the midst of making plans to become a self-governing model. He is too shrewd to tip his hand but the hint was loud and clear.

When it comes to international business there is this old saying that if America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. When it comes to college sports, Greg Sankey has that same effect. Last week in Tampa he tossed a rock into the water. The ripples reached everyone from the networks to the conference commissioners to the school administrators, putting them all on alert that change is in the works. It’s not a matter of if but when.