Thoughts of the day: Saturday, June 7, 2025

Florida AD Scott Stricklin (R) will have his hands full navigating the changes to college sports (Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Saturday morning:

Friday, Federal Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California signed off on the United States House of Representatives v. NCAA, a deal that settles three antitrust cases while making it perfectly legal for schools to fork over as much as $20.5 million to its athletes. Not only that, the deal will allow a substantial increase in scholarships. In the case of the University of Florida, which offers nine men’s sports and 12 women’s sports, the new agreement allows the Gators to go from a combined 285.2 scholarships to 520 (265 for men, 255 for women).

If a scholarship has a value of $75,000 per year, then the University Athletic Association will be on the hook for $17,610,000 per year if it fills all of its available scholarships. With a $20.5 million pay for play cap as mandated by the settlement, the UAA will be spending $38,110,000 for its athletes.

The University of Florida can afford it. With athletic revenues in excess of $200 million in the fiscal year ending in 2024 there is no shortage of money. Still, that pales in comparison to Texas, whose revenues exceeded $331 million or Texas A&M, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, all of whom had more than $230 million in revenues.

Think of it in these terms. Bet the ranch that all 16 SEC schools will pay the full $20.5 million to their athletes, so that is $328,000,000 right there. Let’s say the 16 SEC schools combine for an average of 520 scholarships at $75,000 per year, that’s another $624,000,000. That is $952,000,000 on pay for play and scholarships.

And here you are wondering why it is there is a scramble to expand the College Football Playoff to 16 teams even though we’re only one year into expansion from four to 12 teams. Or, why you just got your season ticket renewal application and you will be spending hundreds more for the same seats that have been in your family for years. Or why you will be paying more money for a single skinny weenie that you pay for a 24-pack of Ball Park dogs at Sam’s.

Figure the SEC and Big Ten schools will be able to cover the increases because they have the TV deals and big stadiums. That is not the case in the ACC or the Big 12, but they still have a lot more money than those in the American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and other Group of Five conferences.

The haves of the college sports world will have more and the almost haves and never will haves will fall farther behind.

Adding more scholarships and a $20.5 million spending limit to pay athletes is going to trickle down negatively to the Group of Five, FCS and Division II levels. The power conferences will have more scholarships to offer so they will take a flyer on a kid that they otherwise wouldn’t have room for under the old limitations. Good football players at the lower levels will be more inclined to transfer to schools that (a) can afford to pay them and (b) have more scholarships to offer.

We are going to have chaos. Count on it. At some point in time – probably sooner and not later – we’re going to see schools that can’t afford to keep up with the big boys dropping sports. If we continue on the present course, then it is only a matter of time before multiple schools completely eliminate their athletic departments in an effort to stave off bankruptcy or elect to compete at a non-scholarship level.

So what is the answer? Let’s start with the obvious. We have a deal brokered by the NCAA and the House of Representatives that is supposed to solve a myriad of problems, but will it?  In the words of the late, great Ronald Reagan, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” We have taken a branch of the government (House of Representatives) that hasn’t balanced a budget since the Clinton administration and yet the NCAA begged it for help solving the problems of college sports.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

Combine the House with the NCAA, which redefines ineptitude, and the words of Jesus come to mind: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

At the Final Four, I had a conversation with Jay Wright, who won two NCAA basketball championships at Villanova before throwing up his hands in disgust and retiring, all because the NCAA has lost control. A few highlights of our conversation: (1) The NCAA is incapable of solving the problems it created and should be relegated to doing the one thing it does well, which is run championship events; (2) Football, the cash cow for college athletics, has to secede from the NCAA and once it has worked out the kinks, then bring in the other sports one-by-one; (3) Hire a commissioner for the new organization, one who understands the business of sports and give him real power to make decisions; (4) Make all athletes employees of their school and let each conference establish a salary cap; and (5) Make all athletes sign enforceable contracts.

I believe the NCAA has long since outlived its usefulness. I believe a divorce is necessary and a new organization formed run by a far thinking commissioner who understands the business of sports. Since we’re headed for an NFL model for football and since football pays the freight, put someone in charge who has been successful running an NFL team, but make sure whoever it is has strong leadership qualities.

The NCAA is the perfect example of what happens when well meaning people choose to be led by someone incapable of running the midnight shift at a convenience store. NCAA presidents such as Myles Brand and Mark Emmert are why we have the mess we’re in when it comes to the transfer portal, NIL and pay for play. Rather than listen to athletes who were asking for things like extended health care to cover lingering effects of injuries or scholarships to pay for the classes necessary for graduation after they have exhausted their eligibility the NCAA chose to fight in court where they kept on losing.

It didn’t have to be this way.

The new agreement between the House and the NCAA is nothing more than an expensive band aid at a time when a tourniquet is necessary. Three or four years from now, when it is clear to everyone with a functioning brain that this latest deal is nothing more than another dumb idea, perhaps a strong enough leader will emerge complete with a common sense plan that calls for the abolition of the NCAA. If you appreciate college sports, then you should pray that day comes sooner and not later.

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Here are the scholarship limits and how they apply to the University of Florida:

Baseball: New limit 34; old 11.7

Men’s basketball: New limit 15; old limit 13

Women’s basketball: No change; 15 scholarship limit

Men’s cross country: New limit 17; old 5

Women’s cross country: New limit 17; old 6

Football: New limit 105; old 85

Men’s golf: New limit 9; old 4.5

Women’s golf: New limit 9; old 6

Women’s gymnastics: New limit 20; old 12

Men’s track and field: New limit 45; old 12.6

Women’s track and field: New limit 45; old 18

Women’s lacrosse: New limit 38; old 12

Women’s soccer: New limit 28; old 14

Softball: New limit 25; old 12

Men’s swimming: New limit 30; old 9.9

Women’s swimming: New limit 30; old 14

Men’s tennis: New limit 10; old 4.5

Women’s tennis: New limit 10; old 8

Women’s volleyball: New limit 18; old 12

TOTALS

Men: New limit 265; old 156.2

Women: New limit 255; old 129