Name, image and equality continue to ravage college sports, and the commissioners of NCAA’s Power Four conferences are desperate.
Greg Sankey, Jim Phillips, Tony Petitti and Brett Yormark have all been at Capitol Hill to discuss with Congress how it can help regulate zero and transfer portal, the latter of which remains a hit among college athletes who want to score more money.
More than 1,000 division in college basketball players has entered the portal since it opened on March 24.
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An NCAA logo on the field before a game between South Dakota State Jackrabbits and North Dakota State Bison in the FC’s Football Championship at Toyota Stadium 8 January 2023 in Frisco, Texas. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA -Photos via Getty Images)
One player even said he was heading into the portal just 13 minutes after his team lost in March Madness.
It becomes clear that the situation is getting out of control, and Yormark, the BIG 12 Commissioner, admitted mute to Bret Baier on “Special Report” Thursday, “We need help from Congress.”
“From where I sit today, federal preference, having a standardized platform that oversees and manages zero is critically important,” Yormark said. “Today, 34 states see it very different and it is relatively irregular.”
“The amount of laws adopted at state level makes it really difficult for us to regulate and compete nationally,” added the Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. Every time someone doesn’t like a decision, or something comes from NCAA, we end up in litigation. These rules are then gathered and we are back to the start.
“We are hopeful that the combination of what we have done in the settlement will give us an opportunity with some help from Congress to really place a system in a place that has some stability.
“We have crossed the bridge to be willing to give revenue … but we have to have some structure. We cannot have a system that has completely unregulated movement.”
NCAA -Logo at NCAA -Headquarters 28 February 2023 in Indianapolis. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
The settlement that Petitti referred to is the $ 2.8 billion agreement that enabled schools to pay 22% of their revenue from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships directly to college athletes. Payments from external sources would still be allowed.
Nola.com noted that the settlement would offer more than $ 2.5 billion to athletes who couldn’t make zero money until NCAA changed its rules in 2021.
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The settlement also called for a clearing house to ensure that any zero agreement worth more than $ 600 is tied to fair value in an attempt to avert suspected payment-for-play offering.
“We definitely understand the responsibility we have. Five hundred thousand students athletes have had $ 4 billion dollars annually for scholarships,” said Philips, the ACC Commissioner. “This is the heartbeat of americana, the Olympic movement and the Olympic team. We feel like there is a better destination and a stabilization that emerges, but we need help with congress and national law.”
Added Sankey, who runs SEC, “To have a College World series, to have a college -football game, to have national championships, you need national standards.”
The NCAA logo on a basket pad before another round of men’s NCAA tournament games between Marquette Golden Eagles and Colorado Buffaloes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse March 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Sankey and Phillips also cited the average of lower grade points of those who transfer, and Phillips said it will be “sober” when acquiring enough data to show that it is.
“When you look at transfer GPAs before transfer versus, historically, there has been a reduction. The quality of this education likes as credits are lost because the transfer of several times begins to inhibit the ability to choose the academic program that can have the most value and significance for anyone.”
