AUBURN | Oh boy, here we go again.
The leaders of college football have a brand new plan that’s definitely going to end the unregulated era of NIL.
It’s called the College Sports Commission (sounds important) and it will seek to bind Power 4 schools to a set of rules via an agreement document. Schools that don’t sign the document or don’t adhere to the rules could be expelled from their conference.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger outlines the plan in his latest dispatch from the volatile world of college athletics.
The commission and this “binding document,” which is still being finalized, will try to limit any extra NIL deals above that approved by the new NIL clearinghouse and prevent schools from using state laws to circumvent the new rules set out by the commission.
Not surprisingly, it’s unclear if this binding document would be enforceable in a court of law (see a long list of L’s by the NCAA) and if all 68 schools in the Power 4 are willing to sign it.
There’s also a very big blind spot when it comes to the commission and its binding document.
The players, once again, weren’t a part of the negotiations and won’t be a part of any agreement.
Yes, they’ll be getting revenue sharing beginning July 1 if the House settlement is finally approved. But that’s going to mean a pay cut for many of the top earners.
Does the commission really think the players and their representatives are going to agree to this? If a state law allows athletes to receive money above and beyond whatever the NIL clearinghouse approves, are they just supposed to say, ‘No thanks.’
No chance.
Does anyone think this commission will be able to limit transfers?
Again, no chance.
The only way for the leaders of college football to effect real change is to sit down with the players and negotiate.
A commission, binding agreement, presidential committee, executive order, Ted Cruz, Nick Saban or some Texas billionaire isn’t going to save college athletics. That’s assuming it does need changing.
The players have to be involved in this process. The sooner that’s done, the better.
***
There is a change to next year’s college football playoffs that I can get completely behind.
Playoff executives approved straight seeding for the 12-team 2025 CFP. They were able to push through the changes with a simple compromise, allowing the conference champions to receive $8 million even if they’re not seeded in the top four.
Applying the new rules to last year’s playoffs would have likely created a more competitive first round with Boise State playing at Indiana, SMU playing at Tennessee, Arizona State playing at Ohio State and Clemson playing at Notre Dame.
Potential quarterfinal matchups could have included Indiana vs. Oregon, Tennessee vs. Georgia, Ohio State vs. Texas and Notre Dame vs. Penn State. Two of those games were in last year’s semifinals.
While it won’t matter for 2026 and beyond, which is still looking like a 16-team field with four automatic bids apiece for the SEC and Big Ten, a more competitive playoff with straight seeding this year should ensure it’s here to stay for the future.
It’s also important to bring some normalcy to college football. With so many changes happening throughout the structure of the sport, having a set and repeatable CFP would be a bonus for fans, who just want to see the best teams playing each other at the end of the year.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 105 years to the birth of the Queen of American Pop Music, who became the inspiration for one of the world’s most popular cocktails. On May 26, 1920, Norma Deloris Egstrom was born in Jamestown, North Dakota as the sixth of seven children to Marvin, an alcoholic, and Selma, who passed away when Norma was four. She was physically and emotionally abused by her stepmother and left home at the age of 17. She held down a number of jobs after leaving home including cook, waitress and even carnival barker. In 1937, she was hired by WDAY radio station in Fargo and was given the stage name, Peggy Lee, right before she went on air for the first time. She also sang in various clubs including the Buttery Room at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago where she was spotted by bandleader Benny Goodman. She joined his band in 1941 and was part of the Benny Goodman Orchestra for two years. She had her breakout hit, “Why Don’t You Do Right?,” in 1943, which sold over one million copies. She also sang with the Goodman Orchestra in two movies, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl. She married for the first of four times in 1943 with the goal of becoming a full-time housewife, but her husband, musician Dave Barbour, encouraged her to continue her career.
Lee embarked on a prolific career that included nearly 70 albums from 1948 to 1993, 270 writing or co-writing credits and 10 films. She co-wrote all of the original songs in Disney’s 1955 movie Lady and the Tramp, and voiced several characters in Darling, the dog Peg and the two cats, Si and Am. She was a regular guest on the Jimmy Durante and Bing Crosby radio shows in the 1940’s and 50’s and many more T.V variety shows. She had three No. 1 hits in “Somebody Else is Taking My Place,” “Mañana” and “Is That All There Is?” and 13 other top 10 hits. Lee’s most popular hits include “Fever,” “I Don’t Know Enough About You,” “It’s a Good Day” and “He’s a Tramp.” She won a Grammy Award in 1969 for “Is That All There Is?” and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Lee was inducted into the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999. She also had a huge influence on popular culture. In 1948, Lee was in the Balinese Room in Galveston, Texas where she requested a drink like the one she recently had in Mexico. The bartender, Santos Cruz, created the margarita and named it after the Spanish version of Peggy. Former MLB pitcher Tug McGraw named one of his pitches the Peggy Lee because it’s the one where a hitter is out in front and says, ‘Is that all there is?’ The muppet, Miss Piggy, was also modeled after Lee.
