Dawn of new age for college athletics is on the horizon with NCAA appearing powerless to stop it

The person some consider most powerful man in college athletics paused to take a call last week from a reporter. International antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler was in Japan. It didn’t matter. The connection was clear, and so was his vision of the future.

“I’ve been doing stuff for athletes since 1977,” Kessler told CBS Sports. “I’ve been working in the college space since we filed the Alston [v. NCAA] litigation back in 2015. I said then it was going to be a long road. … Well, now we’re near the end.”

Recent events have further clarified that vision. For the first time, we can see a horizon of sorts — the dawning of an age where college sports will change forever.

The current way — the old way — now has an expiration date … or perhaps a series of them. The courts, the lawyers, the NCAA, the athletes themselves have put a timestamp on it.

By this time next year, the NCAA will be defending its very existence against Kessler as House v. NCAA goes to trial.

By the end of this week, due to recent court rulings, it is likely there will be neither restrictions on transfers nor restrictions on NIL benefits (at least until the end of the current semester).

A breakaway, in some form, of college football’s powers from the NCAA itself seems destined given last week’s announcement by the SEC and Big Ten.

For the first time, NCAA athletes (Dartmouth men’s basketball) can formally unionize (subject to appeal). How long until a Power Five college football team does the same thing?

“We felt, coming into this year, this was going to be our breakthrough year — this was going to be the year we would successfully organize college football players,” said Jason Stahl, executive director of the College Football Players Association. “[The…

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Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2024-02-06 22:40:05

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