The Time is Now

Had I been president of the University of Louisville yesterday, my statement would have read as follows:

With its previous decision and now this insulting appeal denial, the NCAA has once again proven to be a repulsive embodiment of the word hypocrite. The NCAA has only ever cared, and continues to only care about revenues while satisfying a few glorified bureaucrats. Their mission never has been, and never will be, focused upon the student athlete.

There is no incentive to cooperate. There is no reason to tell to the truth. There is zero reason to comply.

Following the NCAA’s countless embarrassing and contradicting rulings, eligibility determinations, cover ups, schemes of corruption, and brainless actions, I announce here today as President of the University of Louisville a convention to occur upon the conclusion of the 2018 spring semesters.

The president or chancellor, as well as the athletic director, for each institution of the “power five conferences” shall convene to formally begin planning our exodus from the NCAA. These institutional leaders will work together to create a new collegiate athletic governing body that is fair and representative to not only its member institutions, but more importantly, finally places the wellbeing of its student athletes at the core of any and all rules and decision making processes.

As for the denial of our appeal and next steps…the NCAA can kiss our feathered Cardinal ass…the banner stays.

Anger, confusion, and disgust being hurled at the NCAA’s doorstep is well past being categorized as a broken record. The NCAA keeps shooting itself directly in its own feet, yet the true powers that be refuse to take action. Instead of leadership, the NCAA’s member schools remain bent over grabbing their ankles screaming “thank you sir may I have another” ala Kevin Bacon in Animal House. The time has never been more right to depart the NCAA and leave it for dead. Following the NCAA’s cover up of sexual assault at Michigan State, their refusal to punish North Carolina for 20+ years of academic fraud, and their destruction of Louisville Men’s Basketball, the time to form a new collegiate athletic governing body is now!

1. INFRASTRUCTURE

If this exodus occurred, forming a new collegiate athletic organization would be relatively “easy”. All of the infrastructure, rules, and obligations are already in place. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Thankfully, the NCAA has spent the last 112 years attempting to perfect a collegiate athletic organization. Of course they have failed, but this new governing body would only need address the NCAA’s faults, not change everything it already gets right.

Mainly, the new organization would focus on establishing a fair and honest system where rulings, judgments, and punishments are handed down. The member institutions would be judged by their peers, not by retired blowhards in Indianapolis with personal agendas and vendettas. A new punishment system would be implemented whereby certain violations would be met by crystal clear punishments already agreed upon and formalized. No longer would schools be waiting in the wind hoping and praying for a consistent ruling. Punishments would fit the crime and be forward looking. Gone would be these retroactive “vacating of accomplishments” that are imbecilic. Most importantly, precedent would finally be adhered to.

This new collegiate athletic association could potentially get involved in and handle the AAU circuits (or other offseason recruiting events) thereby targeting the corruption and bribery scandals that have long plagued men’s basketball.

Roughly 99% of the NCAA’s current rules and policies make sense, are effective, and hypothetically would remain the same. This new organization would only target those rules and policies that are endlessly complained about year after year.

2. REVENUE

The NCAA’s revenue from 2017’s version of March Madness topped $1 billion. ESPN paid $7.3 billion for the rights to the College Football Playoff. ESPN paid Texas $295 million to establish the Longhorn Network. The Big Ten Network deal equated to $2.64 billion. The SEC Network deal is valued at roughly $5 billion. The PAC 12 struck a $3 billion deal and the ACC reported revenues of $374 million for 2016. The Big 12 distributed $35 million to each member school last year.

Tell me again why the power five need the NCAA?

The NFL’s current television rights contracts that run through 2022 add up to $54.5 billion. The NBA is in the middle of a nine year, $24 billion deal for its television rights.

Still think the NCAA is needed?

If the power five departed the NCAA and formed a new collegiate athletic governing organization, then overnight it would become the most powerful and potentially highest paid athletic organization in the world. Each and every network would clamor over each other to own the rights to televise, stream, and replay these sporting events. College athletics are already an unstoppable force, imagine if the actual institutions kicked the NCAA aside and handled all these negotiations themselves?

Lastly, it is my firm belief that the United States Supreme Court is on the verge of handing down a ruling that will essentially legalize sports gambling in the United States. Roughly $5 billion was bet on this year’s Super Bowl. Approximately $9.2 billion was wagered on last year’s NCAA Tournament. According to multiple reports, the estimate for illegal wagers placed throughout the NFL and college football seasons total between $90 and $100 billion. This hypothetical new collegiate athletic institution could creatively find a way to benefit from such cash flows.

With all the new found member controlled monies, these institutions could finally find an amicable, fair, and reasonable manner to compensate the student athletes. Athlete compensation would be the hardest riddle to crack because schools like Texas, Alabama, or Notre Dame could easily “pay” their athletes more than say a Wake Forest or Washington State. However, with the mind power available, as well as the abundance of shareable revenues, it is a process that could finally be implemented and controlled. There is no reason why a student athlete shouldn’t be able to share in at least some of these new found abundance of riches.

I do not have all the answers, and some may argue the risk is too great. I say there are potentially 100 billion reasons why the risk should be taken. It is far beyond time to wake up and seize the future. The NCAA is no longer needed, and hasn’t been needed for quite some time. The power five need to band together, pick up their proverbial ball and go home.

Leadership has long been lacking at the collegiate athletic level, but there are many out there ready and willing to take up the charge. Why sit by any longer clinging to a hope that some group of fat cats in Indianapolis will serve the best interests of your school? Why send billions of dollars to Indianapolis when those monies can be invested in your school, your communities, and your students and student athletes? Why do the NCAA member institutions continuously put their faith into a governing body that preaches integrity, but acts with fraud and deceit?

The NCAA is dead…the time to act is now!