Justice Dept. joins lawsuit against NCAA
The NCAA is now staring down a new legal opponent as the U.S. Department of Justice joined a lawsuit from several states on Thursday challenging NCAA transfer restrictions. At stake is whether the NCAA will be allowed to continue mandating that second-time undergraduate transfers sit out a season before participating in competition.
January 18th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
In other news, the wild, wild west now to become the wild, wild, wild west.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:08 PM ^
Every player is a free agent every year. Hell...every day. Who says someone can't transfer, after being benched, in mid season?
January 18th, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
I say, why stop there at mid season? Mid game transfers could mean the ultimate halftime adjustment. #Chaosball
January 18th, 2024 at 7:35 PM ^
Switch teams each drive.
Come back JJ! You can play steady QB in all of our games.
January 18th, 2024 at 8:13 PM ^
The answer is contracts, which I suspect the NCAA doesn't permit and a lot of schools probably want to avoid. However, that is how you avoid chaos and still pay the athletes.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:34 PM ^
Theoretically, they still have to be enrolled in the school, but I suppose that could be challenged as well. But, if that's challenged, so is the idea of eligibility. Maybe guys who don't make rosters in the NFL go back to college and play again.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:13 PM ^
I can see the future: Full admissions departments on the sidelines alongside the NIL collective fighting over players on the field in real time, recruiting and admitting them from quarter to quarter. Whichever team is unable to field a team by the end of the fourth quarter loses.
January 18th, 2024 at 10:09 PM ^
There will be a Lamborghini dealer with six or eight cars outside the stadium / locker room at every SEC game.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
Will Smith getting in on the action?!
January 18th, 2024 at 5:00 PM ^
Don't they have more important things to worry about?
January 18th, 2024 at 5:02 PM ^
More important - yes. But that doesn’t mean they should ignore there less important items.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:31 PM ^
I mean... if that had an unlimited amount of resources... sure. But there are limits. Maybe apply those resources to look at collusion between the NCAA and the Big 10 against Harbaugh
January 18th, 2024 at 5:04 PM ^
DOJ does a lot of stuff!
January 18th, 2024 at 5:04 PM ^
Yes, but this gets people's attention (and votes).
January 18th, 2024 at 5:33 PM ^
Sure, but the more people suing the NCAA, the better!
Maybe they could arrest Jim Stapleton...
January 18th, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
Yeah, like frickin cheeseburgers and staffers with cell phones 😱
January 18th, 2024 at 5:01 PM ^
It won't be long before you'll be able to pick kids up out of the portal like the waiver wire. Game to game.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
Deadline Tuesday at 11:59 PM
January 18th, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
Good news for the kid who has a final on Wednesday.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:02 PM ^
But what's their position on cheeseburgers?
January 18th, 2024 at 5:05 PM ^
Somewhere between rare and well done.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:12 PM ^
Lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, and mayo. Nothing else, and certainly not ketchup.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:52 PM ^
You'd think they'd have to go with an internal temp of at least 160F per USDA/FSIS.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:05 PM ^
There's a simple way to fix this and the disaster that is the NIL landscape today. Share the damn revenue and have them sign contracts. 2 year, 4 year, whatever.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:09 PM ^
Wouldn't contracts would just allow the top schools to hoard 5* talent? Imagine if every 5* that signed with Bama or Georgia was stuck with a 2-year (or worse yet, 4-year) contract.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
Once you get to that point, the contracts will be collectively bargained for. There will still be ways for players to transfer.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:42 PM ^
X (0-2) years guaranteed at the start, with player and/or college options for remaining years.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:15 PM ^
Share the revenue? F**k NO! Allocate revenue proportionately based upon viewership.
Quit feeding the conference slugs.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:59 PM ^
I think the comment is about sharing the revenue with the players. I am with you. All these moochers in B1G should be getting less.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:25 PM ^
Collective bargaining won't put the NIL genie back in the bottle. Pro athletes share revenue with owners, but they're still free to negotiate all the endorsements they want. Why would it be any different for college athletes? The courts aren't going to take this hard-fought right away from them.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:53 PM ^
A contract is something you sign with an employee, not a "student-athlete". They can't share the revenue only with football players due to Title IX so NIL isn't going to go away.
The only solution will be to jettison football as we know it into a minor league, separate from the university, that plays games at the stadiums. The athletic department could continue to be funded by ticket sales/merch/food. Obviously, this will mean getting rid of most of the athletic department given the loss of revenue.
January 18th, 2024 at 7:43 PM ^
The players should be employees of the university, specifically the development / fundraising office. That is their real utility to the university. They are rainmakers for fundraising.
Extremely effective rainmakers.
It means millions to a university when its sports teams do well in big time sports.
The players do not necessarily need to be students of the university, anymore than any other employee of the university has to be a student.
January 18th, 2024 at 8:12 PM ^
Yes, but when they are employees they can unionize and strike. They can get healthcare, retirement, and revenue sharing. But, perhaps more importantly, it was mentioned in an earlier thread that the University can only engage in activities that further its academic mission. The example brought up was that the University can have cafeterias for the students but couldn't open restaurants. Hence the charade of "student athletes" - if the players were only there for football, as employees, then could the University really be in this "business". That is, the University cannot own/run a minor league team.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:12 PM ^
Don't fuck with Harbaugh, NCAA.
Le Petit Prince, you're next.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
Only a matter of time before the NCAA is replaced.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:33 PM ^
The only way this changes: contracts, union, etc.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
Let them burn
January 18th, 2024 at 5:43 PM ^
This has to be incredibly frustrating for college coaches. Not to begrudge students the opportunities, but the high pressure to win is now coming with so many things that make it very difficult to build a team.
I fear college football is going to start to look more like "one and done" basketball--basically all-star games with teams of players that really haven't played together that much.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:46 PM ^
Crazy to think this is the one that I agree with the NCAA. I do not think players should be able to transfer every year and play immediately. I think one time is good enough until your a grad student.
January 18th, 2024 at 5:49 PM ^
No offense, but you're missing the point. The NCAA wants to view them as "students" but also wants to control their lives like employees. You can't have it both ways. Pay them and do contracts and make reasonable limits, OR, it's the wild west, because a student should be able to transfer whenever they f'ing want to.
January 18th, 2024 at 7:10 PM ^
Aren't they 'students'? I mean I realize that varies somewhat between schools and how much the schools expect them to be 'students' but once they are no longer students, there isn't much of a connection to the school.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:00 PM ^
Obligatory pile-on. You're missing the point. The DOJ getting involved, in my opinion, substantially moves the needle on recognizing student-athletes' economic rights, which in turn moves forward the contract/union/employee position.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:08 PM ^
Let's hope there are a few Michigan grads in the DOJ that add some extra heaping of hurt on the NCAA by telling it that if it continues to harass Jim, the DOJ will make sure everyone at the NCAA spends time in a prison shower.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:29 PM ^
Best part, after winning the National Title and beating OSU three straight years in a row, is watching desperate, neurotic Ryan Day trying to put together a dream team of avengers to win it all as CFB transitions into this new era.
Dude is so unhinged and so unworthy of the role of head ball coach, and now he has all that pressure to win now on his unhinged, whiny ass. It's glorious. From his weight gain to his cringe pressers and pre game antics - it's so wonderful to see this coward fold under pressure after attempting to stain UM's glory with the signgate "controversy"
FWIW, talking to anyone outside the OSU or Lil Bro fan base and they laugh at the Connor Stalions fiasco. Bama and UGA folks I talk to just laugh it off as the usual Tuesday in the SEC - and all think Ryan Day is bitchmade.
January 18th, 2024 at 6:58 PM ^
Kirby and Nick were both interviewed and they both blew off the so-called sign-cheating accusation's. They literally said that they had fun trying to throw other teams off with their, own "signs!" Signs don't line up across from each other in the trenches!!!
January 18th, 2024 at 6:32 PM ^
Warde is lazy, he should've seen this coming. Without the DOJ, Harbaugh could've landed a Nil Deal and colluded with Juwan. Am I doing this wrong?
January 18th, 2024 at 7:25 PM ^
Jesus man, this shit is all going to crash on itself... what a sad state of affairs CFB has become.
Anyway, Natty champs baby!! Im still partying, metaphorically ;)
I'm so thankful the men and women of Michigan football won the last Natty & Rose Bowl of this CFB era.
Conference alignment mess, losing a historic conference in the Pac, on our way to two super leagues, NIL, transfer portal bullshit, 12 team playoff, The Game means way less now..... Not that I wont watch or care, next year and onward, but its just going to be different.
My anxiety level was too high, too many times this year with the bullshit "scandal", the back half of the schedule, the playoffs...it was a lot as I am sure it was for all of us here. M took on ALL those land mines and won. This is the peak of M football, IMO
Going forward, I feel like with whatever happens to this program, around this program, in games...I'll care for sure, but I can promise that it will never get to the level of this year, and I am thankful for that
January 18th, 2024 at 7:33 PM ^
Free Agency (unrestricted transfers) with no Salary Cap (unrestricted NIL) . . . what could possibly go wrong?
This is not the Wild Wild West. This is the Hunger Games.
January 18th, 2024 at 7:37 PM ^
This national championship just means more. Enjoy this. It feels a bit like The Last Season – a film about the Norway High School Baseball team in Iowa.
The legendary baseball program of Norway High School won twenty state titles in baseball but a school merger threatened the future of the program and school and to ensure the merger happened, the administration tried to torpedo the baseball program by letting go of their legendary coach and putting someone inferior in at coach. The team rallies around the adversity to win one last championship before the merger is pushed through, dissolving the legendary program forever.
I don’t think we’ll see something that drastic with Michigan and college football but it definitely won’t be anywhere near the same. We may have just watched the last season of college football before it becomes NFL-lite. Savor it ladies and gents. The Game, championships, this style of team chemistry – might not see something like this again.