By the way, here’s a fun fact from loyal subscriber Bill in Clemson regarding that landmark litigation:
“One of the root reasons Oklahoma sued the NCAA was when The Citadel v. Appalachian State was televised on the same day as Oklahoma v. Southern Cal. Even though TV viewership was heavily skewed toward the OU v. SC game, all four teams received $400,000 each baked upon the NCAA-governed media contract.”
That kind of distribution came to a screeching halt when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the NCAA’s individual members. That also created a bunch of fiefdoms that exist to this day.
More from Bill, who nailed it again with this:
“In this sea of change, a comment was said recently that it was unfortunate the different conferences are seeing each other as competitors instead of business partners.”
Reader Bill and the person he paraphrased for the win.
Win some, lose some
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. As with nearly everything else in life, there are winners and losers with all of this.
The Superpowers, for one, win again.
The Big Ten and the SEC already make so much more than everyone else, which means they’ll have more to dole out. Above-board revenue sharing will only provide massive flex opportunities. More flexing will lead to more money, which produces more flexing … you get it.
Here’s another: Oddly, this massive, football-driven event will elevate some places that don’t even play the sport.
Big East schools — by virtue of not needing to concern themselves with football — could go bonkers and allocate the max salary cap toward basketball. That would dwarf what basketball players would get even in the Power 2. Gonzaga could do likewise.
It’s funny how the most transformative things to ever happen in college sports — NIL, the transfer portal and now everything bundled in the House Settlement — might actually benefit basketball. One-and-done nearly killed college’s version of the sport; everything else is positioned to elevate it.