They say the only constant in life is change. Sure, it’s corny, but it’s the only consistent thing in this era of college football. From Name, Image and Likeness and transfer portal activity to unprecedented coaching contracts and conferences dissolving overnight, we live in an uncertain time where it feels like every new week could bring a new sport-altering decision.
Could the next one be a collectively bargained world college athletics?
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was on with The Steakhouse on Thursday morning. They discussed the current state of college football and what steps could be taken to protect both the athletes and the programs.
“The situation that college football is in is having its effect on coaches as a whole, and indirectly it’s affecting kids,” Smart told The Steakhouse. “I don’t know, right now, that we’re in the right place when guys can transfer twice, and they can go two times per year. As coaches, we just want to know what our rosters are going to look like for a year. I don’t think there’s any coach that’s saying kids shouldn’t be able to transfer or make any money. That’s all out there and that’s a good thing when it’s used the right way. It’s just unfortunate that it’s gone as far as it has.”
This feels like a radical notion, but every professional sport has some form of collective bargaining. College athletics, especially football and basketball, have effectively entered that realm. If done correctly, it would provide standard protections to both players and the programs they play for. As of the writing of this piece, there is no such agreement and that’s why we have the Wild West in terms of “pay-for-play” or unlimited transfers.
Just last fall, athletic directors went to Capitol Hill to discuss the next steps in these issues and numerous new pieces of legislation have emerged, but we remain at a crossroads.
Contracts between the athletes and the schools or conferences they play for feel like a logical next step in this process. Kirby Smart alluded to that with his comments to The Steakhouse.
“I would be really comfortable if a kid just checked the box before he came to school and said, ‘I'm going to be a student athlete on scholarship and I get to keep my scholarship for four or five years’ or if a kid said, ‘I want to come in and have NIL -- which is really pay for play now -- but I also can lose that and be terminated’.”
Smart continued, “You know, most kids would choose the NIL path, but you would have 15 or 20 kids a year that would say, you know what, I'll go and take a full ride and then take my scholarship and say I'll make a commitment to stay there two, maybe three, years [and] can’t transfer for those two to three years. Then after you've been in the program two to three years, feel free to go past the eligibility somewhere else.”
In 2024, we will see conference expansion that was previously unthinkable, the College Football Playoff field expands from four to 12, and television deals that reach the billion-dollar mark will be in full effect.
Legal employment of athletes is still likely years away, but it feels like we’re on that path and it’s only a matter of time when, not if, we fully reach that new era of college athletics.