Commissioners address House v. NCAA settlement: Donald Trump meeting, enforcement future among key takeaways
In their first extensive comments since Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement last week, the commissioners of the five listed defendants -- the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC -- expressed hope that the new revenue-sharing world it created will bring stability to what has been a tremendous period of upheaval within college athletics.
"There's no question for any of us, the five of us, we're in a much better place than we were 48 hours ago and certainly over the last several years," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.
Even within the hope and belief they all shared in what the House settlement means for college athletes came an acknowledgement there is still plenty of work left to be done. There are still plenty of big questions looming over college sports, including the legality of revenue sharing and NIL from Title IX and enforcement perspectives.
Below are key takeaways from what the commissioners had to say on the past, present and future of college athletics as it prepares to take a monumental step forward beginning July 1 when universities can begin directly paying their athletes.
Affiliation agreements not done yetOne of the more interesting aspects coming out of the House settlement is the Power Four conferences demanding their members sign affiliation agreements which will, in part, prevent them from suing the College Sports Commission (CSC) over NIL-related enforcement.
The penalties of refusing are steep, ranging from fines and suspension to even expulsion, as CBS Sports previously reported.
At the recent conference-level spring meetings, it has been a popular topic as the Power Four commissioners make sure that all of their constituents are on board. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Monday the affiliation agreements were still "a work in progress," but he didn't expect there to be any issues adopting them once they are.
"No pushback," Yormark said of his membership. "Effectively, it codifies the rules of settlement which they've signed up for. I look to get that executed here in short order, and I know across the board is going to be very necessary for all the conferences to execute as well."
No sport-specific salary capsAll of the listed defendants in the House settlement -- ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC -- are leaving it up to the individual schools to determine how to spend that $20.5 million number.
Many of the schools will follow a familiar formula: approximately 75% to football, 15% to men's basketball, 5% to women's basketball and 5% to the other sports. There is no requisite to spend in that fashion, however, and different schools may prioritize some sports over others.
That doesn't mean sport-specific caps haven't been discussed. At the SEC spring meetings in late May, there was a robust discussion around creating caps for the revenue sports for competitive balance reasons that ultimately wasn't formalized. It was just yet another example that for as similar as many of the SEC schools are, the conference doesn't operate as a monolith.
"We took a deep look as a league in February and put that on hold," Sankey said, "so (we) do not have a conference-level directive on percent allocations by sport."
There is frustration amongst some SEC and Big Ten leaders about the Big East and other conferences able to wildly outspend in basketball, but to this point, it is up to each individual school to decide on what makes the most sense. Don't be surprised to see it continue to come up as a discussion at the conference and national levels, though, even if multiple ADs CBS Sports has talked to expressed some doubt there could be sport-specific caps enforced.
Why a MLB executive will run enforcement armShortly after the Friday night news that Judge Wilken had approved the settlement, the College Sports Commission announced its new CEO -- Bryan Seeley, a Major League Baseball executive who specialized in investigations. Seeley, the MLB's executive vice president of legal and operations, investigated the sign-stealing scandal involving the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, among other accomplishments during a decade-plus with MLB.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who overlapped with Seeley but didn't work closely with him while serving as MLB's chief operating officer, raved about the person who has the arduous task of enforcing what has been an unregulated NIL industry the last four years.
"He clearly was a well-regarded, thoughtful executive," Petitti said. "The times we did interact you saw that in the patience to make good decisions, to gather information. His experience is really unique. To have league experience was a big part of this, at least from the perspective of the Big Ten, to have somebody who worked in a league. The reason why I feel strongly about that is part of what we do is manage a lot of constituents, and in Brian's role, you're dealing with 30 clubs in very competitive areas that he's involved in making decisions. That's very similar to what he'll have to do in this role."
Said the Big 12's Yormark: "It was unanimous amongst the commissioners that he was the right person at the right time for this role."
Sankey meets with TrumpSankey confirmed the Yahoo Sports report that he golfed Sunday with President Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua was also in attendance.
The SEC commissioner was mum on specifics about his conversation with Trump but did say, "It was helpful for me and Pete to hear his thoughts and his perspective and share some of ours." He said he "always appreciated" the president's interest in college sports which has included attendance at a number of events including Alabama-Georgia and Army-Navy last year.
What's interesting is the timing of the golf outing, especially after the pausing of a proposed presidential commission on college sports last month that was expected to include former Alabama coach Nick Saban and Cody Campbell, the chairman of Texas Tech's board of regents. As CBS Sports previously reported, the SEC and Big Ten both had considerable concerns around what Campbell's goals for the commission might be and distanced themselves from it.
The SEC may not have been on board with a presidential commission, but Sankey and other college sports leaders believe Trump can be a powerful ally in achieving federal solutions.
Leaders still want Congressional helpRelated to Sankey's time with Trump, the Power Four commissioners reiterated their need for Congressional help to codify the House settlement and alleviate issues that college sports can't fix on its own. Chief among them is the current patchwork approach that allows for each state to pass laws that may give it an advantage over others. In many ways, it has been a race to the bottom, ranging from allowing athletes to not have to pay state income taxes on NIL earnings to laws that circumvent NCAA and conference rules.
"We're not going to have Final Fours and College Football Playoff and College World Series with 50 different standards," Sankey said. "That's the starting point."
From the jump, there has been skepticism that Congress would ever coalesce around passing federal legislation that gives college athletics the antitrust protections it desperately desires. And despite millions of dollars spent on lobbying Capitol Hill, that skepticism has proven prescient so far.
But Petitti said he thinks the House settlement is proof college athletics is willing -- and able -- to change, and that has resonated with Congressional leaders. He may have a point as The Washington Post reported Monday there is draft legislation that would seem to give them what they want, including a preemption of state laws and a prohibition of athletes being classified as employees.
cbssports
