If you’re reading this you don’t need me to tell you about the current situation regarding the NCAA, Power Five conferences and the upcoming football season.
In short: it’s not looking promising, and nobody outside of the building (or maybe even inside the building) knows what the hell is going on.
First there were reports that the 12 of the 14 Big Ten presidents voted against playing this fall.
Then there was a report that the conference had already decide to cancel the season.
Then there was an updated report that no vote was conducted and the decision had not been made yet.
I, like many others, was lost and had no understanding of what was happening.
Well, not much has changed since yesterday as apparently Big Ten officials are meeting today to discuss a possible path forward and weigh options surrounding the season.
It’s an absolute mess, and as my colleague Asher Low astutely tweeted yesterday “Isn’t it amazing how all this is happening in a 24 hour scramble when we had idk 5 months to talk this out.”
Isn’t it amazing how all this is happening in a 24 hour scramble when we had idk 5 months to talk this out
— Asher Low (@alow_33) August 10, 2020
Yes, it is amazing that the season is coming crashing down after months and months of time to prepare for a moment like this. And to me there’s one big overarching problem with the NCAA that is the reason the sport is in this current situation: the lack of a single governing body, “CEO,” college football commissioner, whatever you want to call it.
The idea of amateurism and the fact the players aren’t paid is a significant roadblock, yes. But if there is one fixable issue with the NCAA it’s what is listed above. NCAA president Mark Emmert hires a college football commissioner? A lot of this inter-conference interaction of them seeing who will blink first and cancel the season would go completely away.
College football is a multi-billion dollar business. Nowhere else in the country and around the world can you find that large of a business without someone in charge, setting the tone and making tough decisions.
Imagine if there was somebody in charge of the sport when COVID-19 first hit the country. Maybe the season still wouldn’t be salvageable, but at least there would have been a plan in place for when the sport got to this point.
This all is clearly putting aside whether the season should happen, as there are captivating arguments to be made on both sides. But having a governing presence to unite the conferences and create a clear plan forward would have ensured that this current staring match would never happen.
FOXSports radio host Colin Cowherd touched on this institutional flaw on his show yesterday. Here’s some of what he had to say:
“Hire somebody to take care of football. What we are seeing from the White House, to states, to tiny towns, to sports: leadership matters. There is no centralized voice with football…it’s every man for themselves”
You want to know how much leadership matters in this crisis? Look at the NBA…Unlike every other sport COVID hit them in the middle of the season, David Stern and Kobe Bryant both suddenly died, China pulled out of a $2 billion deal with the NBA because of something a GM for the Houston Rockets posted, you had a massive social movement in America where LeBron James was front and center. All of these were challenges perhaps, and yet I watch the NBA and I think it looks good, players are into it, energy is amazing, aesthetics are great, no positive tests.
But in the end that’s what leadership looks like. College football’s five power conferences all fighting over revenue, fighting over bowl games. Every conference for themselves. I don’t understand it…
The NFL or NBA owners can write a check…colleges can’t do that. There’s 130 college football programs, there’s about 12 where they’re just rolling in lettuce…They can’t just write $25 million in checks.
I think it’s great that players came out yesterday with “WeAreUnited” but that feels like grabbing a small bucket as the Titanic sinks. It is way too little and way too late. Folks, leadership has mattered…I have watched during this crisis great leadership from some governors, great leadership from mayors of cities, great leadership from some of the commissioners. College football has a massive hole. College athletics has long been a house of cards. I’m not saying it’s designed to make money but it’s sure as hell not designed to hemorrhage it. It is time to start over, it is time to hire somebody to galvanize my favorite sport. Right now it is a circus and the doors are closed to the tent, and I don’t think it’s coming back for a long time.”
He then proceeded to draw an analogy to boxing and the UFC, as when boxing was at the peak of its popularity it lacked a leading presence. Then when the Dana White and the UFC came along they drove boxing towards irrelevance.
The main takeaway? Leadership matters, in every aspect of life.
Again, amateurism may be the bigger issue and may be the driving force towards college sports changing forever. But it’s an issue that isn’t as easily resolved.
Just look at the story leaks from the Big Ten and other conferences and the timetable of the decisions and the timespan leading up to this point, this all obviously not mentioning the annual revenue and bowl game arguments. Want an easy path towards solving these arguments, fixing NCAA-wide issues and solving problems like we’re faced with right now? Hire a commissioner or create a role for somebody to manage the multi-billion dollar business that college football is.
I’m not saying the governing presence would have found a way to create a bubble or conduct a safe season, but at least there would have been somebody at the top to lead the conferences towards making the best possible decision for the health of the players and the future of the sport.