It’s no secret that the result of the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA could have far-reaching implications that dramatically change the way college athletics are operated.
While the NCAA and co-defendant EA Sports maintain their confidence that the O’Bannon plaintiffs will ultimately fall short of getting their desired results -- they’re asking that current and former athletes receive 50 percent of the revenue generated by both the NCAA and conference television contracts -- USC athletic director Pat Haden isn’t so sure.
Or, at the very least, he wants to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“We ought to be kept abreast of it at all times, and we ought to prepare for it in case we lose,” Haden told Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated. “I haven’t followed the case closely, but what I read from legal scholars, it’s not a slam dunk for the NCAA.”
Haden continued:
“The context of the lawsuit has changed. What do we do if we lost?” Haden said. “All of a sudden your television revenue -- let’s say it’s $20 million a year [for a school]. Now if they win, it’s $10 million a year. How do you make your 21 sports work on half the revenue?”
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany thinks de-emphasizing athletics in a way that resembles, say, a Division III model could be an answer. In reality, it’s not.
(On that subject, O’Bannon plaintiffs want new depositions from Delany and others.)
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports recently broke down what he thinks is fuzzy math from college athletic admins, posing the theoretical question “if Michigan doesn’t think it should pay for a field hockey team, then why does it think Denard Robinson should?”
But there would need to be adjustments made on the university’s behalf. SI.com‘s legal expert Michael McCann said coaching salaries could go down and some teams -- perhaps men’s to continue to comply with Title IX -- may be cut as a result of an O’Bannon victory.
How, then, do universities prepare for that now? That’s a difficult question to answer. From NCAA guru John Infante:I’m not exactly sure how a school prepares for an O’Bannon victory right now. Cut sports preemptively?
— John Infante (@John_Infante) April 1, 2013
I guess if I were an AD, my first task would be to put a bug in the president’s ear about the possible need for more institutional support.
— John Infante (@John_Infante) April 1, 2013
Keep in mind that if the O’Bannon plaintiffs win, it would be the co-defendants owing the damages; conferences would only have to pony up to athletes going forward. Still, even advocates of pay-for-play or additional stipends [/ahem] have to understand it would be the universities stuck with the challenge of trying to rearrange funds to make it all work.
The formula for how to pay players has been nearly impossible to create in a way that makes everyone happy, but if the O’Bannon plaintiffs defeat the NCAA, it likely won’t matter. Conferences and schools will have to adjust financially -- let’s table hyperbolic ultimatums such as Delany’s DIII threat or breaking away from the NCAA for now -- to compensate certain athletes.
And, like it or not, the amateur model as we know it today will be gone.