Leaders in college sports appear to have finally been given a defensible position. It's time to stand and try to hold it.
News rippled out Tuesday that most or all of the nation's Power Four leagues intend to pass rules barring players already in the NFL from returning to college. This comes in the wake of attempts by a handful of players to take advantage of various legal rulings and, spurning the NFL preseason, return to college football.
Should they pass such rules, those four leagues — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC — would likely prompt their peers to follow suit. They would also almost certainly face litigation challenging their right to such self-governance.
That's what this would be, whether they want to admit it or not: self-governance. An act leaders in college athletics have vaguely threatened for years while never showing any real appetite to follow through on.
Instead, they've asked everyone up to and including Congress and the president of the United States to fix their problems for them. The intervening time and inaction repeatedly suggested none of those parties possessed the will, or perhaps even the ability, to do so.
#leaders #follow
News rippled out Tuesday that most or all of the nation's Power Four leagues intend to pass rules barring players already in the NFL from returning to college. This comes in the wake of attempts by a handful of players to take advantage of various legal rulings and, spurning the NFL preseason, return to college football.
Should they pass such rules, those four leagues — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC — would likely prompt their peers to follow suit. They would also almost certainly face litigation challenging their right to such self-governance.
That's what this would be, whether they want to admit it or not: self-governance. An act leaders in college athletics have vaguely threatened for years while never showing any real appetite to follow through on.
Instead, they've asked everyone up to and including Congress and the president of the United States to fix their problems for them. The intervening time and inaction repeatedly suggested none of those parties possessed the will, or perhaps even the ability, to do so.
#leaders #follow
2 months ago
