Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as flipping between all the games going down over the first week of Ultimately, those changes could impact what America鈥檚 favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future 鈥� or whether it exists at all.
News about 鈥減ay for play鈥� in college sports gushes from a veritable firehose these days. Whether it鈥檚 the Dartmouth basketball team , a to regulate payments to athletes or yet another bout of , the stakes are clear: Everything in college sports is open for
That includes the industry鈥檚 most hallowed tradition, the NCAA basketball tournaments, which begin this week and will stretch from coast to coast. The bottom line behind it all is money.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no pretense anymore,鈥� said Rick Pitino, the St. John鈥檚 coach who recently made news by and a two-year contract for players who negotiate name, image and likeness sponsorships. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e dealing with professional athletes in the guise of NIL. I鈥檝e tried to think of solutions and ways around it. But any solutions, the courts will just obliterate it.鈥�
Pitino sees the in much more aggressive fashion than what he describes as a largely hapless NCAA, an organization he has over the years.
The coach also recognizes the irony of basketball being inextricably linked to the future of football, where revenue from media, ticket sales and other areas dwarf those in basketball, even with its March Madness TV deal worth around $900 million a year. Virtually all the biggest decisions in college sports stem from the biggest conferences in football trying to squeeze more money out of TV rights, whether through or realignment or maybe even an
The four remaining mega-conferences 鈥� the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern 鈥� have even floated the idea of breaking the football operation off from the NCAA in a move that some believe could ultimately dictate the future of March Madness.
Future of March Madness
Jay Bilas, the former Duke player who works for ESPN and has long criticized the NCAA for exploiting athletes, said today鈥檚 trends 鈥� more money and players grabbing a larger slice of it 鈥� could suggest a future in which players partake in from the actual events they star in.
鈥淭hat would, I think, make it a necessity that the NCAA do the same thing鈥� with March Madness, Bilas said. 鈥淎nd with the NCAA Tournament now, if they choose not to do that and it continues to to be as it is, maybe it could get challenged.鈥�
The most likely short-term shift appears to be expanding the tournament from its current 68 teams to somewhere between 76 and 80 鈥� a concept that can only gain steam after an unpredictable set of dramatically and left a number of power-conference teams out of the draw.
The goal would be to appease the larger conferences that want more spots for their teams, which could presumably mean more revenue for them. Uncertain is whether that would significantly grow the TV contract. Mixed up somewhere in that calculation is the reality that the tournament wouldn鈥檛 be what it is without the likes of George Mason, Saint Peter鈥檚 and FAU 鈥� underdog programs from conferences that don鈥檛 have much heft in the overall decision-making process.
鈥淲hat makes March Madness is that Cinderella can come to the ball,鈥� Pitino said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they should ever be excluded from that.鈥�
Pitino sounds confident that the NCAA knows enough not to mess up that part of the equation.
Far different landscape for college athletics
The changes might be best portrayed on a casual stroll through any Division I athletic facility鈥檚 parking lot. Not even a decade ago, the sight of a big-name athlete rolling through campus with a fancy car would send a jolt that reverberated for miles 鈥� from the school鈥檚 athletic department to the phones of the local beat reporters, all the way to the NCAA compliance office.
These days, nobody thinks twice about that. Everyone from (Tennessee) to Nijel Pack (Miami) to the have well-publicized endorsement deals with car companies.
The cars, the jewelry and even the deal signed with a memorabilia company by Iowa star Caitlin Clark 鈥� reportedly worth more than $1 million in the first year 鈥� all started to become possible in 2021. State laws allowing sponsorships for college athletes forced the NCAA to drop the ban on such things; athletes were ruling that made clear that any attempt by the NCAA to stop them would likely fail.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really spend any time trying to imagine鈥� what might happen next, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. 鈥淚 never thought in the three years that I was head coach that it would be the birth of NIL, the transfer portal, the extra COVID year, the involvement of agents more than parents on the backside of the pandemic.鈥�
Also factoring into the equation is last month鈥檚 ruling by a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board that allowed the Dartmouth men鈥檚 basketball team to unionize and seek payment from the school the way any other employee would.
That sort of ruling only applies to private schools, which are a distinct minority in major college sports. Still, , and there鈥檚 a sense more will follow. Sensing the inevitable shift, NCAA President Charlie Baker sent a letter to schools in December proposing a new tier of Division I sports in which schools would be required to offer at least half their athletes a payment of at least $30,000 a year through a trust fund.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 just violating federal antitrust laws a little less than you did before,鈥� Bilas said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still a unilaterally imposed cap.鈥�
In case after case, judges are ruling against those sort of restrictions.
The Dartmouth ruling came shortly after a judge in Tennessee ruled the NCAA could not forbid schools from using NIL offers as recruiting inducements. Late last year, a judge in West Virginia , meaning players remain free to move between schools, often in pursuit of more playing time and better NIL deals.
Free agency is not just for the pros
Add it all up and there are few constraints to this opening burst of college free agency 鈥� a system unevenly regulated by a patchwork of state laws, with the NCAA all but standing to the side watching a new era develop, or envelop, the business it is tasked with overseeing.
鈥淚鈥檝e been saying we鈥檝e been living in the dog days of college sports, because we鈥檙e seeing seven years鈥� worth of changes in one year,鈥� said Amy Perko, who chairs the Knight Commission, a college sports advocacy group that seeks reforms based on academic and Title IX compliance.
Most coaches, at least in public, agree players are long overdue to receive some sort of payday as the main cogs in what has become a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry.
Pitino is in that camp. When he made news last month by calling this the most difficult year of his coaching career, most interpreted it as a shot across the bow at his team, which was underachieving at the time and fell short of reaching the NCAA Tournament. Pitino responded by saying his team and was moving on to next season.
He said his real frustration lies elsewhere.
鈥淭he most disturbing thing to me is, every single meeting we鈥檙e having right now is, 鈥楾his player鈥檚 leaving, I hear this player鈥檚 leaving,鈥欌�� Pitino said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an awful feeling that the goal of developing players is gone. For me, it鈥檚 been the most disappointing year 鈥� not what鈥檚 taken place on the court, but what鈥檚 taken place outside the court.鈥�
He is giving voice to the reality that, even though the fight songs and school colors might not change, college sports can鈥檛 even pretend to be amateur sports anymore. Time will tell if that bodes well or ill for the future of March Madness.
鈥淭he flashing red light is, what is college sports eventually going to become?鈥� said Martin Edel, an attorney who teaches sports law at Columbia Law School.
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