Iconic broadcaster Dick Vitale has agreed to a new contract extension with ESPN. His new deal will keep him at the Worldwide Leader through the 2027-28 season.

His new contract extension will also bring his tenure at ESPN to almost 50 years. Vitale has called more than 1,000 games on the network’s air.

ESPN announced the news on Monday in conjunction with the announcement of a new invitational tournament honoring the long-time broadcaster. The Dick Vitale Invitational will begin in 2025.

The first matchup will pit Duke and Texas against each other. The game will be played at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 4, airing on ESPN.

It figures to be a tremendous showcase for the legend. It will obviously feature two of college basketball’s powerhouses, precisely the kind of game Vitale got famous for calling over the years.

“Dick is the heart of college basketball, and his kindness, generosity and courage are a constant inspiration to us all,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “Through the creation of the Dick Vitale Invitational, we will celebrate him and his profound impact on the sport. We are also thrilled that Dick will remain a signature voice on ESPN through the 2027-28 season.”

Vitale made his return to the broadcasting booth this past February after suffering numerous setbacks. In June 2024, Vitale revealed he had been diagnosed with lymph node cancer and would undergo treatment. It was Vitale’s fourth battle with cancer since 2021, previously surviving lymphoma, melanoma and vocal cord cancer.

On Jan. 8, Vitale announced that he’d defeated cancer once again and would return later that month. However, he suffered a fall that ultimately pushed his return back to February.

Getting back to the airwaves was a huge priority for Dick Vitale, who did so successfully. Now he’s thrilled to have a longer-term extension with ESPN.

“ESPN has been such a vital part of my life since December 5, 1979, and I was so thrilled to learn that ESPN Events will have an annual Dick Vitale Invitational,” said Vitale. “Jimmy Pitaro and all my colleagues and friends at ESPN have been so good to me and I am so thankful for all of the prayers and love I have received from them during my cancer battles. ESPN has been family to me and has given me a life that has been even better than my dreams. To the Vitale family, ESPN is ‘Awesome, baby’ with a capital A!”

On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this report.

Amid growing frustrations over NIL in college sports, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey kept it simple: schools are asking for basic “oversight” and “structure” when it comes to NIL agreements.

“If you want an unregulated, open system, just raise your hand and let me know,” Sankey told reporters on Monday. “And universally, the answer is, ‘No, we want oversight. We want guardrails. We want structure.’ Those individuals don’t have the luxury to just say that in meeting rooms, period. They don’t have the luxury to just be anonymous sources. They have a responsibility to make what they’ve sought — what they’ve asked for — to make it work.”

This comes on the heels of the multibillion-dollar House v. NCAA settlement, approved Friday, which allows schools to directly compensate athletes. Now, some of the nation’s top conferences are “bullish,” per ESPN’s Heather Dinich on their ability to enforce NIL rules under the new structure.

Following the settlement, former MLB executive Bryan Seeley was named CEO of the newly formed College Sports Commissions.

With specific rules and enforcement mechanisms still to be determined, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said it will be up to Seeley to establish and oversee the boundaries moving forward.

“We’re in the process of developing some of those rules and structure and overall implementation of that,” Phillips told reporters. “Now that we have Bryan on board, I think we’ll be able to move a little bit quicker. But we want to get this right. It’s one of those areas that until you have somebody leading the College Sports Commission, it’s difficult to get together with that individual and start some of that framework that will be in place.”

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark emphasized the importance of patience with the newly formed College Sports Commissions, calling it a case of “progression over perfection” as the organization begins shaping the future of college athletics.

“Our schools want rules, and we’re providing rules, and we will be governed by those rules. And if you break those rules, the ramifications will be punitive,” Yormark said.

Despite looming questions and plenty of work ahead, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said the settlement has made college athletics a “much better place” than it was just 48 hours ago.

“What’s not debatable is that this new model does bring stability and fairness to student-athletes in college sports,” Phillips continued, “and we’ve been in an unregulated environment with no rules and no enforcement. It has paralyzed the NCAA in Indianapolis, and we’re responsible for certainly some of that. We’re now going to have a foundation and structure laying out those rules. The new structure provides our student-athletes with more opportunities and benefits than ever before.”

Money divides us, always has, always will. From the cars we drive to the house we buy, to the clothes we wear, money separates us and judges us. Last Friday, in a U.S. District Court ruling, that gap became so wide in college sports that the industry has now been reduced to a money grab. And, my oh my, let the hostility begin.

Universities now pay their athletes. A coach now will judge who can get what and how. Until now, it was influential school alums who spent the cash under Name, Image and Licensing. A lucky few on a team would get the bread but it could be tolerated. After all the quarterback on the football team is a Heisman Trophy candidate. But now everyone is in the mix and everyone will know exactly what their coach thinks of them.

This becomes personal. A coach makes the decision, not an anonymous benefactor. A football coach who has developed a relationship with a nose tackle now has to tell him he is worth only so much if he is to be paid at all.

“This has changed the value of team, loyalty, struggle and achievement,” said Lenny Wagner, who retired last January after coaching football for 35 years.“ There were multiple reasons for my retirement but this was definitely one of them.”

Everyone is for sale. That’s the short of it.“ Follow the money” no longer just refers to the Watergate break-ins and the dethroning of a president. Money moves America along, whether it’s politics or the price of eggs. What’s interesting however is the NCAA being able to hide behind the laughable phrase“ student-athlete.”

Not anymore. Friday’s ruling has stripped away the illusion of college athletes tied to higher education. College athletes are entertainers and they must get paid. They are the employees of their university. They must be compensated. It is a fair and just ruling.

The problem? Who gets what? The Power Four schools have suggested a monetary breakdown this way: 70-75% of available funds go to football, 10-20% to men’s basketball and the remainder to other college sports.

Let the screaming begin. If those percentage breakdowns are realized, other college sports then would have to be eliminated. One needn’t be a fortune teller to know many women’s sports would need to be axed.

Oh, what to do? Now it gets interesting for there is a solution out there. Would college presidents have the courage to stand up to football?

The solution is simple. Clemson’s football coach Dabo Swinney provides it. Swinney makes $11.5 million a year. Clemson’s total athletic revenue in 2022 was $74 million. Is it absurd the school’s football coach gets 16% of that? One man? Just one man?

Of course, it’s not absurd. Swinney would say he’s worth it because his Tigers provide the bulk of that funding. Therein lies the irritation. He would be thinking about himself and not the university he represents. He would forget the purpose of any university is not to turn out NFL players but to educate and send off graduates for the betterment of society.

But according to one study 16 of the top salaried college football coaches make more than the president of their universities. If college football coaches feel they are rulers of their fiefdom why should they feel otherwise? According to Front Office Sports, the average salary of the 20 highest-paid NFL coaches is $8.98 million. The average salary of the 20 highest-paid college football coaches is $8.99 million.

I think Dabo is not volunteering for a salary reduction. So Clemson has to drop gymnastics and volleyball and baseball and softball? So what? We all love football, don’t we? Clemson is a football factory. You wouldn’t want to put any of those workers out of a job? And you wouldn’t want to annoy much less anger Dabo Swinney, the master puppeteer, by forcing him to acknowledge Clemson has classrooms and professors and kids who don’t give a damn what happens on Saturday because they need to study for their calculus final on Monday.

In the meantime, the plot thickens. On the first weekend in June, a convention was held at Westlake Village in southern California. By invitation only. Forty NFL coaches attended, including 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster, along with the Seattle Seahawks general manager, as well as a dozen college staffers. Oh, some selected high school coaches. At night everyone went to the Hollywood Bowl to hear Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson perform.

And one other thing. The high school guys were told what the college and NFL coaches look for in the preps. Can’t start too early you know. This preparing for The Day. What day?

The day a pimple-faced kid in the seventh grade throws a little bit like Patrick Mahomes, moves a lot like Lamar Jackson and has a strong body like Josh Allen. Sure he’s only 14 but the NFL coaches know genius when they see it. It’s stupid to pass on that kind of talent.

And pass on baseball and basketball and paddle ball and soccer and hockey and gymnastics and chess and checkers and. ..okay, okay, I got a little carried away. A little bit. Not much. Colleges and universities now are in on the action. Maybe Swinney will ask his university president to scout someone for Clemson. Just as a favor between friends, you know. Dabo might throw in a new BMW to sweeten the deal.

Who knows? There might even be another Michael Jordan out there waiting to be found. That is, of course, if Clemson still has a basketball team.

To comment write to bobpadecky@gmail.com.

The specter of private equity money has loomed as a possibility for funding college athletics programs for a while now.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark floated the possibility of private equity entering the college sports world last summer and he was only one of multiple conference commissioners to do.

Earlier this year, the Big Ten was reported by Sportico to have taken “preliminary bids from private equity firms.”

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The concept of hedge funds getting involved in college athletics has seemed to be an eventuality, the only question being when it would happen.

Wrote Forbes contributor Joe Moglia in April, “The latest shockwave to hit college football may come from private equity. As billions of dollars in TV revenue have flooded into Power Four football and top players are able to bring in six- and seven-figure name, image, likeness (NIL) deals, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that college football is a business. Big business.

“These are professional student-athletes, and the teams are major sports franchises,” he continued. “But, at the same time, it’s an industry that is being heavily disrupted. In other words, college football is a ripe hunting ground for hedge funds and private equity.”

With the approval of the House settlement, part of which allows schools to pay upward of $20.5 million to student-athletes directly, athletic departments are in need of an influx of funds, and private equity has plenty of them. So it should be of little surprise that private equity has indeed found its way into college athletics.

Sports Business Journal reported early Monday morning that Elevate, a “global agency network” that supports “over 1,000 ambitious brands across sports, entertainment, consumer products, and retail,” has created a $500 million initiative to invest in college sports, backed by private equity firm Velocity Capital Management and the Texas Permanent School Fund.

The purpose of the initiative? To “provide a new funding source for collegiate athletics programs pursuing capital-intensive projects like facility upgrades and renovations,” write Ben Portnoy and Chris Smith.

Per SBJ, Elevate has already come to terms to fund two unnamed Power Four conference programs, with the expectation to come to terms with three to six additional programs before the 2025 season begins in late August.

What’s more, the plan is for Elevate to become a “multi-billion-dollar platform” that invests across college sports in the long term.

Why is private equity interested in college athletics?

The simple answer to this question is the potential for profit.

College athletics is a multibillion-dollar industry that is ever growing.

Per ESPN, the NCAA generated nearly $1.3 billion in revenue in 2022-23, which was up from $1.14 billion the previous year. Most of that revenue (close to 70%) comes from the men’s NCAA Tournament.

College football, meanwhile, brings in an inordinate amount of money to programs.

At the top, as of last year, according to USA Today, programs like Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia all had revenues exceeding $200 million. Of course, expenses were nearly as high, which is where private equity comes in.

The idea is that private equity firms can make athletic departments even more profitable. One way would be by eliminating waste. Multimillion-dollar coaches’ salaries and buyouts have been mentioned as an area rife for change.

“No one with any business sense would allow a major executive to lose repeatedly and then walk away with a multi-million dollar bonus buyout, but this is something that happens regularly in Power Four football. Agents run circles around most athletic directors when it comes to things as basic as employment contracts,” Moglia writes.

Private equity could also get involved “by directly investing in athletic departments, investing in the fan experience, both in and outside of the stadium, or through adding revenue streams outside of the existing network,” Alfie Crooks wrote for Buyout Insider, the idea being that college athletics haven’t been marketed as well as they could be by conferences and the NCAA.

“College athletics remains a relatively untapped market. Its combination of passionate fan bases, strong brand loyalty and long-term income potential makes it an appealing target for investment,” Brian Anderson writes for Sports Business Journal.

There is not an expectation — yet, anyway — that private equity could purchase ownership stakes in college athletic departments/programs, but the potential for that exists in the long run.

Right now, private equity would likely “favor the private credit model because they can better control the exact monetary amount paid out each year,” Bryan Shapiro writes for Duane Morris Sports Law.

Schools, on the other hand, would likely prefer a “traditional private equity model because it allocates risk between the athletic department and investors equally — i.e., if the program increases in value, both entities are rewarded, and on the flip side, if the program decreases in value, the school is not required to pay a specific monetary amount to the investors, which would greatly injure the program and school overall,” Shapiro writes.

What could be the impact of private equity in college sports?

This question has been posed many times over the last few years and various attempts have been made to answer it.

The simplest answer is that an immediate influx of money to departments and programs that otherwise wouldn’t have access to those funds could bring rapid parity to college sports, football especially.

Think lower-tier Power conference schools that rarely, if ever, have been in contention at the top of their leagues legitimately competing alongside the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon.

It has already started to happen a bit with the rise of NIL — who can forget Vanderbilt’s 2024 season, during which the Commodores upset the Crimson Tide? — but private equity investment could lead to even more parity.

There is a potential downside, though, and that is the further movement of college athletics away from what it has been for 100-plus years.

Private equity will likely prioritize profits first and foremost and that could lead to some serious changes.

“In all likelihood, the first university to sign a major deal will likely be a smaller Power Four football program,” Moglia writes. “While the biggest programs will have no problem paying players and putting together big NIL packages, smaller schools will likely struggle to be competitive. This is the opening that a firm needs. They’ll approach one of these smaller programs with an offer of $150 million (or more) for 51% of the say in how they run their football program.

“For an AD with little business experience trying to put together a winning program, this will look like a good deal,” he continued. “Cash up front to build a team and a promise from the guys in suits to juice revenue in the future. The problem, of course, is that as soon as this deal is done, revenue growth will become the only priority. The investors won’t balk at putting in their own athletics director and putting profits ahead of players, education, fans and the institution. That’s a horrible, horrible long-term decision for the university, but it’s entirely plausible.”

In a lot of ways, what private equity and college athletics will look like together is as uncertain as the future of college sports in general. And it could be years before any real repercussions are felt from an influx of private equity money into college athletics.

After a few years of speculation that private equity would get involved in college sports, it appears it is now a reality.

Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

Three days after the approved multibillion-dollar legal settlement forever changed the landscape of collegiate athletics, ushering in a bold new world of revenue sharing between schools and athletes, a handful of the industry’s power brokers discussed the seismic paradigm shift on a virtual news conference.

And while they were short on details regarding the implementation and enforcement of new NIL rules overseen by the College Sports Commission, a freshly formed regulatory body created in response to the House v. NCAA lawsuit, all five conference commissioners spoke enthusiastically about the redirected path of collegiate athletics toward modernization and what they hope will be a much-needed dose of industry-wide stability. 

“The decision on Friday is a significant step forward toward building long-term stability for college sports while protecting the system from bad actors seeking to exploit confusion and uncertainty,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “We know this transition will not be without challenges, and growing pains can be expected. Any time you go through change at this level, a historic and monumental level, you can expect both challenges, growing pains, along with the opportunities that have now been introduced.”

Sankey was joined on the Zoom call by fellow commissioners Tony Petitti (Big Ten), Brett Yormark (Big 12), Jim Phillips (ACC) and Teresa Gould (Pac-12) for a conversation with reporters about the next steps following judge Claudia Wilken’s approval of the deal late on Friday evening. The settlement, which now allows schools to pay players directly, goes into effect on July 1. 

Here’s a breakdown of what was said and some additional context to each question asked:

On whether conferences will provide guidance to member institutions regarding how much money should be distributed to specific sports: 

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti watches from the sideline during the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame College Football Playoff National Championship game. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Context: Ever since the settlement’s broad strokes were first revealed, conversations surrounding payout strategies and potential disbursement requirements have been popular topics of conversation. Would schools be required to evenly distribute their respective revenue-share pies among all sports, even if football and men’s basketball serve as the primary moneymakers for most athletic departments? Would Title IX implications mandate an equal split between men’s and women’s sports? And if the answers to both the aforementioned questions are “no,” which seems to be the case thus far — though additional litigation is almost certainly forthcoming on those fronts — how drastically will the scale tilt toward football?

Without any legislative guidance for the schools, early reports have suggested that most athletic departments will allocate approximately 75% of the annual $20.5 million cap to football, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to all other sports. The commissioners were asked on Monday if their respective conferences plan to implement any league-wide mandates on the percentages distributed to each sport. 

Jim Phillips, ACC: “Jurisdiction will be local campus decisions. We’ve talked a little bit about individual sports, but we certainly haven’t set exact percentages on any of our sports just yet. I think everyone has seen the commitment to football and men’s and women’s basketball, but I know for all five of us, no one is forgetting about the Olympic sports and continuing to make sure that we invest at a high level for all of our sports.”

Tony Petitti, Big Ten: “In the Big Ten, we’re focused on local decision-making. We’ve had numerous conversations about the way to address the question you’re raising and the decision was made fairly early on that we’d be in a local decision-making [situation]. So that’s where we are, giving our institutions discretion. And they want that discretion. That was the feedback from our athletics directors.”

Greg Sankey, SEC: “We took a deep look as a league in February, put that on hold, and so [we] do not have a conference-level directive on percent allocations by sport.”

Brett Yormark, Big 12: “It is a campus decision. We’ve discussed it directionally, but it is a campus decision.”

Teresa Gould, Pac-12: “I think the Pac-12 is uniquely situated because we have the opportunity with all the changing landscape around us to actually launch a brand-new league. So, while there certainly will be institutional autonomy related to strategy around revenue sharing, we are having quite a bit of conversation about what makes sense in terms of the best overall interests of the conference, and how that positions us to compete at the highest level.”

On the selection of Bryan Seeley to become CEO of the College Sports Commission:

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talks with LSU football head coach Brian Kelly before the Kinder’s Texas Bowl. (Photo by Gus Stark/LSU/University Images via Getty Images)

Context: Within a few hours of the settlement’s approval on Friday night, the College Sports Commission announced Bryan Seeley as the organization’s first CEO. Seeley, 46, will join the organization after serving as executive vice president, legal & operations for Major League Baseball, where he “oversaw investigations into a wide range of issues including circumvention of international compensation caps and developed and enforced rules in evolving policy areas such as legalized sports betting,” according to a press release. He worked previously as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., for eight years. 

As the leader of this new enforcement arm, Seeley is tasked with building out “the organization’s investigative and enforcement teams and [overseeing] all of its ongoing operations and stakeholder relationships.” This includes the enforcement of new rules surrounding revenue sharing and third-party NIL deals, the ramifications of which are certain to make Seeley one of the most powerful figures in collegiate athletics. 

Greg Sankey, SEC: “We did want an individual — whoever that may be — with significant experience working in the areas that would be on the agenda from Day 1. So you think about rules implementation, rules development, adjustments, issues around arbitration that are built into the settlement terms. … We had a broad search effort, engaged a search firm, and that process went through a round of Zoom interviews and then a set of in-person interviews, and Bryan rose to the top. I was impressed with his commitment of time and understanding and preparing for what’s in front of us, not to mention the background work he’s done with his ability to talk about where there are issues that are parallel to his experience, or where there may be intersections, or where there may be points of divergence that will be informed by his experience but will require some more work on all of our parts.”

Tony Petitti, Big Ten: “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. And the reason why I feel strongly about that is part of what we do is manage a lot of constituents. And in Bryan’s role [in MLB], you’re dealing with 30 clubs in very competitive areas that he’s involved in and making decisions. And that’s very similar to what he’ll have to do in this role. The decisions that get made by this enforcement entity ultimately will have competitive outcomes. So Bryan has experience of managing [a group that is] not as large as what you see in the college space, but a very significant space. And I think that’s experience that made his candidacy extremely unique.”

Brett Yormark, Big 12: “I would just add that it was unanimous amongst the commissioners that he was the right person at the right time for this role. And for me, he was very passionate about this opportunity. You want people not to run away from a situation but to run to a situation. He ran here. And he’s very passionate to make a difference and to course-correct what’s been going on in the industry.”

On the potential punishments for programs choosing to move forward with NIL deals that get rejected by NIL Go: 

Context: One of the only unassailable truths facing college athletics as it barreled toward the revenue-sharing era was that any measures approved by Wilken would eventually be skirted by coaches and programs desperate for a competitive advantage. Speculation about how and when teams could “circumvent the cap,” a phrase that became quite popular in recent months, suddenly dominated stories that were rife with anonymous sources brainstorming how institutions could put more than $20.5 million in athletes’ pockets. Prevailing wisdom suggested that the most well-funded football rosters, for instance, would cost far more to assemble and maintain than just a hefty chunk of the annual cap allowance. 

One way to funnel additional money toward athletes will be through traditional NIL deals, the likes of which have existed for several years. Moving forward, financial agreements reached between athletes and third parties won’t count toward an athletic department’s annual cap, though any deal greater than $600 is now subject to approval by NIL Go, an online clearinghouse within the College Sports Commission. All outside NIL deals will be vetted by NIL Go for legitimate business purposes in an effort to reduce blatant recruiting inducements.  

Jim Phillips, ACC: “We’re in the process of developing some of those rules and structure, overall implementation of that. Now that we have Bryan [Seeley] on board, I think we’ll be able to move a little bit quicker. But we want to get this right. And it’s one of the areas that, again, until you have somebody leading the College Sports Commission, it’s difficult to get together with that individual and to start some of that framework that may be in place. But nothing to date, right now, that we’re ready to come forward with [as far as punishments]. I think all of us right now have some ideas. We’ve had numerous conversations about that. But this ultimately will be under Bryan’s purview and he needs to be an active participant, and will be, in the creation of what these new rules and boundaries are.”

On the skepticism from certain coaches and administrators that the new rules can actually be enforced by Bryan Seeley and the College Sports Commission: 

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia was granted an injunction that allowed him to pursue another year of eligibility. (Photo by Avery Watson/Vanderbilt University/University Images via Getty Images)

Context: Given the number of highly publicized, highly influential court rulings that have gone against the NCAA in recent years — from the original passage of NIL legislation in 2021, to the rewriting of multi-time transfer rules in 2024, to the junior college eligibility challenges mounted earlier this year — many skeptics find it farfetched that a new regulatory body, like the College Sports Commission, will fare much better in the world of enforcement than its predecessor. If the legal precedent driving most of these lawsuits is the restriction of fair trade, meaning any potential infringements on an athlete’s earning power that could be construed as violations of the Sherman Act, then why would new measures established in the revenue-sharing era hold up any better in court than the old ones?

Building on that premise, there are scores of coaches, administrators, agents, lawyers and legal experts who harbor reservations about what the College Sports Commission can reasonably accomplish in an environment that, to some, is beginning to resemble the plugging of a large-scale dam with ever-weakening pieces of duct tape. The conference commissioners were asked how they’re selling the importance of following these new rules to their constituents. 

Brett Yormark, Big 12: “I addressed that with our coaches last week, and I often say it’s ‘progress over perfection.’ There will be challenges that we’ll deal with. But over time, we’ll meet those challenges and we’ll address them appropriately. But I am very confident in Bryan, Deloitte, LBi Software, the new model that’s in place, that we have a bright future in collegiate athletics. I’ll also say that our schools want rules, and we’re providing rules, and we’ll be governed by those rules. And if you break those rules, the ramifications will be punitive.”

Jim Phillips, ACC: “What’s not debatable is that this new model does bring stability and fairness to student-athletes and college sports. And we’ve been in an unregulated environment with no rules and no enforcement. It has paralyzed the NCAA in Indianapolis, and we’re responsible for certainly some of that. We’re now going to have a foundation and structure of laying out those rules. The new structure provides our student-athletes with more opportunities and benefits than ever before. And it isn’t going to be perfect. But we’re committed to progress: learning, adapting, strengthening the model to support and protect college sports, [which is] like nothing else as an American tradition. There’s no question for any of us, the five of us, that we’re in a much better place than we were 48 hours ago, and certainly over the last several years.”

Greg Sankey, SEC: “I’ve asked at every level — and I listed those in my opening presentation: our university presidents and chancellors, our athletics directors, our head coaches — ‘If you want an unregulated, open system, just raise your hand and let me know.’ And universally, the answer is, ‘No. We want guardrails. We want structure.’ Those individuals don’t have the luxury to just say that in meeting rooms. Period. They don’t have the luxury to just be anonymous sources. They have a responsibility to make what they’ve sought and what they’ve asked for, to make it work.”

On the role Congress might play in stabilizing college athletics: 

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey talk prior to Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series championship series. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)

Context: Hovering over the widespread enforcement difficulties endured by the NCAA — many of which might now be transferred to the College Sports Commission — is the lingering desire for assistance from Congress that, in the form of a bill, would finally usher in the uniformity many across the business are craving. Ever since the advent of NIL, the proliferation of new and contrasting state laws pertaining to governance, implementation and legality have pockmarked a playing field misconstrued as even. It was only last month when Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a piece of athlete-friendly NIL legislation that undercut provisions outlined in the forthcoming House settlement by declaring such limitations on athlete compensation invalid, clearing the way for institutions in his state to ignore things like the salary cap and third-party NIL rules. 

With each state comes the possibility of another interpretation, the sheer volume of which could unspool a web of complications, confusion and legal challenges. The commissioners were equal parts unanimous and optimistic surrounding potential Congressional oversight in the near future that would create a single set of rules by which all schools must abide. 

Greg Sankey, SEC: “I think we’ve been clear over time: We need an effort to preempt state laws. Congress exists to set national standards, and we’re not going to have Final Fours and College Football Playoffs and College World Series with 50 different standards. So that’s the starting point. I think with what’s been introduced here, the benefits to student-athletes, the codification of at least the settlement terms, will be enormously healthy. I’ll add [another] piece: There are a lot of people running around representing themselves as NIL this or representatives for that or agents with air quotes. There’s not a lot of protection for young people. Our universities do a good job providing the services I listed earlier in providing support and protections for young people. But you don’t have those more broadly.

“I think this is a non-partisan issue, candidly. I don’t think this is about drawing lines between Democrats and Republicans or the House and Senate. I think this is an opportunity for our governmental leaders, our political leaders, to come together around solutions to support or Olympic development program, to support college football and every one of our sports that flows off of that — including those that are labeled as non-revenue sports — to provide additional support for women’s sports like they’ve been doing through scholarship and other economic opportunities. I think those can be really healthy and can benefit from Congressional engagement.”

Tony Petitti, Big Ten: “Over a year ago, when the conferences all voted to approve the settlement and go through the process to take it to the judge, that was a big moment. And I think that’s changed the tone down in [Congress] because we’ve shown that we’re willing to make significant change and modernize our system. We’re not just asking for something, we’re actually showing that we are willing to have significant change.”

Brett Yormark, Big 12: “I don’t know if there’s an exact timeline [for Congressional assistance], but there’s a sense of urgency, for sure, so that Congress helps to support the settlement. One thing that I have realized based on my trips to The Hill is that everyone there is passionate about collegiate athletics. They have a vested interest. And they want to do the right thing to help us move this forward. I don’t think we have to sell them on the topic. We just have to land in the right place that works for both parties on The Hill. And I think we’re getting closer.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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