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Here's how Cooper Flagg cleared a staggering $28 million in NIL contracts during his one …

Getty Images One of college basketball’s highest-paid players last season, former Duke star Cooper Flagg’s estimated NIL contracts were staggering, according longtime sports journalist and author Howard Bryant. During a recent sitdown with Bob Costas at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Howard asked his co-host how much much Flagg earned in NIL at […]

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Here's how Cooper Flagg cleared a staggering $28 million in NIL contracts during his one ...

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One of college basketball’s highest-paid players last season, former Duke star Cooper Flagg’s estimated NIL contracts were staggering, according longtime sports journalist and author Howard Bryant. During a recent sitdown with Bob Costas at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Howard asked his co-host how much much Flagg earned in NIL at Duke.

Costas was unsure, but then Howard provided an answer that resulted in an audible gasp from the audience — $28 million.

“He had a $13 million deal with New Balance and then $15 million with Fanatics,” Bryant said at the 51:09 mark of the conversation.

Here’s the thing — Howard’s reported total is likely Flagg’s NIL contracts in totality and not an annual payment. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported Flagg’s New Balance agreement was “significant.” These are often multi-year contracts between incoming rookies and sneaker companies.

Flagg’s massive deal with New Balance ahead of his first season in the NBA makes him one of the brand’s newest signature athletes. Flagg signed his multi-year partnership with Fanatics in January, but terms of the deal were not released.

Other exclusive Fanatics athletes include Victor Wembanyama, Paul Skenes, and CJ Stroud. Flagg’s first “rookie” card is part of the 2025 Bowman University Chrome set, which is put out by Fanatics.

Flagg’s previous estimated NIL valuation of around $5 million with the Blue Devils during his only season of college basketball was the leading number in the sport, so to think he was bringing in more than five times that number in a single season is almost unfathomable.

Regardless, the market value for the projected No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft is real.

Flagg earned national player of the year accolades last season after averaging a team-best 19.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, leading Duke to the NCAA Tournament’s final weekend.

Costas used Howard’s staggering figure to get on his soap box of sorts to make a broader point.

“That’s why, at least, it’s more profitable for a woman … a female college basketball player to stay in college and collect the NIL because, because for the time being, the top salary in the WNBA is like $75,000,” Costas said. “Now, it will go up a bit and if you’re Caitlin Clark it doesn’t matter and a few others because their deals carry over, but something that used to always bothered me when this convesation was going on before NIL, people would say, ‘Everybody is profiting off of this except for the athletes.’

“That implicitly says this whole thing is a sham and that the education itself has no value. So, if this student-athlete attends class, he could very well be sitting next to someone whose parents worked multiple jobs to put that boy or girl and their siblings through college. (And) that’s something that might be a present, at some universities worth on a four-year ride, $300.000. Not to mention what it means down the road for your earning power.”

Costas later said fans who are disparaging NIL numbers were “okay with the corruption” but not okay with the chaos these figures have caused in recruiting and player retention.

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Elite 2028 WR Brysen Wright inks first trading card NIL deal

Elite 2028 wide receiver recruit Brysen Wright has inked his first trading card NIL deal, On3 has learned. Represented by ESM, the 6-foot-3.5, 210-pound wide receiver has signed with Wild Card. Wild Card has released a box of college football trading cards previously, but Wright’s signing is the company’s first foray into the high school […]

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Elite 2028 wide receiver recruit Brysen Wright has inked his first trading card NIL deal, On3 has learned. Represented by ESM, the 6-foot-3.5, 210-pound wide receiver has signed with Wild Card.

Wild Card has released a box of college football trading cards previously, but Wright’s signing is the company’s first foray into the high school space. Leaf Trading Cards and Topps have been aggressive in signing up top high school talent in recent years.

“This is Brysen’s first trading card partnership,” his agent, Dan Everett of ESM, told On3. “The five-figure deal pays the soon-to-be 10th grader a first-round NFL wide receiver rate per autograph.”

ESM currently represents a slew of college quarterbacks, including Georgia’s Gunner Stockton, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, Ole Miss’ Austin Summons, Mississippi State’s Luke Kromenhoek, Tennessee’s Jake Merklinger and Miami’s Carson Beck.

Wright already holds scholarship offers from Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, LSU, Alabama, Miami and Texas, among others. He impressed in OT7 this spring and turned heads at the OT7 Playoffs last month. The 2028 prospect tallied seven total touchdowns over the OT7 Playoffs, including three in his final game of the tournament. He camped at Ohio State in June.

“He’s incredibly physically developed at this early stage and is a smooth mover at his size,” Rivals’ Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power recently said. “The Jacksonville native is the only 2028 prospect to hold an early four-star rating.”

The Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin star played alongside Jaime Ffrench in 2024. Wright hauled in 31 passes for 646 yards and scored eight touchdowns as a freshman, including a four-catch, 114-yard performance with two touchdowns.

“Brysen Wright may be the best amateur wide receiver in the country not named Jeremiah Smith,” Wild Card’s vice president of talent acquisition, Jay Claud, said in a statement. “And he is 14.”





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College football expansion debate re-ignited by Big 12 commissioner

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has re-ignited the debate over the expansion of the College Football Playoff and how it should be structured. He leaned into his preferred format choice just a few minutes into his opening address at the conference football media day event. What format is the Big 12 proposing? Yormark said, “5-11 […]

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Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has re-ignited the debate over the expansion of the College Football Playoff and how it should be structured. He leaned into his preferred format choice just a few minutes into his opening address at the conference football media day event.

What format is the Big 12 proposing?

Yormark said, “5-11 is fair,” adding, “We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, but long term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us. And I’m doubling down today on 5-11.”

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The term “5-11” refers to a format with five automatic bids for conference champions and 11 at-large bids, filling out what would be a 16-team playoff field starting with the 2026 season. The Big 12 and ACC are the two conferences proposing this format in an attempt to head off what the Big Ten and the SEC believe is the best solution.

The Big Ten and the SEC hold the most sway in expansion talks, and they want to see four automatic qualifiers earn bids from each of their leagues, along with two each from the Big 12 and the ACC. Adding Notre Dame as an automatic would leave just three at-large bids in that scenario.

The initial 12-team playoff kicked off in 2024 and ended four weeks later with the National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Ohio State won the title, 34-23. The format featured four teams that earned first-round byes after winning their conference championships. All four teams lost their first matchups in the playoffs.

What do some of the coaches think about expansion?

During the Big 12 media interview sessions, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman didn’t have an opinion on how the playoff should be set up going forward but brought up another expansion concern.

The wear and tear on the athletes is real,” Klieman said. “I don’t think we help that at all by knocking the roster size down. I don’t think that was a good move at all, but that’s control what you can control. So, that’s going to be a concern when you have fewer players playing that amount of games. But I’m excited about what I was able to watch last year of the playoff and the potential expansion here in another year.”

The Big 12 Conference had only one representative — league champion Arizona State — in the inaugural playoff last year. The Sun Devils lost to Texas in the quarterfinals in double overtime. Yormark said that reaching a point where several teams are in the discussion each year is how his conference can maximize whatever format the new playoff may take.

“I think parity matters, and I think ultimately over time, and it’s hopefully sooner than later, there’ll be a couple of our schools that will emerge as elite schools that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels, and that’s what we’re working towards,” Yormark said. “But it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom. And I think we’re there.”

The conference opens play with a rivalry game on Saturday, August 23, between Kansas State and Iowa State in Dublin, Ireland.

What are the next steps in the expansion process?

Yormark believes the Big 12 is the “deepest conference in America” and said that in addition to schedule strength, “new metrics” will be added to the selection process to ensure fairness.

“I have a lot of faith in the selection process,” Yormark said. “They are doing a full audit to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted.”

He also said he was confident conference commissioners will eventually settle on the 5-11 model. They have until December of this year to decide which 16-team format to adopt.



Joey Nunez (Video Editor),


Cole Lauterbach (Managing Editor),


and Lawrence Banton (Digital Producer)

contributed to this report.



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Report: Princeton’s Caden Pierce to redshirt, enter the NCAA Transfer Portal

Offseason movement has slowed in college basketball with the calendar turning to June. That said, next season’s cycle of the portal already apparently has a big name set to be in it. Princeton’s Caden Pierce is to be a very early entry into next spring’s cycle for the NCAA Transfer Portal. That’s according to reporting […]

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Offseason movement has slowed in college basketball with the calendar turning to June. That said, next season’s cycle of the portal already apparently has a big name set to be in it.

Princeton’s Caden Pierce is to be a very early entry into next spring’s cycle for the NCAA Transfer Portal. That’s according to reporting today by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello that Pierce will be redshirting this upcoming season to preserve his final year of eligibility to now spend playing for a new program.

“NEWS: Princeton star Caden Pierce, the 2023-24 Ivy League Player of the Year, plans to redshirt next season in order to finish his degree before entering the transfer portal and playing his final season elsewhere in 2026-27, he told ESPN,” Borzello tweeted out this afternoon.

Pierce, a native of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, has spent the past three seasons playing for Princeton with 90 appearances made as a full-time starter for the Tigers. In that career in New Jersey, Pierce has averaged 11.9 points (48.7% FG, 32.7% 3PT on 1.0 makes), 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game, which made him the team’s leading rebounder in every year he had there and second-leading scorer in each of the past two.

Pierce developed from being Ivy League Rookie of the Year to being selected each of the past two years as All-Ivy. That included being Ivy League Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy as a sophomore when he posted his career-best numbers of 16.6 points (54.6% FG, 34.2% 3PT), 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.

Over his three years in the program, Princeton went 66-25 (.725), including 30-10 in conference play to win three conference titles, two regular-season ones and one league tournament, in the Ivy. That led to one appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2023 as the Tigers were a No. 15 seed who upset No. 2 Arizona and No. 7 Missouri to reach the Sweet 16, the furthest they’ve advanced in the modern era, before losing to No. 6 Creighton. Pierce, a freshman at the time, averaged 6.3 points (35% FG) and 8.7 rebounds during that run.

Pierce will now be another significant loss for the Tigers since the end of last season. Their most notable was the transfer of Xaivian Lee (Florida), a Top-40 overall transfer and No. 10 PG in the portal per On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, after consecutive years on the All-Ivy First Team. Darius Gakwasi also entered his name into the portal, with no commitment since, back in March.

There’s a full other season to play before the portal will open again in college basketball in eight or nine months come March. It’ll be then when Pierce will eventually become available for his next school with this big news on his future.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.





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USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley To Make First College Football Playoff This Season?

With the expansion last season, more teams have the opportunity to make the College Football Playoff than ever before. The USC Trojans and coach Lincoln Riley have not yet made the College Football Playoff, but they have a much higher chance, and perhaps the 2025 season will be the year they make it. As the […]

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With the expansion last season, more teams have the opportunity to make the College Football Playoff than ever before. The USC Trojans and coach Lincoln Riley have not yet made the College Football Playoff, but they have a much higher chance, and perhaps the 2025 season will be the year they make it.

As the 2025 College Football season nears, Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt revealed his top 10 teams most likely to make their first playoff appearance. At No. 7, Klatt named the USC Trojans, giving the team hope for the year, but Riley and the program will not be able to have a repeat of last season.

“They started last season with a win over LSU, and I thought that was going to propel them to a potential playoff season last year. In Lincoln Riley’s first year, they were a game away from going to the playoff. So, I personally believe that Riley has maybe come under some criticism that might not be fair, but I could be wrong,” Klatt said. “You can’t go seven and five again. You just can’t.”

USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley To Make First College Football Playoff This Season?

Nov 16, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Last season, there was uncertainty surrounding USC with quarterback Miller Moss taking over the team and Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams off to the NFL. When the Trojans opened up the season with a 27-20 win against the LSU Tigers, there was hope. 

The team also took the Penn State Nittany Lions into overtime, showing their potential, but USC ended up finishing the season with a 7-6 overall record, going 4-5 in Big Ten conference play.

Of the six losses, five were within one score, but the team has to win those games, or there is no chance of getting into the College Football Playoff. This season, quarterback Jayden Maiava is set to lead the team, and after going 3-4 last year as a starter, he showed his potential, and he can lead the offense to success.

USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley To Make First College Football Playoff This Season?

Dec 27, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) throws the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies in the first half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

MORE: Los Angeles Lakers’ Bronny James Turns Heads In NBA Summer League Debut

MORE: USC Trojans Legend, Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown Ranked Among Best NFL Players

MORE: USC Trojans 5-Star Recruits Elbert Hill, Keenyi Pepe, Mark Bowman Headline Prized Recruiting Class

The Trojans are entering the season with a talented roster, but there are still question marks. Wide receivers Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane have high potential, as both could be top 2026 NFL Draft picks. USC also brought in Prince Strachan through the transfer portal, which was a crucial addition after losing much depth following the 2024 season.

While the attention is on USC’s offense with Riley being an offensive-minded coach, the Trojans’ defense can be overlooked. USC hiring defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn ahead of the 2024 season was a big addition, and the defense improved drastically. 

USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley To Make First College Football Playoff This Season?

Nov 2, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane (8) participates in pregame warmups against the Washington Huskies at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

With the Trojans bringing in key defensive players such as four-star defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart and Georgia transfer defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett, USC could be physical upfront, leading to much success.

“There was much improvement on the defensive side of the ball. They brought in Rob Ryan as an assistant this offseason. Defensive line is actually looking like a strength right now, which hasn’t been the case for them in the past,” Klatt said.

The two toughest games on USC’s schedule in 2025 are on Oct. 18 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and on Nov. 11 against the Oregon Ducks. Both were top-five teams last season, and even with roster changes, are expected to be top teams again. 

USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley To Make First College Football Playoff This Season?

Sep 28, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts after a game against the Wisconsin Badgers at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There are a couple of games that could be season-defining, starting on Sept. 27 against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois finished the season as the No. 20 team in the nation, and with many returning players, including quarterback Luke Altmyer, the outcome of that game could define where USC stands next season.

The following game, on Oct. 11, after a bye week, USC will face the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan had a down season, but with an elite recruiting class coming in, including the No. 1 quarterback Bryce Underwood, the Wolverines are in a similar position to USC. Both programs are looking to turn things around in 2025, and this will be a crucial game for both teams.

The USC Trojans will kick off the 2025 season against the Missouri State Bears on Aug. 30.



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Bill Belichick, Deion Sanders Among Coaches Not in ‘College Football 26’

For the first time in either of its college football video game series, EA Sports incorporated real-life coaches into “College Football 26.” But as over 300 real-life coaches were included in the game, those who got to play “College Football 26” on its early release day recognized that two of the most well-known coaches in […]

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For the first time in either of its college football video game series, EA Sports incorporated real-life coaches into “College Football 26.” But as over 300 real-life coaches were included in the game, those who got to play “College Football 26” on its early release day recognized that two of the most well-known coaches in the sport weren’t among them.

North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and Colorado’s Deion Sanders declined to lend their likeness for “College Football 26” to EA Sports, The Athletic reported. Miami (Fla.) coach Mario Cristobal and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz are also among the head coaches who aren’t in “College Football 26.”

Belichick’s decision not to be featured in “College Football 26” shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. During his 24 seasons as head coach of the New England Patriots, Belichick frequently declined EA Sports to use his likeness for the “Madden” video game series. Instead, the game developers would have a random character as the head coach of the Patriots.

As for Sanders, he typically lent his likeness to EA Sports for the “Madden” series during his playing career. The reasoning for why Belichick, Sanders and other coaches who didn’t lend their likeness for “College Football 26” is unclear.

Similar to what EA Sports did with Belichick when he opted not to appear in the “Madden” video game series, coaches who declined to appear in “College Football 26” were replaced by random characters. “Hector Luna” is the coach of UNC in place of Belichick, while “Kirk Patrick” is Colorado’s coach in place of Sanders, according to On3

While the most prominent Belichick isn’t in “College Football 26,” there is a member of the family in the game. UNC defensive coordinator Steve Belichick allowed EA Sports to use his likeness in “College Football 26,” the game’s principal game designer, Ben Haumiller, said in June. 

“Bill Belichick, historically, famously was not in ‘Madden’ for a lot of years. We chased him forever. We even had coach [John] Madden reach out to him,” Haumiller told the “Split Zone Duo” podcast. “So, when this opportunity came around, that was a joke internally, like, ‘Are we going to get Bill?’ And they never did. 

“When it came to Belichick, there were some questions of how he would show up. Ultimately, we were never able to come to a resolution with him. Hopefully, that changes.”

Unlike his father, North Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Belichick will appear in “College Football 26.” (Photo by Peyton Williams/Getty Images)

Steve Belichick, the eldest of Belichick’s two sons, became UNC’s defensive coordinator shortly after his father became the program’s head coach. He was Washington’s defensive coordinator under Jedd Fisch last season, marking his first year of coaching college ball. He previously spent several seasons on his father’s coaching staff with the Patriots.

Stanford interim coach Frank Reich, Utah State’s Bronco Mendenhall, Western Kentucky’s Tyson Helton, Jacksonville State’s Charles Kelly, UAB’s Trent Dilfer, Louisiana-Monroe’s Bryant Vincent, New Mexico’s Jason Eck and Kent State’s Mark Carney are the other FBS head coaches who reportedly declined to lend their linked for “College Football 26.”

As several head coaches declined to share their likeness for “College Football 26,” a handful of the game’s top coaches appeared on one of the covers for the video game. Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Penn State’s James Franklin, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Ole Miss‘ Lane Kiffin and Oregon’s Dan Lanning each appeared on the cover of the deluxe version of “College Football 26.”

The full release for “College Football 26” will take place on Thursday, but some users were able to start playing the game on Monday if they pre-ordered the deluxe version. 

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4 Football Players Sue NCAA Using Diego Pavia’s Legal Playbook

In the latest iteration of college athletes suing to play beyond exhaustion of their NCAA eligibility, four former JUCO football players who want to play for Vanderbilt and other FBS programs have asked a federal judge in Tennessee to enjoin the NCAA from enforcing eligibility rules. Chris Bellamy, Demarcus Griffin, TJ Smith and Targhee Lambson […]

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In the latest iteration of college athletes suing to play beyond exhaustion of their NCAA eligibility, four former JUCO football players who want to play for Vanderbilt and other FBS programs have asked a federal judge in Tennessee to enjoin the NCAA from enforcing eligibility rules.

Chris Bellamy, Demarcus Griffin, TJ Smith and Targhee Lambson filed a complaint for injunctive relief on July 3. They’re represented by attorneys Ryan Downton and Salvador M. Hernandez, a duo who have litigated on behalf of Vanderbilt quarterback and former JUCO transfer Diego Pavia’s thus far successful case to play a sixth season this fall. 

The four plaintiffs seek to play past the NCAA’s basic Division I eligibility framework. This framework limits college athletes to four seasons of intercollegiate competition—including JUCO and D-II competition—within a five-year period and, the complaint stresses, stipulates that a JUCO student who transfers to a D-I program has three years of D-I eligibility even if they didn’t play a sport at their JUCO school. 

The players contend this framework violates antitrust law by constraining the market for athletic services offered by D-I football to former JUCO football players. Lost NIL opportunities are emphasized as an economic harm to the players, who also lose out on potential revenue-sharing opportunities resulting from the House settlement. The four hope that Pavia’s win in the same federal district in Tennessee—the Vandy quarterback’s case is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit—provides helpful precedent. 

Bellamy is a wide receiver who played at two junior colleges and a couple of seasons at New Mexico State. According to the complaint, Bellamy has been admitted into Vanderbilt and promised a spot on the football team. Griffin is a defensive back at Louisiana Tech University and earlier played for a junior college and the University of Houston. Griffin’s roster spot “and NIL money” are waiting for him at Louisiana Tech should he regain eligibility, the complaint asserts. Smith is a quarterback who has played at a junior college, D-II college and Florida Atlantic University. The complaint says several D-I colleges are interested in Smith if he’s deemed eligible to play. Meanwhile, Lambson is a running back who played for Snow Community College and then Southern Utah University. Vanderbilt, the complaint states, is interested in Lambson joining the Commodores for 2025.

The complaint tracks familiar arguments raised in Pavia and the growing list of eligibility cases that have followed. Bellamy, Griffin, Smith and Lambson maintain that junior shouldn’t count against the D-I eligibility clock. Most junior colleges are governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association, which has no affiliation with the NCAA. The four players argue that JUCO football is nothing like D-I football, including because D-I football generates “billions of dollars in revenue” and its games are regularly televised and streamed. 

“To be clear,” the complaint argues, “while the NJCAA streams a total of 13 games over its entire season, the NCAA televised 40 games just last Saturday alone, and televises a similar number every single week of the season (not to mention several games on other nights of the week).”

Differences in NIL opportunities are also cited as a key distinction between JUCO and D-I football. The complaint cites data showing that while 2024 NIL market for college football was estimated at $1.1 billion, “only $6.5 million—less than six-tenths of 1%—went to non-NCAA Division I football players.” Further, the complaint references how D-I football, especially at a power conference school, provides essential training and exposure for the NFL Draft.

The complaint also asserts NCAA eligibility rules unfairly punish JUCO players compared to similarly situated groups. Consider the NCAA eligibility clock of a football player who graduates from high school and then plays another season in a post-grad year. His eligibility doesn’t run during that post-grad year, even if it occurs after he graduated from high school. Likewise, a football player who graduates from high school and then becomes a pro athlete in another sport still has five years to play four seasons of football. 

To illustrate, the complaint references Chris Weinke, who became a football player at Florida State in 1997 as a 25-year-old after a six-year pro baseball career. Athletes who serve in the military are also mentioned as not facing the same NCAA restrictions experienced by JUCO players. The complaint argues that if the NCAA and its member institutions were genuinely concerned that former JUCO players might upset competitive balance in D-I football because they’re (relatively) older and more seasoned, the NCAA “would preclude other older athletes from competing” in D-I.

Consumers, the complaint maintains, are also harmed by eligibility rules that exclude former JUCO players because of seasons played and years past. There are “negative downstream effects on nationwide consumers who attend college football games and watch college football on television,” the complaint charges. 

Along those lines, D-I football rosters lose out on potential players who could enhance the quality of play. 

“Teams,” Bellamy, Griffin, Smith and Lambson argue, “may be less competitive without the ability to retain skilled transfer players for an additional season, fans lose the opportunity to see those college athletes compete for their favorite teams on gameday and the product of NCAA athletics is less compelling for consumers.”

The NCAA will answer the complaint and defend its eligibility rules, which have withstood some of the recent legal challenges. 

In a statement shared with Sportico, an NCAA spokesperson said, “the NCAA stands by its eligibility rules, including the five-year rule, which enable student-athletes and schools to have fair competition and ensure broad access to the unique and life-changing opportunity to be a student-athlete. The NCAA is making changes to modernize college sports but attempts to alter the enforcement of foundational eligibility rules—approved and supported by membership leaders—makes a shifting environment even more unsettled. As legal outcomes continue to differ from case to case, the NCAA believes partnering with Congress is essential to provide clarity and stability for current and future student-athletes.”

The case is before U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger. 



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