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Judge Sinks DraftKings' Requests to Certify NIL

A federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected popular sports betting platform DraftKings’ attempts to certify questions to the appellate court in a name, image, and likeness (NIL) dispute with MLB Players Inc., the corporate subsidiary of the league’s players association. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Karen S. Marston of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania shot down […]

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Judge Sinks DraftKings' Requests to Certify NIL

A federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected popular sports betting platform DraftKings’ attempts to certify questions to the appellate court in a name, image, and likeness (NIL) dispute with MLB Players Inc., the corporate subsidiary of the league’s players association.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Karen S. Marston of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania shot down DraftKings’ attempts to certify questions for immediate appeal, after the court denied its motion to dismiss the misappropriation suit brought by MLB Players. DraftKings sought to certify questions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit about whether its use of the players’ images fell within an exception regarding news reports and public interest, which it claimed was a matter of first impression. It also sought to certify whether a claim for unjust enrichment in a right-of-publicity case should be dismissed where there is no relationship between the parties, among other things. The defendant requested that the court stay the proceedings pending the Third Circuit’s decision regarding the appeal.

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Money Matters, Part III – West Virginia University Athletics

Story Links Intercollegiate athletics have entered a historic new era after judge Claudia Wilken recently granted final approval to the $2.8 billion settlement of the class-action antitrust lawsuit House v. NCAA. Over three Fridays, we have been examining the immediate and future implications of the House Settlement and what it means for […]

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Intercollegiate athletics have entered a historic new era after judge Claudia Wilken recently granted final approval to the $2.8 billion settlement of the class-action antitrust lawsuit House v. NCAA. Over three Fridays, we have been examining the immediate and future implications of the House Settlement and what it means for WVU athletics. This is the final installment.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Last month, the West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced the creation of Gold & Blue Enterprises, which, according to the press release announcing it, “is designed to revolutionize the student-athlete experience and enhance the Mountaineers’ competitive edge in the evolving landscape of college athletics.”

The concept of name, image and likeness (NIL) in collegiate sports began on July 1, 2021, when a Supreme Court ruling and the introduction of state laws forced the NCAA to implement a system for student-athletes to profit from their NIL rights.  

Schools around the country began establishing NIL collectives to help navigate this new terrain by connecting student-athletes with businesses and facilitating deals for endorsements, appearances and other promotional activities.

The recently created Gold & Blue Enterprises is designed to generate new and diversified revenue streams for Mountaineer student-athletes while harnessing and strengthening the visibility of the WVU brand.

With the recent settlement of the House v. NCAA lawsuit, approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, student-athletes are now permitted to receive direct compensation of up to $20.5 million per institution beginning on July 1, 2025. Now college athletics will have two paths of compensation – one from institutions up to the cap and the other based on market-based endorsement agreements.  

Gold & Blue Enterprises looks to maximize WVU’s NIL opportunities with a full menu of features, including: 

  • Comprehensive NIL support with educational and compliance services and personalized brand development to help maximize NIL opportunities
  • Facilitating strategic partnerships by collaborating with leading marketing and advertising agencies to connect student-athletes with corporate partners
  • Establishing an innovative business structure using a private sector approach, integrating sales, media, marketing and business operations to help drive additional revenue to support the long-term sustainability of WVU athletics
  • Leadership and governance to oversee Gold & Blue Enterprises, ensuring alignment with WVU’s mission and values while fostering a culture of innovation and excellence

According to WVU Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker, Gold & Blue Enterprises will give the athletics department more flexibility in this new NIL environment.

“Lots of athletic departments function as either a 501(c)(3) or as an outside LLC, but we don’t,” Baker said. “When you look at the new world of intercollegiate athletics as we move into a more professionalized model, we are going to need to engage in a lot more commercial activity. By way of example, Country Roads Trust has a deal in town with the GOAT, a pub and grill, that a certain percentage of their revenue is used for CRT’s name, image and likeness, and a certain percentage of the sales goes back to CRT in the form of licensing.

Baker admits those are the types of commercial activities the athletics department needs to be exploring in this current climate.

“But that’s hard to do through a traditional higher education structure,” he noted. “And it’s really different from the fundraising focus of the WVU Foundation, so (Gold & Blue Enterprises) creates an opportunity for us to have an outside organization that is still very much connected and controlled by the University and is still very much connected to the WVU Foundation. We will still route all our giving through the WVU Foundation, but it will allow us to pay our athletes out of there, first and foremost, while not having all the cumbersome processes that a typical university system requires.”

Baker envisions Gold & Blue Enterprises potentially opening the door to some exciting new possibilities down the road.

“Does it make sense for us to develop some kind of entertainment district around our sports venues?” he said. “Is there enough space to do that? What would that take? Those are things that I think having this entity really allows us to live and breathe in an environment where commercial activity is important, and if we really want to be in a position to compete in the future, it’ something that we are going to have to explore.”

That’s just one aspect of Gold & Blue Enterprises.

Baker indicated it will also serve as sort of a matchmaker between WVU’s student-athletes and potential suitors for NIL deals.

“There may be student-athletes that get NIL deals on their own, and that’s fine, but we want to have an in-house agency to where if we have a student-athlete with considerable Name, Image and Likeness brand, then we can say, ‘Hey, Par Mar, Sheetz or Little General, here is this student-athlete who is available to really help promote your product,'” he mentioned.

Baker indicated there will likely be some sort of tracking function to the deals being made, although that’s yet to be determined.

“They are still trying to figure out how much of that data they can give you without running afoul of antitrust issues, but I think the aggregate gross date we should be able to see,” he said.

Establishing a flexible entity like Gold & Blue Enterprises has never been more important. Several Big 12 schools, led by Texas Tech, are aggressively developing their NIL efforts. The Red Raiders, for example, are projected to be one of the highest-paying programs because of the NIL resources for their student-athletes.

Tech signed nine of the 19 ESPN.com Top 100 football transfers entering the Big 12 this fall, and when it comes to NIL spending, it’s clear the Red Raiders are all in.

“To the best that we can, we have tried to put ourselves somewhere in the middle,” Baker said. 

Baker admits his department’s current budgetary situation doesn’t afford him much flexibility, however.

“As I try to explain to our coaches sometimes, when you start off with a budget that’s in the lower third of the conference, anywhere that you spend at the middle of the conference is somewhere that you have to spend down at the bottom to balance it out,” he said. “All of the levers are connected.”

He continued.

“If we have a coach who has an extraordinary season, wins the conference, and they come in and say, ‘We finished first in the conference, and I’d like to be paid first in the conference.’ That’s a fair and reasonable ask. But what that means is somewhere else we’re dead last because all those levers are connected, and you are constantly and consistently assessing opportunities in all programs, understanding that it’s important that we try and have broad-based success, but also understanding that there are two programs (football and men’s basketball) that are profitable.

“You cannot put those two programs in a place where they can’t compete; that’s a non-starter,” he added.

As we move toward a more professionalized model for collegiate athletics, Baker believes it is possible to embrace the future while maintaining many of the traditional values to which fans have grown accustomed.

“This is different, and I know that change is not necessarily universally welcomed,” he admits. “Fans are getting to learn entirely new rosters. You look at our men’s basketball program and it’s been an entirely new roster for three consecutive years. That’s hard, and I recognize that, but if you go to practice, you will see people who are growing and developing as leaders through sports.

“They are having to mesh personal goals with team goals,” he continued. “They are having to take constructive criticism. They are getting picked up by their teammates and by their coaches and you are seeing people being developed as leaders through intercollegiate athletics. I still believe college athletics is one of the last remaining great systems to develop leaders.”

Baker used the example of his two daughters to drive home his point.

“I’m always amazed, but it’s like 70%, or maybe even higher, female CEOs today were former athletes, and I tell my kids all the time, it doesn’t have to be a certain sport, but by interacting in a setting that is similar to college athletics where you take constructive criticism, you have to get along with different personalities, it’s integral to your development as a person and to have a successful life,” he explained.

He maintains these things still exist in the current collegiate environment.

“Does it look different? Yes. Are we spending more time talking about the monetary value versus just being connected to an institution and its culture? Yes. Is the framework still the same? Can people still come here and care about West Virginia University, care about this state and develop as leaders while earning income? Yes, that can be done, and we’re working really, really hard to still have those core values in this new world.”

He concluded with a message to his coaches, “One of the challenges for our coaches is being the ambassadors of our culture. I think there is probably more of an onus now put on our coaches to be the ambassadors of our culture because of the continual churning of the rosters.”

 



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Reece Potter admits he did not believe Kentucky was reaching out to him

A lot of kids in the bluegrass who play basketball go on to dream of getting to play for Kentucky. When that moment came for Miami (OH) C Reece Potter in the NCAA Transfer Portal, though, he couldn’t believe it had happened for him. Potter discussed his portal recruitment, and the eventual involvement in it […]

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Reece Potter admits he did not believe Kentucky was reaching out to him

A lot of kids in the bluegrass who play basketball go on to dream of getting to play for Kentucky. When that moment came for Miami (OH) C Reece Potter in the NCAA Transfer Portal, though, he couldn’t believe it had happened for him.

Potter discussed his portal recruitment, and the eventual involvement in it from UK, while speaking to the media on Monday. He said he and his family initially didn’t think it was true when the Wildcats reached out, among other college programs, in the spring.

“It was kind of wild. So, you know, Coach Fueger messaged me and, when he reached out, I thought, like, I didn’t believe, like, Kentucky reached out to me,” Potter recalled. “I was like, this is kind of – I showed my dad. I was actually in Lexington. So, you know, I was like, dad, I think Kentucky just reached out to me? And he was like, nah, you’re lying, you know. You know, you have all the coaches that reach out to you once you hit the portal.”

However, if that wasn’t enough for the Potters, they must have realized how true it was when Mark Pope called in for him on a FaceTime. That’s when the unbelievable became believable for the in-state transfer.

“And then, I told them I was interested. And Coach Pope actually FaceTimed me. I was like, oh my. Like, Coach Pope is FaceTiming me. So, it was surreal,” said Potter. “I was very blessed to have that (happen).”

Potter, a Lexington native who played his high school basketball at Lexington Catholic less than 15 minutes off campus, would get mid-major interest in his recruitment, beginning his collegiate career by committing to Miami (OH). He appeared in 56 games, mostly as a reserve big, through two seasons with the Redhawks while averaging 6.3 points (45.4% FG, 39.8% 3PT), 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists.

Potter would go on to enter his name into the portal at the opening of the window in March. Then, after hearing from several programs, including the reported likes of even North Carolina, UConn, and Louisville, Potter would commit to Kentucky on April 5th after what was an under-the-radar recruitment by UK. That would make him one of six transfers, making up the No. 2 portal class per On3, incoming for the Wildcats going into a much-anticipated year two for Pope.

Potter is getting to live the dream, his own dream, now of an in-state player like himself after the Wildcats came calling. That’ll only get more real for him through this summer and fall going into his debut with the program in Rupp Arena come November.

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Auburn Unveils New Nike Uniforms in Video, Photos Before 2025 CFB Season

Two days after its apparel deal with Nike officially began, Auburn has unveiled its new football jerseys that will be used for the 2025 season. The Tigers showed off their Nike threads in a video and photos on social media: Under Armour had been the Tigers’ official apparel partner dating back to 2006, but the […]

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Two days after its apparel deal with Nike officially began, Auburn has unveiled its new football jerseys that will be used for the 2025 season.

The Tigers showed off their Nike threads in a video and photos on social media:

Under Armour had been the Tigers’ official apparel partner dating back to 2006, but the school announced in April 2024 it was making the switch to Nike starting with the 2025-26 academic year.

Auburn’s most recent nine-year deal with Under Armour that was signed in 2015 lost $8.6 million in value because it came with $10 million in UA stock to be paid out over the life of the agreement.

Per Eben Novy-Williams and Brendan Coffey of Sportico, the school’s bet on Under Armour continuing to grow right around the time it was trading at an all-time high price.

As the deal with Under Armour came to an end on July 1, Auburn posted a thank you video with the football team’s standout moments during the 18-year partnership between the two brands.

Financial details of the deal between Auburn and Nike are not publicly available. Matt Cohen of AL.com noted in May 2024 the contract was negotiated between Nike and Auburn’s athletics foundation, Tigers Unlimited, so it is not subject to public records.

With Auburn officially a Nike school now, it joins fellow SEC programs Alabama, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, Kentucky and Mississippi in wearing the Swoosh logo.



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Florida State Under Fire for NIL Era’s Dirty Secret

Florida State Under Fire for NIL Era’s Dirty Secret originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The most dangerous contract isn’t the one you read. It’s the one you’re told to trust. Over the past week, leaked details from Florida State’s proposed revenue-sharing agreements have raised eyebrows and alarms. Legal clauses that allow the university to unilaterally […]

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Florida State Under Fire for NIL Era’s Dirty Secret originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The most dangerous contract isn’t the one you read. It’s the one you’re told to trust.

Over the past week, leaked details from Florida State’s proposed revenue-sharing agreements have raised eyebrows and alarms. Legal clauses that allow the university to unilaterally extend a player’s contract, renegotiate deals after injury, and impose multi-thousand-dollar fines have been quietly circulating among athletes. The response from agents, lawyers, and insiders has been swift, according to CBS Sports.

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“That’s not normal.”

“That would never fly in pro sports.”

“They have all the leverage, and the terms go too far.”

But here’s the real issue: FSU didn’t invent this model. They just got caught.

And if we’re being honest, the number of programs drafting similarly aggressive terms, silently, systematically, and without public scrutiny, is likely higher than most fans (and players) would ever imagine.

Athletes fought for years to reach this moment. The NCAA settlement promised direct pay, institutional clarity, and a new chapter in player empowerment. For once, the system appeared to be moving in the right direction. But the moment schools gained permission to cut checks, they also began quietly writing their own rules and burying them in legalese.

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Florida State Seminoles helmet during the Spring Showcase at Doak S. Campbell Stadium.© Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Florida State Seminoles helmet during the Spring Showcase at Doak S. Campbell Stadium.© Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Florida State’s contract reportedly includes a clause that allows them to void or revise a deal if an athlete’s injury materially impacts their NIL value. Another gives the school the ability to extend a player’s contract without renegotiating, regardless of performance. Penalties for lost equipment or behavioral violations run as high as $2,500.

In theory, these protections serve the university. In practice, they put every athlete at risk of being turned into a line item on a risk management spreadsheet.

Imagine a wide receiver who earns his way into a starting role, only to get sidelined with a broken foot. Under these terms, his deal, once celebrated, can be restructured, devalued, or canceled outright. No agent. No union. No oversight. Just a document, signed in good faith, now turned against him.

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It’s hard to blame athletes. Most of them don’t have contract managers. Many don’t even have proper NIL reps. They’re often handed a document by someone they’re taught to trust and told, “This is standard.” That phrase, “this is standard,” might be the most quietly corrosive phrase in the entire NIL era.

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Here’s the truth: there is no standard. Not yet.

What FSU’s contract exposes isn’t just one school’s overreach. It is the systemic lack of accountability in college sports’ new financial ecosystem. Athletes are being told they’re professionals now. But professionals have agents, lawyers, and clauses designed to protect their interests. Most college athletes have a parent, a coach, and a pen.

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And this is where it gets messy: how many of these “partnerships” are actually one-sided power grabs dressed up as opportunity? If FSU’s contract terms hadn’t leaked, would anyone be asking questions? Would any athletes even know what they signed?

Because if this is what we know from one school’s draft, imagine what’s hidden in the fine print at the end.

This isn’t about whether Florida State is out of bounds.

It’s about the quiet erosion of trust happening behind closed doors, where contracts are crafted with the kind of language that assumes athletes won’t ask questions. Where leverage is baked into clauses, and the benefit of the doubt always tilts toward the institution.

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If this is the version that got leaked, what didn’t?

Schools aren’t just offering deals. They’re building systems to control outcomes. The very power athletes were promised is being repackaged and handed back in a form that looks official, but reads like a trap.

It’s not enough to say athletes are finally getting paid. Not if the price is autonomy. Not if the paperwork gives the school a way out and leaves the player holding nothing.

This is what the new era looks like when no one’s watching.

And now that we’ve seen a piece of it, we should start asking who else is hoping we don’t.

Related: How NIL Spending Is Reshaping College Football’s Competitive Landscape

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared.



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SEC teams brace for roster reckoning

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators Coach Billy Napier and his brethren have been bracing for a roster reckoning spurred by the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement. The landmark legislation went into effect Tuesday, but sweeping changes remained on the horizon, not yet at the doorstep. With fall camp scheduled to start at month’s end, Napier’s […]

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators Coach Billy Napier and his brethren have been bracing for a roster reckoning spurred by the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement.

The landmark legislation went into effect Tuesday, but sweeping changes remained on the horizon, not yet at the doorstep.

With fall camp scheduled to start at month’s end, Napier’s roster stands at 117 players — a dozen above the proposed future limit of 105.

“When we got the job, there were certain parameters around how you build your roster. We proceeded that way,” Napier said at the SEC spring meetings on May 28 in Destin. “I really like the group that we have. We’ve been fortunate to keep that group intact for the most part. … But if we’ve learned anything, it’s very fluid.

“So, play by the rules this year.”

Senior District Judge Claudia Wilken did not approve the settlement until June 6. A sticking point was including a provision to allow current walk-ons to receive a grandfather clause.

The reprieve is welcomed by coaches grappling with roster management in an era of the transfer portal, NIL and the College Football Playoff. While the delay buys time, it doesn’t allay long-term concerns about the impact of smaller rosters on player safety and practice efficiency.

Napier recalled a study indicating NFL franchises had an average of 119 players pass through their rosters, even though teams are limited 53 active players and up to 16 on a practice squad. A free-agent market provides a continual source of available players to replace those who are injured or underperforming.

“The biggest challenge from, from our perspective, is we don’t have access to a revolving roster situation during the season,” Texas A&M Coach Mike Elko said during the SEC Spring Meetings. “If it was 105 that could stay 105, it would be enough. The fear that we have is you get a rash of injuries in the NFL you go to the free-agent wire and you fix it.

“You get a rash of injuries for us, and there’s no out, there’s no option, there’s nothing you can do.”

Many have bemoaned the settlement’s impact on walk-ons, especially coaches who once were non-scholarship players themselves.

Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney walked on at Alabama as a wide receiver. Former Florida and South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp was a walk-on safety at Georgia, where he currently is a defensive analyst.

“I’m totally against eliminating walk-ons,” Swinney told the Orlando Sentinel last winter.

Swinney’s stance was philosophical and practical relative to roster size as much as personal to his experience.

“It’s enough to be able to play the games,” he said. “But in college football, to prepare guys properly with a 20-hour rule, to not be able to have the ability to have a practice squad at a minimum is going to be a challenge for a lot of people.”

Coaches initially worried walk-ons would be entirely fazed out. While some conferences could allow all 105 players to receive a scholarship, the SEC will permit 85 scholarship players and an additional 20 walk-ons.

“I didn’t like when it was initially presented,” Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin said. “There’s so many stories, whether it’s coaches in that room, great players that went on to be great NFL players that, as you start saying, well, if we don’t have that, then those don’t exist.

“It’s just a really cool part of a locker room.”

Yet, locker rooms will soon become less crowded.

The average roster size in 2024 was 128. UF at one point had 131 players.

Coaches have already whittled down their numbers, but avoided the larger cuts soon to come.

“We’ve been very honest with our guys,” Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said in late May. “We told them that they were free to go in the (transfer) portal. Some have looked out and realized that that’s not necessarily the grass is greener because there’s not a lot of opportunities. Everybody’s got a reduction of opportunities.”

Elko lamented the difficult choices, conversations and calculations he and his fellow coaches faced, but felt worse for the players impacted by legislation meant to help student-athletes.

The settlement set out to control costs and protect athletes as schools would begin to share revenue and increase scholarship funding to a tune of $20.5 million. Roster limits were seen as one way to manage transition amid an ever-changing financial model of college athletics, where football and men’s basketball fund nearly every other sport.

“It’s challenging. You’re trying to figure out your fall camp roster in late June and still don’t have clarity,” Elko said. “We’ve tried to be honest with the kids. But from their perspective, it’s even tougher. You’ve got 19-year-olds who don’t know if they’re part of the team. They’re left in limbo heading into the summer.”

As UF and other high-profile programs inch toward an uncertain future, the task of balancing a football roster is one of many issues facing college athletics as it adapts to a new reality of athlete compensation and legal accountability.

Napier and his fellow coaches can take a breath for now, but change is coming.

“We’ll proceed according to the settlement,” he said. “But I think it’s to be determined in the next couple of months or years where it goes.”



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Strange revenue-sharing setup for Florida’s chief rival draws Urban Meyer’s concern

Former Florida Gator coach Urban Meyer never had to deal with the NIL Era and was able to leverage things like getting players to the NFL when recruiting players. Since stepping away from coaching for good, money has turned into the name of game in recruiting. And while Florida’s NIL situation doesn’t quite match what […]

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Former Florida Gator coach Urban Meyer never had to deal with the NIL Era and was able to leverage things like getting players to the NFL when recruiting players. Since stepping away from coaching for good, money has turned into the name of game in recruiting.

And while Florida’s NIL situation doesn’t quite match what some of the big boys are able to do, including Meyer’s last school at Ohio State, it’s still way better than what FSU might be trying to get away with.

Urban Meyer calls out FSU for their revenue-sharing situation

With revenue sharing now the way of the land, schools are having to figure out how to distribute the extra money to players. CBS Sports ran a story last week highlighting FSU’s plan, and there are some doozies in it.

According to CBS:

“One clause, which CBS Sports has seen a copy of, allows the team to extend a player at the end of their contract unilaterally without having to negotiate with the player. Another section on team rules — common in most NIL or rev share deals — includes a maximum $2,500 fine on the first offense if a player loses team equipment such as a pair of cleats. The max fine for using a controlled substance for the first time is $1,000.

There’s another clause about things that would constitute a breach of contract. Among them is “illness or injury which is serious enough to affect the value of rights granted to the school.” The way it’s written allows Florida State to renegotiate or even cancel a player’s contract at its discretion after any sort of injury — among other potential liquidated damages provisions included as part of the contract — including those that happen on the football field.”

Appearing on The Triple Option, Meyer made the point that if this is actually the path the Seminoles try to take, they will never be heard from again in college football:

“I’ll make this statement if this is legit, this goes through, which I’m so skeptical, then the days of Florida State are numbered. It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It can’t happen. No chance.”

The flaw in FSU’s plan is that no five or four-star prospect is going to want to wind up in Tallahassee, knowing they have no bargaining power if they were to outperform their initial deal.

Combined with zero protections if a player gets injured, word will leak very quickly to look elsewhere.



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