"A guy like [former Bama quarterback] Bryce Young, who had several national commercials, they didn’t come from a collective. They were because he created a brand for himself, which is what name, image and likeness was supposed to be. “And I think that should still exist for all players, but not just a pay-for-play system like we have now where whoever raises the most money in their collective can pay the most for the players, which is not a level playing field. I think in any competitive venue, you want to have some guidelines that gives everyone an equal opportunity to have a chance to be successful.”
“Now, we just have the state legislation — and every state is different — that would protect the NCAA from litigation once we establish guidelines for the future of college athletics. But the litigation is what got us to this point right now,” he said. "We have to have some protection from litigation. I don’t know if it’s antitrust laws or whatever.
"I’m not versed enough on all that to really make a recommendation. But I know we need some kind of federal standard and guidelines that allows people to enforce their own rules.
“You go to college to create value for your future, and I want the quality of life for student-athletes to be the best it can be. And I think they should have a seat at the table. And I think they should share some of the revenue. But I think it needs to be equal across the board so that a school that can afford more can’t create an advantage for themselves just because they have more money to spend. But I’m all for student-athletes. I want student-athletes to have the best quality of life.”
Saban also touched on the latest move for pay-for-play by the Dartmouth men’s basketball players after they voted to unionize in an attempt to become school employees.
I agree there needs to be the ability to earn income while going to school. I was a custodian at the MTC while attending BYU. I could earn the pay for how many hours I wanted to work. However, you say you want equal opportunity. If the pay is equal across the board with all players, that isn’t equal opportunity. That is social equity better known as Marxism. So, what is the answer and still retain capitalism and the right to own your property which includes NIL? That’s a serious question and not an accusation. Go ahead and accuse me anyway
The NCAA did this to itself–decades of corruption at HQ, selective enforcement, ridiculously harsh penalties for small stuff and a blind eye to the big stuff. The NCAA spends over $50 MILLION A YEAR on legal fees to protect the pompous egomaniacs running it while trying to make the players look like a bunch of greedy criminals. And the NCAA did it while burning BILLIONS of dollars of funds to make the leadership live like kings. In the end everyone hated the king, then came the lawsuits, and now the king is dead. But there is no leader ready to take the mantle.
I’m not sure what can ever be done about Pay To Play (that’s what NIL is now, plain and simple, like Coach Saban said). The second thing that blew the lid off–transfer rules-- never had to happen if the NCAA had done just two things: 1) anyone could transfer one time without sitting out a year, and 2) if a coach quit or got fired, any player on the roster could have a free transfer and play immediately anywhere else.
Every corporation pays millions to combat litigation because of too many lawyers. Too many ambulance chasers. It’s also in personal litigation with women attaching athletes, actors and Presidents for their perverse lives. Dang unscrupulous lawyers.
NCAA is still “king” enough that they could enact these rules… and definitely should…just to regain some level of buy in…though I think like the NRA with its fire-arms-training programs it doesn’t appear to me that there are any preternder to the throne that could reasonably assume the mantle…so the old king must reform and do what they do best…NRA training and information disbursement, NCAA run champtionship tournaments and a basic set of rules that the non-money sports can live by.
