A number of hot topics are swirling around college football as the first full weekend of the 2023 season approaches this weekend.
In addition to discussing his team’s season-opening opponent North West, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano tackled three of the most pressing discussions surrounding sports during its weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Here’s what he said about…
Revenue sharing
Name, image and likeness (NIL) reigns supreme in college football today, with the recent rule change that allows players to receive compensation by selling autographs and appearing in advertisements sparking a seismic shift in the sport over the past two offseasons. It’s a problem that every coach in the country has had to deal with, with many coming up with creative solutions to deal with the inevitable progression of paid players.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was the latest – and perhaps most important – to share his thoughts on a concrete resolution this week, advocating for “a revenue sharing system with student-athletes” in a monologue lasting almost six minutes Monday.
The key part:
When student-athletes call it a game, business people call it a business. When student-athletes call it a business, business people call it a game. I know Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said, and I quote, “I think decision-making s t is misguided in terms of focusing on the student-athlete and what is best for them first and foremost. But we are where we are. We have to try to make this work. And that’s what we do: we have to try to make it work. We must try to improve it and now. The current status quo is unacceptable and will not survive.
In my opinion, when we capitalize on talent, we should compensate them for their contribution to the bottom line. Football has evolved since its inception and began to change dramatically in the 1970s. At that time, one match per week was televised. Today, all matches from the 12 weeks of the regular season are broadcast. In major conferences, every game is nationally televised in front of millions of homes and sold-out stadiums every Saturday.
Why wouldn’t we let student-athletes share in the success of their sport?
And we should all prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. I demand a system that is fair, equitable and benefits everyone involved. Don’t exclude student-athletes from benefits.
In my opinion, you can’t say you stand for diversity, equity, and inclusion if you aren’t willing to include student-athletes in revenue sharing. And it is a short-sighted view of history to assume that a revenue-sharing system would overturn the current structure.
Schiano has shared his thoughts on the topic of player compensation several times over the past few years, but he wouldn’t delve into his thoughts Tuesday, saying he wanted to “focus on Northwestern, because it’s why we are here today. »
“But I think it’s known: I think players should be paid for 20 years now, so it’s not new,” he said. “I think we missed the boat some time ago and we need to fix it.”
Earlier this summer, Schiano perhaps took an even more radical stance than Harbaugh. During an appearance in “Next up with Adam Brenaman” podcast, Schiano advocated for allowing college players to unionize.
There has to be an overall plan for this thing. I have no problem, and I know I’ll get in trouble for saying this, but people are worried about “players wanting to unionize.” Let them unionize. I think it would be great. Then we have a collective agreement, we have a salary cap, there are rules. People say “what?” You can not do this. I understand. This is college athletics and people loved college athletics for its “purity,” different from professional sports. But these guys – not in every program – but there are a lot of programs where guys are making a ton of money. He is a professional athlete. They don’t pay this money to this man because he has a nice name, a nice picture, a photo or a likeness; they pay him because he’s a very good football player and that’s what attracts people. You can say it’s not compensation for playing – well, that same guy, if he didn’t play football, he wouldn’t have charged that kind of fee. This is how it is, in essence. I think we all need to understand: the train has left the station. Now how can we deal with this? How to keep the train on the tracks? Because it could go outside the box and be a real waste and embarrassment for an institution called college football that has been so favored in this country. I would hate to see the game skip tracks. So who will do it? We need to. We need to take control of it and make sure it doesn’t get out of control.
Injury report
The Big Ten announced Friday that it would “initiate a student-athlete availability report for all football competitions during the 2023 season,” which requires all teams to submit an injury report no later than two hours before kickoff at the league office. Violations of the policy will be “subject to disciplinary action under the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy.”
Like most college football coaches, Schiano is protective of injury information, so it was no surprise to see him defer to the new protocol when asked Tuesday about his team’s health. team coming out of training camp. But he believes it’s a good first step.
“I think we will now look at (the report),” Schiano said. “Two hours before kickoff will be the norm in the Big Ten, which I think is a good start. I really think we should do more. We need to make sure we protect student-athletes. As the game grows, this information becomes very valuable. Hopefully we start here and it grows. From my experience in the National Football League, I think they do a good job of that, in the way they put out information. I don’t know if we should do it like them, but I think Commissioner (Tony) Pettiti is absolutely right. We’re launching this project and we’re continuing to grow and I think we’ll be a leader that way.
First down rule change
In spring, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee Approves Subtle Rule Change it’s already the talk of college football after Week 0 action last weekend. For the first time since the 1967 season, the clock will continue to run when a team takes a first down on a play that ends inbounds, rather than the usual protocol of stopping until the chains are bets and the referee signals that he is ready to play, with the exception of the last two minutes of the second and fourth quarters.
Early results show the rule change reduces the game by three offensive possessions between the two teams, by SportsSourceAnalyticswhich won’t make much difference in Schiano’s eyes.
“I think you’re just going to have fewer games,” Schiano said. “What I’ve read and seen is (this has led to) fewer possessions overall, which obviously means fewer plays. How does that affect our game? We both play to the same rules, so I think it will be (negligible). It won’t have a big impact on the game. It will just be what it is.
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Brian Fonseca can be contacted at [email protected].
