Transcript
Speaker: What's up, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Now It's Legal. I am your host, Jim Cavall, and today you're stuck with me. No guest. We're going to have a talk about where college athletics is at and where it's going, because a lot is going on.
Speaker: I'm gonna start doing this every few episodes because things are moving so fast. And if you're an athlete, a parent, you need to understand this. And I'm gonna try to explain it in the simplest possible form. If you're a college athletics leader, you need to understand this and the choice that you have, because that choice may determine whether we're back here again in the near future with another case that's being settled.
Speaker: If you are a fan, you need to understand this because you might feel like the athletes are the problem here. I've heard people say that and they're now. So let's get into, first off, what's happening at eye level. Caps are being put on athletes in regard to their experience and what they get to be a college athlete.
Speaker: for a long time, scholarships and some of the other benefits you get as a college athlete have been looked at as enough. And they're very valuable. A scholarship is extremely valuable. What you can do with a degree is extremely valuable, but also the benefits that you get and the experience you get playing, especially at a power conference institution is tough to match.
Speaker: But the pie has continuously gotten bigger. I'm talking about billions and billions of dollars bigger over the past couple of decades. And as the pie has gotten bigger, the slices that go to the athletic director and their staff, the coaches and their staff has gotten bigger as well.
Speaker: The slice that goes into facilities and equipment and different things that can attract athletes to come to a school has also gotten bigger. The slice that goes to the athletes has really stayed the same and thus is smaller in that bigger pie. And that slice is, of course, what I just mentioned, scholarship and benefits.
Speaker: And so there are a lot of cases that have to do with the caps of the size of that slice of the pie that athletes are getting. Cases like House versus the NCAA, Carter versus the NCAA, Johnson versus the NCAA. I can keep going. There's also a lot of National Labor Relations Board cases.
Speaker: All these cases have to do with different ways athletes are being capped. The case that has the biggest number dollar amount tied to it is the House versus NCAA case. It's a $4 .2 billion in damages amount. And it's all about revenue sharing. As the revenue is grown and boomed in college athletics up to about a $20 billion a year industry, the athletes don't get to share it.
Speaker: And this case will create a settlement probably this year, probably in the coming weeks. And that settlement will probably be for a little less than 4 .2 billion. Let's call it 2 .5 to 3 billion. And that money will go to a class of athletes from 2016 through the present who played sports and helped produce revenue and didn't get paid for it. There'll also be what's called an injunctive class. The injunctive class is current athletes and athletes in the future.
Speaker: and terms will be set for schools to be able to start sharing revenue with these athletes. But the reality is when the settlements announced, it's the beginning of a clock. The clock starts in really what is the game that will set the stage for the future of college athletics.
Speaker: about a nine month clock, let's call it. Those nine months from when this settlement gets initiated to let's call it next May will be the opportunity for college athletics leaders at the school and conference level to involve their athletes in agreeing to the terms of the future of college athletics.
Speaker: whether it's revenue sharing or whether it's other things that athletes should have the opportunity to speak into, such as transfer rules, practice time per week, length of the season, how many games they play, you name it. Post -grad medical coverage, mental health resources.
Speaker: All of those things have been decided by the schools and their leaders for a long time without the athletes. But now there is an opportunity once the settlements initiated for the schools to involve the athletes in that conversation and the athletes to be able to advocate and negotiate for themselves to get the very best terms from how much money is shared with them down through all the other things I just mentioned.
Speaker: If the leaders in college athletics don't involve the athletes in the setting of those terms, it's a can kick down the road.
Speaker: we will have more lawsuits and we'll be right back here. However, if they do involve the athletes, there's a chance to have a deal that's agreed to by the athletes that can be protected so we don't live in the courts, but we can actually have new rules with revenue sharing and other standards set that can be governed by the NCAA or the conferences that these schools play in.
Speaker: This is really important and it's applicable to each audience that I mentioned at the beginning of this episode. If you're an athlete or parent and you're a current athlete or a soon -to -be college athlete, you need to educate yourself on this.
Speaker: Before you agree to any terms, you need to make sure that you and your teammates have a vote and a seat at the table to decide what those terms are. The only way to do that is to have an organization that you're a part of that can educate you, that can have you in a group that helps you get to the table to negotiate and set the terms from your perspective. And that's what athletes .org will allow you to do.
Speaker: If you go to athletes .org, you'll see it. That's what we've built. That's what more than 3 ,000 athletes have signed up for today. If you're a college athletics leader, you have a choice to make. You can do nothing. Let this play out. Let the others figure it out. That's what college athletics leaders have done for a long time, which is how we got here. Or you can get in front of this.
Speaker: You can allow your athletes to be educated on this. You can empower them to be educated on this. And you can allow for your athletes to sit at the table and have a perspective that they share and negotiate with you on for each of these categories from revenue sharing down through the others. And you can involve them in the terms you set at your institution or through your conference.
Speaker: That's the choice. And there's a lot of leaders I talk to regularly who are starting to embrace that route, which is very encouraging to the work we're doing at athletes .org. But there's also a lot of leaders who don't think that that's necessary. Maybe they think that Congress is going to swoop in and save the day by protecting everything that's going to be set by these terms. Maybe they think the settlement and the protection clauses in the settlement are enough, but it's not likely.
Speaker: The only sustainable future for college athletics is a future where the new deal is done between the athletes and the schools and conferences they play for. And is solidified through an organization that not only empowers the current athletes to go do that deal, but can be the organization to allow all of the new athletes as they become freshmen to come into to continue to speak into that deal every time it's up.
Speaker: That's how pro sports work. That's how American labor works. And that eventually is how college athletics is going to work. And for fans understand that the athletes didn't create this. The people in leadership have not been proactive and instead have let these things play out in a way that has got us to today. And hopefully they won't do that in a way that prevents us from a sustainable future tomorrow.
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed this. If you're a parent or athlete, share it with other parents and athletes. Of course, go to athletes .org and educate yourself. Join our organization. You can even be a team rep for your team, which allows you to have a vote and really be empowered with the terms that are going to be set with the new deal of college athletics. If you're a college athletics leader,
Speaker: Continue to connect with me if you're already doing so. If you haven't, connect with me because I want to talk about this. I want to help your athletes get to the table. And if you are a fan, continue to talk about this on social and support the athletes in any way that you can.
Speaker: I'm Jim Cavall, and this is a special edition of Now It's Legal. I hope you're subscribed. Make sure you do so on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts or YouTube. And of course, follow us on Instagram at Now It's Legal Pod, where you can get clips of new episodes. We've got a lot of exciting guests coming from head coaches at the college level to former college athletes, current college athletes. Exciting lineup for the rest of the summer. Until next time, thanks for tuning in.
