The chaos in college football continues to unfold in a variety of ways.
Beyond the mess the NCAA has created by allowing coaches to be poached during a given team’s season (which is objectively insane), the ongoing effort to solve the NIL/transfer portal problem by begging Congress for an antitrust exemption has done nothing to restore order to the sport.
Most recently, Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. agreed to an NIL deal with the Huskies for 2026 before declaring his intention to enter the transfer portal. Amid threats of litigation, Williams decided on Thursday night to stay put.
It didn’t end that way last month for defensive end Damon Wilson II, who has sued the Georgia athletic association for allegedly attempting to penalize him for deciding to transfer. The lawsuit came after arbitration was sought against Wilson when he agreed to return to Georgia, signed an NIL deal, and then changed his mind.
The universities and those who fund the NIL payments don’t want to recognize the players as employees, but they want to be able to treat them that way when it suits their interests. The better approach would be for the players to organize a nationwide union, and for the schools to not fight the effort tooth and nail.
A multi-employer bargaining unit would give the college football programs the same antitrust exemption the NFL has, allowing for the creation of clear rules regarding transfers, payments, and other terms that would eliminate the Wild West vibe the sport now has. The problem, however, is that the schools don’t want the things that would come with having clear, specific rules regarding player movement.
A union would be able to fight for player rights, well beyond the money. Real limits on contact in practice and the non-stop offseason conditioning drills. Reduction in, if not elimination of, fully-padded two-a-days. Enforceable limits on the amount of time the players devote to their jobs. Oversight of coaches who lord over their programs like dictators.
College football coaches have full control of the players on the roster. They won’t be willing to give up any of it in exchange for getting the NIL/transfer portal dynamics under control.
That’s the problem in a nutshell. The colleges (and the coaches) want to have it both ways. They want to limit player pay and mobility without giving them anything in return.
And that’s why Congress shouldn’t fall for the sky-is-falling routine, championed by the likes of Nick Saban, Donald Trump, and Cody Campbell.
If they want players to behave like employees in some ways, they have to be willing to treat them like employees in all ways. Of course, the folks in charge of the sport will never put it that way.
Not as long as there’s a chance to get what they want without having to give anything up. The sooner they stop trying to scam the players with one-way antitrust exemption, the sooner the sport will have the same kind of structure and order that the NFL does.
