Saturday: A New World Order

ESPN reported yesterday that the SEC and Big Ten are joining to form an exploratory advisory committee to determine the future of college sports.

That’s big. Like as big as it gets in college sports.

The two heavyweights of college sports are officially prepping to leave the NCAA.

So where do we go from here?

I truly don’t know. Like everyone else, I can pontificate what it should be - 48 teams? 64? - but I don’t know the exact answer.

The key question I have is this:

What is the financial model between player, team and league going to be?

Does college football follow the NFL model of financial parity? That’s unlikely because the Big Ten and SEC have already struck their own media deals. But there could be some abbreviated form of it that makes sense.

Or do we see more of a Major League Baseball model where there’s a salary cap but teams can go over it if they want. That’s a move that would allow there to be a Yankees and Dodgers of college football, which frankly seems kind of on point. There’s not a ton of parity in college football today and that’s part of what makes it interesting.

I don’t know which way this will go. But the model they construct will be the biggest question of all because it will determine what CFB looks like for generations to come.

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If you’re interested in this topic further, I highly recommend reading the report of Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger. The report yesterday included interviews with the commissioners of both leagues on this very topic.

I have linked that report below for those who want to read.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sec-big-ten-uniting-to-tackle-pervasive-issues-in-college-athletics--pressures-are-mounting-172832810.html