College football continues to experience the chaos it deserves.
Thanks to decades of blatant antitrust violations that limited actors to an education that didn’t match the value they brought to their school, the model has collapsed in recent years — thanks to a series of slam lawsuits dunk attacking independent student habit. corporations come together under the auspices of the NCAA to rig and cap labor spending.
The latest chaos comes from the apparent collapse of the transfer portal. After Wisconsin refused to allow cornerback Xavier Lucas to enter the portal, he left school and transferred to Miami.
The NCAA, apparently learning lessons from several failed antitrust cases, has opened the door to transfers beyond the portal’s parameters.
“NCAA rules do not prevent a student-athlete from deregistering from one institution, enrolling at a new institution and compete immediately” the NCAA said in a statement to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.com.
This is another way of saying that the transfer portal means nothing. That players have the same freedom as students to change schools, whenever they wish.
Taken to the extreme, could an Ohio State player transfer to Notre Dame before Monday night’s championship game, and vice versa? If “immediately” means immediately, maybe that’s the case.
There’s really no solution to the free market experience now available to those who previously played for free. And there are only two ways to restore order at this point. First, lobby Congress to create a national framework for compensating college athletes and tying them to schools under specific contract terms. Second, welcome a union that would operate as a multi-employer bargaining unit, with a full collective bargaining agreement that creates the same type of rules that apply to professional athletes.
This is the best result. Because they are professional athletes. The sooner the NCAA and its members definitively turn the page on the corrupt system they have always upheld, the better off everyone will be.
