A wave of reports last week led to two clear pieces: (1) a sports commission from the presidential college arrives; and (2) The former coach of Alabama (and the State of Michigan and LSU and Miami Dolphins), Nick Saban, will probably serve as co -president.
Saban approached the subject for the first time on Wednesday, apparently With Paul Finebaum d’Espn.
“Well, first of all, I don’t know much about the Commission,” said Saban. “Second, I’m not sure that we really need a commission. I think you know, many people know exactly what are the problems in university football and exactly what we need to do to repair them. I think the key to the exercise is to bring people together so that we can move it forward.”
Despite his reluctance on the need for a commission, Saban has never said that he refuses to serve.
Whatever its role, its program is clear: less money paid to players, more money preserved by schools.
“I am not opposed to players who earn money,” said Saban. “I Don’t Want Anybody to Think That. I Just Think the System that We’re, you know, the way it’s gooy night, it’s not sustainable and probably not in the best interest of the Student-Athletes across the Board, or the game itself. The Brand and the Competitive Advantages and Disad more that Are Being Created Right Now, and I think we can fix all that, but i think we know to do it, and i think not just me, but a lot of people.
As usual, the presumption of Saban and those from its point of view is that university football is broken. From the point of view of the players, who benefit from unprecedented compensation and unlimited restrictions on their mobility, no one claims that a fix is necessary.
The predictable position of Saban associates with the perception / reality that the colleges seek to have them in both directions, by: (1) the creation of a set of rules which restrict the rights of remuneration and transfer of players; and (2) avoid playing the employees that they are obviously.
“I do not think that it is in the interest of players to be necessarily employees, and I think that the name, the image and the authentic resemblance is good for the players, but I do not think that paying for the game is necessarily what we want,” said Saban.
First of all, who is Saban to speak if something is in the interest of the players? Players can and should talk about themselves.
Second, when Saban says he doesn’t believe that “paying for the game is necessarily what we want”, who is the “we”? (It is certain that hell is not those which would be paid to play.)
“I mean, what is university?” Said Saban. “You know, we have all gone to the university to create value for our future, and I think we want to keep a semblance of this in terms of guys becoming and develop as people and students and development occur (ING) outside the field, as well as to develop the ability to play at the next level. You must therefore have a system that improves the three. ”
It is good, if a high percentage of university players reaches the upper level. They don’t.
In simple terms, university football players specialize in football. But the placement rate in most schools is ridiculously low. Even in the main professional football factories, most players do not earn money in the NFL.
So why not let them be paid while they can, especially when they create millions of values? Why restrict their ability to maximize their income at a time when their gain capacity is high? And why prevent them from going from a program where they will not play a program where they are? More than anything else, playing opposite not to play improves the capacity of a player to play at the next level.
The whole situation is zero for the players. And the correction which will be designed by the federal government will probably harm their wider interests, not to help them.
This will not matter if the Commission does not represent their interests fairly – and if those who clearly want to help schools (like Saban) will be able to claim without opposition or examination of what they think that the best interests of the players are or should be.
