College football continues to experience the chaos it deserves.
Thanks to decades of blatant antitrust violations that limited players to an education that didn’t begin to match the value they brought to their school, the model has collapsed in recent years — thanks to a stream of slam-dunk lawsuits attacking the habit of independent businesses coming together under the umbrella of the NCAA to rig, and to cap, labor expenses.
The latest chunk of chaos comes from the apparent collapse of the transfer portal. After Wisconsin refused to allow cornerback Xavier Lucas to enter the portal, he left the school and transferred to Miami.
The NCAA, which apparently has learned the lessons of multiple failed antitrust cases, has thrown the door open for transfers beyond the parameters of the portal.
“NCAA rules do not prevent a student-athlete from unenrolling from an institution, enrolling at a new institution and competing immediately,” the NCAA said in a statement to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.com.
That’s another way of saying the transfer portal doesn’t mean a thing. That players have the same freedom that students have to switch schools, whenever they want.
Taken to its extreme, could an Ohio State player transfer to Notre Dame before Monday night’s championship game, and vice-versa? If “immediately” means immediately, maybe so.
There’s really no solution to the free market experience now afforded to those who previously paid for free. And there are only two ways to restore order at this point. One, lobby Congress to create a national framework for paying college athletes and binding them to schools for specific contract terms. Two, welcome a union that would operate as a multi-employer bargaining unit, with a full-blown Collective Bargaining Agreement that creates the same kind of rules that apply to professional athletes.
That’s the best outcome. Because they are professional athletes. The sooner the NCAA and its members fully and completely turn the page for good on the corrupt system they’ve always maintained, the better off everyone will be.
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