With one three-page letter, Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton may have single-handedly foiled months of planning by collegiate athletics to police bogus NIL and other forms of revenue-sharing compensation with athletes.
Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger published this update on college athletics’ efforts to legislate their own morality.
First some background: The newly formed Collegiate Sports Commission was created by the power leagues following the House vs. NCAA Settlement to police the new cap by prohibiting phony booster-backed, third-party compensation.
To provide a level of legal protection for the CSC to levy the policies and penalties without fear of litigation from an offending institution, it was agreed the CSC would send a participation agreement that had to be signed by all members of the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC to be enforceable.
The agreement outlined new policies and penalties related to revenue sharing, which was the byproduct of the NCAA’s settlement of three antitrust cases, commonly referred to as House. Specifically, stiff sanctions were outlined for “violating the cap through circumventing tacts, including traditional booster collective pay, and the intentional redirecting of corporate sponsor and apparel monies to rosters,” Dellenger wrote.
If all schools unanimously signed the agreement, the CSC would be empowered to begin enforcement of the rules using a work-in-progress list of penalties, including: “a limited postseason ban, financial fines on coaches, administrators and the school itself, withholding of conference and NCAA revenue distribution, the loss of postseason revenues and, perhaps most notably, reductions in the amount of transfers.”
Paxton implores schools not to sign
Paxton’s letter was sent to the seven power conference universities in Texas imploring the schools not to sign the CSC’s agreement to bind the 68 power league programs together under enforcement rules and to waive their right to sue over infractions decisions.
Paxton raises concerns about the requirement to waive legal action, which grants the CSC authority to penalize programs without a legitimate option for appeal, as well as acquiescing to “unnamed policies.”
Paxton is also concerned about the agreement’s “avenue of arbitration in exchange for not filing legal challenges against the CSC,” and because Texas public universities are prohibited by state law from agreeing to arbitration.
“CSC clearly seeks to coerce compliance with its rules and limit a (school’s) means of redress if dissatisfaction arises for any reason,” Paxton writes, in a letter Dellenger noted was “expected to be distributed to other state attorneys general as well.”
Texas Tech’s general counsel implored changes to the agreement in a letter distributed across the Big 12 this weekend, and advised the Tech board not to sign the agreement. Dellenger noted that other universities — especially private schools — do not intend to sign the agreement without modifications.
The CSC wanted to have the agreement completed weeks ago and signed ahead of National Signing Day on Dec. 3.
The delay and pushback jeopardizes the enforcement arm and leaves the door open to circumvent the “quasi-salary cap” in college athletics.
“Without legal protection — or a congressional bill — lawsuits threaten to erode the CSC’s new policies in a similar way to the crumbling of NCAA rules and regulations,” Dellenger writes.
According to Dellenger, “Congressional lawmakers in the House are expected to vote on the SCORE Act, the college sports legislation that grants the NCAA and conference wishes of legal protections to enforce their rules. However, the SCORE Act, though expected to pass the House, will be met with resistance in a U.S. Senate where at least seven Democrats are needed for adoption of the bill.”
In the meantime, expect the CSC and the 68 power conference members and their attorneys and attorneys general to be burning the midnight oil in an effort to legislate morality. Letter to Texas universities
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