NCAA versus The Colleges: An OU-Georgia Legal Redux?

Most college football fans older than, say, 40, have at least a fleeting memory of the time when the NCAA controlled college football rights, and limited just about everyone to no more than two national TV appearances annually.

That's right, two.

Not quite thirty years ago, the universities of Oklahoma and Georgia grew tired of the NCAA's control, having started to realize the untapped value in the commercial sale of TV broadcast rights. Eventually, attorneys for one (or both) schools made a revelation - that the NCAA's control over broadcast rights was never part of NCAA membership, and that control was a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The schools sued to get those rights back.

After some legal wrangling, the Supreme Court agreed, handing OU and Georgia a landmark victory in a case that quite literally reshaped the way college football is broadcast. The BCS itself, arguably, owes its very existence to the OU-Georgia lawsuit of not quite a generation ago.

Now, I can't help but wonder if a similar donnybrook is ahead, over what is arguably the purest expression of rights ownership - a university sports network.

This week, Texas launched its (in)famous Longhorn Sports Network, after a summer of arguing and fighting over the propriety of LHN carrying Texas high school football games. Members of the Big 12 screamed foul, pointing out a multitude of lesser promotional actions (such as showing a recruit on a scoreboard display) that have been nixed by the NCAA, meaning surely a television network can be held to no lower a standard.

For now, the Big 12 put its foot down (and, yes, I tried to say that without laughing), and told Texas, "no." And then the NCAA confirmed that ruling...and then, it didn't.

Almost without notice, the NCAA backtracked on that ruling, saying that ESPN could run "selected" high school highlights within its own content as partner for LHN. And I can't help but wonder what led to the NCAA's change of heart.

Methinks a flashback to OU-Georgia is part of their thinking.

If OU and Georgia successfully argued three decades ago that schools own their own broadcast rights, it doesn't take a great leap to say that no governing entity such as the Big 12 nor the NCAA can prevent Texas from exercising what it would argue were its First Amendment free speech rights - to broadcast on its own network anything it pleases.

It would start with Texas versus its own conference.

It would end with Texas versus the NCAA.

I'm no attorney, but my trick knee tells me that Texas would have a darned good chance to win that kind of fight. And if they did, there would be a free-for-all to follow regarding every other impingement of free speech  that has capped certain recruiting activities for years - all gone at the drop of a gavel, along with any significant pretense on the part of any other school that the NCAA had any real enforcement powers over, well, anything.

I think the NCAA's about-face on an absolute prohibition of high school football on LHN is a tip of the hat to a more fundamental fear; that as rapidly as college football is growing, with newer and more creative ways found by the most powerful schools to slide craftily around the rules amid those who simply disregard them, that the NCAA is becoming an anachronism, a tip-of-the-hat to a bygone era when college football really was college football.

If the shadows of conference realignment cast by Texas A&M show anything, they demonstrate how quickly college football could reorganize itself and gravitate into a sport where the schools representing the top, oh, 50 elite programs simply consolidate, bid the NCAA and its byzantine rules farewell, and play ball with their own playbook.

Don't laugh. Surely, the NCAA isn't.

Texas A&M to the SEC - Update

Update @ 9:13 PM CST: Sporting News is reporting that stories of A&M joining the SEC are "just not true." However, considering the other stories that have come out tonight, this "high ranking SEC" statement is consistent with what we've known - that there cannot be a formal announcement until August 22.

Moreover, the SN story quoted their source as saying that various other leaders within the conference must be contacted before a formal invitation could be extended, which makes perfect sense given the 11 days between now and the reported August 22 announcement date.

It's all still fluid, and could still go by the boards, but right now I still stand on the side of A&M leaving. I keep wondering if we're going to hear rumors about contingency plans for OU, Texas, and the rest of the "Not Even Close to 12" should the A&M defection happen. Stay tuned.


Update @ 8:03 PM CST: Lots of media rumors and stories, hard to separate original reporting from reports-on-other reports. Newest source of fairly reliable information is coming from Orangebloods.com, link here, which says that A&M regents will vote on an SEC membership issue on August 22, and nothing official can be discussed before then.

Now, obviously, all of this is very fluid, and tons of hype is flowing everywhere, so all of this is subject to change, but the rumbling continue to suggest that A&M really is going to the SEC.


Update @ 7:47 PM CST: According to the Texas A&M Rivals site, A&M is going to the SEC!!! I must admit that I'm stunned. Read their story here. If this proves true, it almost certainly spells the end of what's left of the Big 12, and who knows where the dominoes will fall. Only time will tell!!!

Rumors on the Internet are like flies around the tail of a Texas horse - frequent, annoying, and generally swatted away.

Yet one such rumor - that of Texas A&M moving to the SEC - was promoted to full-fledged credible gossip when A&M president R. Bowen Loftin issued a curious statement pledging that he will always "look after" the best interests of the University.

You can read the entirety of the quote here.

Rumors of A&M to the SEC started last year as talks of a mass migration of teams from the Big 12 to the Pac 10 gained steam. Just as the move seemed an inevitability, an eleventh-hour deal among "interested parties" funneled more revenue to the conference and putting the kibosh on the move. Now the talks are, supposedly, starting up again.

There's only one problem. The SEC isn't going to accept just one team. If the SEC is serious about inviting A&M, it makes sense they're just as serious about inviting another, as yet unnamed school to compliment the Aggies.

The question is simple: What other school is in the SEC's gunsites? The only two high-profile programs that would seem likely candidates from the remnants of the erstwhile Big 12 would be Texas and Oklahoma; yet Texas with its new Longhorn Network hardly seems a fit for the SEC and its new ESPN contract. Oklahoma could be a legitimate second candidate, but chances are the Sooners would not move without a package deal including Oklahoma State.

The bigger fish is out there. Common sense says it has to be, with A&M serving only as the lure. That means that, as the Aggies deal with the SEC, they would do well to tread very, very cautiously. Why? If the second team on the SEC's agenda falls through, prospective talks with the Aggies could end abruptly, leaving A&M nowhere to go but back to league it, apparently, desperately wants to leave.

Let the rumors fly.

Update: Some media outlets have pointed out that the ONLY place from which the A&M-to-the-SEC rumors seem to be originating is College Station. There's been no vibe or rumor from any SEC outlets or sources, which means this may all be nothing more than disgruntled saber rattling by the Aggies....and, as of 5:30pm CST Thursday, College Station continues to be the only place other than the media talking this issue...

To heck with the game, let's see your uniform!

There was quite a bit of buzz in the midwest leading up to Oklahoma State University's fall practice..not about the Pokes' new offensive coordinator, not about OSU's question marks at defensive tackle, but over something clearly becoming far more critical.

The uniforms.

Yeah, you read that right, uniforms.

Seems that the folks at Nike have decided to make Oklahoma State the "Oregon of the Southwest," and bestowing on the good kids at Stillwater more neon-infused color combinations of football uniforms than your local pizzeria has of cheese, veggies, and meat. And some of the colors are even actually part of Oklahoma State's official color scheme of orange and, uh, something.

This increasing obsession with the composition of the uniform raises the question, "So what?"

Having been a fan of college football for close to 40 years, I've never come across anything quite as particularly absurd as the obsession with the uniform. Gray helmets with bright orange pants. Black helmets with black pants. Orange pants with charcoal numbers and orange helmets. Glow-in-the-dark helmets with polka-dot pants.

Yeah, right.

In the broader context of college ball, who cares?

Does the running back run faster in a dark-colored jersey, or a light-colored one? Does the center snap the ball more quickly with a gray helmet instead of a white one? Does the wide receiver jump higher with white pants or green pants?

It is to boggle the mind.

I suppose the old axiom holds that any publicity is good publicity, but ultimately the game of college football is played and one on the field, not in the mirrored room of a fashion designer. I suppose the multiple permutations of uniforms gives athletic departments new sources of revenue for officially licensed merchandise, but it just seems a contrived issue designed to create news where there is none. Classic teams have a classic look. Teams with less tradition, I suppose, are looking for a "hook" to get them the notoriety they don't already have.

As for me, strap on the pads, put on the helmets, and get on with the game. Leave the designer permutations to the folks on "What Not to Wear."

Auburn: The Ecstasy and the Agony

Not quite seven months ago, Gene Chizik and the Auburn Tigers rode the Cam Newton Wave of Negative Publicity right into the BCS throneroom. Denying (or merely in denial) the rampant allegations that Newton's quarterback services were, essentially, auctioned off to the highest bidder, Auburn's powers-that-be made a decision that the opportunity for glory dwarfed the risk for scandal, and somehow (we leave the reader to fill in the details) persuaded Newton to head for the Tigers.

That was the Ecstasy.

Now, what stands to come is a long road of agony.

With the requisite caveats that nothing "official" has been proven, there's every reason to believe that an NCAA noose is heading Auburn's way. When the rumors of Newtongate first surfaced, some reports indicated that the mechanism Newton's inner circle allegedly used to solicit and receive payment also involved shady financial institutions and even casinos, all under scrutiny by federal officials. So abject was the scrutiny that the products of that federal probe supposedly even include recorded conversations that describe a vast array of corruption schemes. If those recordings truly exist, and if any of those schemes trace back to Auburn in general or Cam Newton in particular, prepare for the NCAA to send a punitive shock wave through the Tigers and college football.

Critics slammed the NCAA for its lack of aggressively pursuing and punishing Southern Cal for its involvement in a scheme to deliver improper benefits to Reggie Bush and his family. And the primary reason for that seeming distance was simple - the NCAA has no subpoena power to extract information from relevant players to prove their allegations. Investigators had to rely substantially on voluntary statements to reconstruct the web of deceit that led to one of the harshest penalties assessed on a football program since SMU received the death penalty some three decades ago.

But this Auburn case may prove to be drastically different, and that difference doesn't bode well for UA. The NCAA has been, in a word, petrified of the potential influence of organized crime and gambling into its sanctioned collegiate sports. The rumors of the mechanism that allegedly routed funds to Auburn football players include the alleged distribution of blank electronic funds cards from a casino, which the players could then take to the casino and cash in while leaving no trail. If that card scheme has drawn the attention of the federal government as a possible source of money laundering, and thus have conversations about its existence on wiretaps, the NCAA would, theoretically, have in its hand the smoking gun necessary to link casino gambling to a major college football team.

That's a recipe for a NCAA punishment hammer to come down on Auburn unlike any school before it. Under pressure to punish improper benefits, yet having scant evidence to punish some suspected offenders, the NCAA would be crazy not to make an example of Auburn if, in fact, the trail of hard evidence really leads to the Tigers' front door. And, of course, until the NCAA's knowledge is made public, everything remains "alleged."

Combine that with the fact that college oddsmaker Danny Sheridan came out this week with his own allegations that the Newton family employed a "bag man" to deliver the "winning" school's cash payment to Newton while giving the family plausible deniability, and further allege the system was apparently well established among recruiting circles, and it all starts to spell the beginning of what may be a very long, dark path for Auburn football.

Tis truly the Agony. And one will wonder if the Ecstasy will truly have been worth it - especially if the BCS title and Heisman trophy won as a result disappear from the record books.

And the rest of college football would do well to take notice.

Welcome to the ENDZONE REVIEW!!!!

Welcome to the INAUGURAL POST for the ENDZONE REVIEW!!!

Here we talk and post about all things FOOTBALL, although the author here tends to prefer COLLEGE football (particularly since, at this point, we technically have no NFL version). The hope here is to post no less than once per week, and hopefully much more frequently. Here are a few ideas we'll hit as we find ourselves a mere six weeks from football season:

* Big Ten: Pretenders to the national crown again?
* Texas: Big comeback ahead, or five wins in 2011?
* Big 12: That's more like *Castrated* 12, isn't it?
* Stanford: Can Luck carry the day without his lucky Harbaugh?

The idea here isn't just for me to post thoughts and keen insights, its to provoke thought and response from YOU. Join us every week, and we'll hope you join us here in the "EndZone!"