Change is coming, I'm afraid. Louisville is mentioned. Speculation is that some conferences will allow Wild Wild West compensation. Others will not. NCAA opposes of course.
"Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick took it to another level.
"It would be fascinating," Swarbrick told CBS Sports. "It would be a disaster … but fascinating. I think there is a very significant chance that ruling would produce a new wave of conference realignment."
Using Swarbrick's suggestion, if the Alston plaintiffs win, conferences could reorganize around like-minded schools with the same spending philosophy toward athletes if scholarship restrictions go away.
The SEC would conceivably be all in, willing to spend whatever it would take to compensate players and win them away from rivals. The likes of Stanford and Duke? Not so much.
Almost 3 ½ years ago, Swarbrick hinted at major-college membership that divided itself between academically-minded and athletically-minded. As one powerful administrator suggested, you could even envision a certain payback headed the ACC's way.
If the plaintiffs win and realignment strikes away, Clemson and Florida State could conceivably lean more toward the SEC's spending philosophy than that of the ACC. Those two football programs look more like the SEC's version of traditional Southern powerhouse.
"Most of the rest of the ACC would say no [to that spending philosophy]," explained an administrator who did not wish to be identified. "It's less economic than it is cultural. … There's a chance this [trial] will be a catalyst for that."
One Power Five commissioner has already told CBS Sports of the Alston trial: "I think we're going to lose."
While the NCAA would likely appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, it doesn't mean the issue would be dead. In fact, experts agree players will eventually be further compensated in some form -- if not through this suit, then through others that are waiting in the pipeline.
But does that hasten the next wave of realignment that is hovering over the sport one way or another?
"Most conferences, excluding the SEC, I'm not sure could gain consensus around a model [of compensation]," Swarbrick said.
udge Wilken has indicated in the proceedings she might be agreeable to conferences finding compensation levels on their own.
The NCAA continues to assert athletics are merely a component of an overarching educational experience. The Alston plaintiffs compete for athletes in several ways -- highly paid coaches, palatial facilities -- but none of that money goes to directly to the athletes.
"One of my favorite stories about the ways they spend money is the Louisville facility has retinal scanners," Berri said. "You know they did that because they could. It doesn't make any difference whatsoever to anybody. We have this pool of money available, and we just arbitrarily decide we're not going to pay the people that are generating that."
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...usher-in-new-round-of-conference-realignment/
"Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick took it to another level.
"It would be fascinating," Swarbrick told CBS Sports. "It would be a disaster … but fascinating. I think there is a very significant chance that ruling would produce a new wave of conference realignment."
Using Swarbrick's suggestion, if the Alston plaintiffs win, conferences could reorganize around like-minded schools with the same spending philosophy toward athletes if scholarship restrictions go away.
The SEC would conceivably be all in, willing to spend whatever it would take to compensate players and win them away from rivals. The likes of Stanford and Duke? Not so much.
Almost 3 ½ years ago, Swarbrick hinted at major-college membership that divided itself between academically-minded and athletically-minded. As one powerful administrator suggested, you could even envision a certain payback headed the ACC's way.
If the plaintiffs win and realignment strikes away, Clemson and Florida State could conceivably lean more toward the SEC's spending philosophy than that of the ACC. Those two football programs look more like the SEC's version of traditional Southern powerhouse.
"Most of the rest of the ACC would say no [to that spending philosophy]," explained an administrator who did not wish to be identified. "It's less economic than it is cultural. … There's a chance this [trial] will be a catalyst for that."
One Power Five commissioner has already told CBS Sports of the Alston trial: "I think we're going to lose."
While the NCAA would likely appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, it doesn't mean the issue would be dead. In fact, experts agree players will eventually be further compensated in some form -- if not through this suit, then through others that are waiting in the pipeline.
But does that hasten the next wave of realignment that is hovering over the sport one way or another?
"Most conferences, excluding the SEC, I'm not sure could gain consensus around a model [of compensation]," Swarbrick said.
udge Wilken has indicated in the proceedings she might be agreeable to conferences finding compensation levels on their own.
The NCAA continues to assert athletics are merely a component of an overarching educational experience. The Alston plaintiffs compete for athletes in several ways -- highly paid coaches, palatial facilities -- but none of that money goes to directly to the athletes.
"One of my favorite stories about the ways they spend money is the Louisville facility has retinal scanners," Berri said. "You know they did that because they could. It doesn't make any difference whatsoever to anybody. We have this pool of money available, and we just arbitrarily decide we're not going to pay the people that are generating that."
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...usher-in-new-round-of-conference-realignment/
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