Here is why players signing memorabilia is a big deal to the NCAA.

Tonight I will have a skype-in NNR after Moohead around 6PM EDT. Skype me at willsmithdsn to participate.

Clearly the NCAA views an athlete being paid to sign memorabilia is one of the biggest sins in any NCAA sport. When a QB steals crab legs he gets a half game suspension. When he spews obscenities in public, he gets a full game suspension. Even when a player is accused of sexual assault the NCAA seems to turn the other cheek. But when someone is paid for signing memorabilia, the NCAA comes down hard.

The answer is simple. There is no more greedy or selfish an organization in the world than the NCAA. They are so upset when an athlete is paid for anything because it takes money out of their pockets. The NCAA needs to be knocked down several pegs to become what it claims to be—the portal to allow even playing field for amateur sports. But somewhere it lost its way. It has become a focused on growing its power and income.

The growth of super conferences will eventually take the power and money away from the NCAA. The Big 5 power conferences don’t need the NCAA. The sooner Read more at FryingPanSports

Now is time for Ohio State to leave the Little 10!

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On Dec. 5 2013 I asked the question was it time for Ohio State to leave the Big 10. I wrote “All we have heard since the middle of the 2013 season was that Ohio State had no business being part of the BCS Championship discussion.  “They don’t play anybody.  The Big10 is worse than the American Conference formerly known as the Big East.  The Buckeyes have been blasted by SEC teams when they have backed into the Championship game.”

But things have changed for NCAA football and the Little 10. There is now a 4 team playoff system.  That is positive.  But in the case if the league the changes have not been for the better. The league has added Rutgers and Maryland. Neither of those teams are considered “power” teams.

Despite what University of Michigan people say, if you bought 2 two Coke products you got a pair of tickets to the Michigan Minnesota game at the Little House last Saturday.

Nebraska is the best addition the league has made but has not been a major power for years. Penn State was beginning to rebuild but then was hit with unprecedented penalties by the NCAA. And Iowa Read more at FryingPanSports

The NCAA is about to get what it deserved.

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NNR covers the NFC South tonight at 6 PM EDT on or https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/. Join us

The NCAA is fighting a war for its very survival on several fronts. It is about to get what is coming to it. The first battle comes up this week in a case involving it profiting from the images of the players. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon brought this suit which will begin next week. US District Judge Claudia Wilken rebuffed the NCAA by refusing their attempt to keep two suits together. O’Bannon’s suit is based on anti-trust law. The NCAA will have to defend another suit based on video games in 2015.

The defense the NCAA is putting forward is that a decision against it will destroy the current intercollegiate system by taking away its profitability. That is saying “we know we have been wrong for so long but please don’t make us to the right thing.”

But these suits are popcorn money compared to the NLRB declaring that the Northwestern players can form a union. That has the potential to take the control of the money cow out of the hands of the ivy covered professors and into the hands of … Read more at FryingPanSports

As I predicted, the NCAA is pulling in its horns.

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Over 2 years ago here on fryingpansports.com I predicted that the major conferences would put pressure on the NCAA to as Moses said “Let my people go!” Yesterday, which was also the day that the Northwestern players voted on joining a union, the NCAA announced that it was allowing the major conferences “autonomy.” While there are no clear indications exactly how much autonomy the conferences will get, one thing is very certain—the NCAA is admitting it is powerless against these groups.

The fact that the NCAA has had the football playoffs ripped from their dead or dying fingers is an example of money making a difference in the power relationship. The NCAA had no choice. It has overstepped its authority in rule making and issuing punishments. The decisions were inconsistent and caused even supporters to question the process and wisdom of the NCAA’s decision makers.

There is little doubt that the NCAA has lost its way. While it claimed to be looking out for the student-athlete, it was really more interested in covering its own behind and building its power base. It has become known more for its greed than service to those it was designed to help.

So the Read more at FryingPanSports

The NLRB vs. NCAA

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NOTE: Tonight on NNR Samantha Bunten of NBC Sports, former NFL scout Kelron Sykes and I will do a 7 round draft for the Browns. Join us at 6PM EDT on The Bill Smith Radio Show or https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/.  The show is presented by ebooks-library.com and merriam-press.com.

A couple of years ago I questioned if it was time for the major conferences to pull out of the NCAA. Now the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has thrown an 18 wheel semi into the NCAA mechanism.

 

Yesterday the NLRB ruled that football players at Northwestern University could form a union to negotiate terms of their “employment.” The University has said it will appeal the decision.

 

The NCAA has become a money grubbing institution which has lorded over college sports with no consistency or principle. Now the NLRB threatens the very foundation of college sports. The basic law of College football is that the University and NCAA make the money on the backs of the players that provide the product. Colleges sell jerseys with the player’s number and names, generate millions of dollars from ticket sales and television. The students believe they deserve more than just the right … Read more at FryingPanSports

The NCAA pulls in its claws in the decision on the University of Oregon case

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The NCAA has used an atom bomb to resolve violations of teams in the past.  The decision on the Penn State case was a virtual death penalty.  Their regulations make the rules of the IRS look like a kid’s book.

 

But the NCAA gave Oregon just one lost scholarship per year for three years and no ban on the team’s post season participation.  To say that was a shock would be an understatement.  The fact that Oregon head coach Chip Kelly chose this year to jump to the NFL indicates that he expected a much more drastic penalty. But as usual, the decision reflects more than it appears.  The lack of punishment has as much to do with the damage to the reputation of the NCAA and the power struggle between the NCAA and the growing number of super conferences as it does with what happened at Oregon.

 

The reputation of the NCAA has taken a few hits in recent years.  In 2004 the management of the NCAA was dragged before the US Congress to justify its tax exempt status.  That was hard enough on the organization’s reputation.  Many felt the penalty on Penn State was overly harsh.  … Read more at FryingPanSports