In the absence of a collective bargaining agreement and/or a federal antitrust exemption that would legally prevent players from leaving their team after each season, recently two market-based ideas have emerged toward that end. If the Congress and the courts won't let us pass rules forcing players to remain in place longer than one year, the thinking goes, we should pass rules that incentivize players to remain with their current teams.
The first such idea emerged late last month, when the Football Oversight Committee floated the idea of multi-million dollar fines, multi-game suspensions, and the loss of roster spots for programs who take players who leave their previous schools outside of the approve portal window. While well intentioned, TBD on legality there.
The next idea is much more carrot than stick.
UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin has publicized an idea swirling around the Big Ten that would allow teams to exceed the approximately $21 million rev-share cap to re-sign their current players.
“I know there’s people at the Big Ten office that are for it, that’s why I bring it up,” Cronin told the AP after the Bruins' Tuesday night win over Nebraska. “I told them I would back them.”
Obviously, this isn't just one of those "devil in the details" type ideas -- the devil has a 6-bedroom mansion with an Olympic-sized pool and a sport court inside these details. Would all players be eligible for cap-busting extensions? Would a player need an offer from another team first? How far are teams allowed to exceed the cap in the name of roster stability? That sound you hear is the gears turning in every college football GM's mind about pitching his head coach on paying freshmen pennies while the sophomores, juniors and seniors make $40, $50, $100 million.
The Big Ten's idea is borrowed from the NBA's Bird Rights, allowing teams to exceed the cap so long as he's been with that club for at least three years (it's more complicated than that and there are exceptions, but that's the gist of it). But, the NBA also has maximum salaries for players. College sports do not.
The idea is just an idea right now. But it's a good one. It's better for the sport if players stick in one place longer than a year and, no matter what the agents and the lawyers who make money via player movement say, it's better for the players, too.
“We should do everything we can to stop these kids from transferring too much because nobody is going to graduate,” Cronin said. “These kids aren’t going to have the grades if they’re transferring three or four times, so we got to do everything we can.”