The NCAA did what it swore it would never do.
The people making the decisions in the power conferences of college sports — commissioners, university presidents, media partners, the biggest boosters, and of course, the lawyers — they all got together and agreed the price of clinging to the antiquated notion of amateurism was going to be a lot more than the price of paying the players.
But in finally admitting the athletes deserve a piece of the revenue, those same people also did what they always do.
They made it harder for schools like Memphis to compete with the power conference schools, and they made this Memphis football season seem even more important than it already did.
It’s unfortunately the overarching takeaway from the NCAA’s “historic” settlement of three lawsuits that all parties involved conceded didn’t answer the overarching question facing college sports: Are the players on the field employees of the university they play for?
Like everything related to NIL and player compensation, the NCAA is leaving that question for another day and hoping a half-baked solution works. Reports indicated a system that would go into effect as soon as 2025 could pay athletes up to $22 million.
If the settlement is approved by the judge. If there aren’t Title IX complications. If Congress doesn’t pass legislation. If more of these players don’t file more lawsuits about a proposal that amounts to a salary cap without collective bargaining. If any of this looks the same a year from now (and judging by how quickly college sports has changed the past few years, don’t count on it).
It’s a lot of ifs. The details remain nebulous. There’s so much to be decided about how (and how much) schools can pay the players. Or even what schools can afford to compete at the highest level of college sports anymore.
Figuring out where Memphis fits five or 10 years from now is especially challenging because it’s one of the few remaining “have nots” that seemed close to getting over the wall that exists between the power conferences and everyone else. Last week’s settlement announcement means the wall is only going to get higher.
So this football season may well be the best chance Memphis has left to climb. It promises to be exhilarating or excruciating, depending on how it turns out. There probably won’t be an in-between.
The first of two years in which the College Football Playoff is guaranteed to have an automatic spot for the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the country might also be the first year Memphis is picked in the preseason to win the American Athletic Conference. It’s coming right as the athletic department’s NIL efforts and Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovation plans position Memphis as one of the best-resourced Group of Five schools in the country. It’s happening just as unrest in the ACC could lead to more courtroom-induced conference realignment.
The whole endeavor could be helped by a paradox former AAC commissioner Mike Aresco surely didn’t intend when he added a bunch of Conference USA schools to the league starting last season. A weaker AAC could be part of its strength.
GIANNOTTO:Memphis football is operating like it never could before this offseason
The league was third behind the Sun Belt and Mountain West among Group of Five conferences, according to average ranking in ESPN’s updated SP+ ratings, a predictive measurement based on returning production, recruiting and recent history. There were seven AAC teams ranked outside the top 100.
By comparison, the Sun Belt had five of its 14 members outside the top 100, and the Mountain West six of its 12.
These latest numbers could confirm that what happened in 2023, when undefeated C-USA champion Liberty got the New Year’s Six bowl game over two-loss AAC champion SMU, was much more than a one-year blip. They also could mean those other leagues are more apt to beat up on each other, and the AAC more likely to produce a one-loss champion.
They definitely demonstrate that the AAC this Memphis football team must navigate should be less treacherous (in theory, considering its toughest league games will be on the road) than the one the Tigers got through to reach the 2019 Cotton Bowl.
The stars have, at the very least, aligned at a most opportune time for the program.
With Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovations starting, with FedEx’s landmark NIL contribution in hand, with an offseason filled with optimism and anticipation still going on, an AAC championship and College Football Playoff appearance this fall could serve as confirmation of what Tigers fans have always said.
Memphis belongs.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on X:@mgiannotto
