It’s about time.
College football, and everyone that consumes it, has been begging for some structure for quite some time. They have been begging for leadership as well. On Tuesday, we finally got some.
The line of logic and leniency had been repeatedly pushed over the last several years, but this offseason was unlike any in the history of the sport. Apparently adding millions of dollars to the pockets of the players, and billions of dollars to the conferences from television deals, created an air of untouchability from some of the less morally sound involved in the sport. Who would’ve thought?
The latest installment of this craziness was apparently the breaking point for everyone. Pro players coming back to play college ball was a bridge too far. The SEC pushed back on the decisions of a few that affected everyone on Tuesday night announcing that all 16 of the league’s presidents agreed to ban any player that signed a professional contract would not be allowed to participate in football or basketball.
That move was a result of lawsuit after lawsuit that nudged the door open until it was finally kicked in. It’s no wonder that the first question immediately following the decision was how many lawsuits would come in response before players would be ostracized? The other question that was asked almost immediately was, ‘What would the punishment be for schools that didn’t care and violated it anyway?’
That is where the SEC finally showed some leadership and dropped the hammer on anyone with that idea.
Schools that violate the SEC’s professional sports rule will result in:
• 50% season suspension for head coaches
• 50% of that sport’s annual operating budget
• SEC voting privileges on business matters revoked
This is what we should all want. The swift action from Greg Sankey and other leaders at each member institution should be great for a number of reasons, but perhaps the reason people will be happiest to hearing that all of this ridiculousness is over.
Now we can finally focus on actual football. Thank God.
