The U.S. college football season has kicked off. Before the National Football League, which opens in September, takes over sports fans' attention, three things are worth remembering.
Football is a badly designed sport. The human body, and especially the brain, is not built to absorb repeated blows. The New York Times recently reported that at least one in four NFL players may develop neurodegenerative brain disease from collisions during games — conditions that include cognitive impairment, abnormal behavior, addiction and even suicide. Such reporting will not cool fans' enthusiasm for the game. Culturally, football scratches a human itch.
Under new National Collegiate Athletic Association rules revised in June this year, college players may compete in college leagues for up to five years. Five years is long enough to expose players who never reach the NFL to the risk of neurodegenerative brain disease. This week's meetings of the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference, the sport's top leagues, are a place to confirm that their tolerance has limits. The NCAA blocked Louisiana State University from signing two players who had turned professional and wanted to return to college. When the change was not applied retroactively, players who objected on fairness grounds filed suit, and a Louisiana state court and others sided with them, opening the way for a string of players with professional contracts to return to college. That has thrown all of U.S. college athletics into disarray.
According to people in the sports industry, a starting quarterback who leads a $40 million football roster requires at least $5 million a year. At elite football programs, success means surviving deep into the playoffs. The playoff field began with four teams in the 2014 season and expanded to 12 in 2024. It could soon grow to 24. Without a larger field, fans of teams that lose three regular-season games would obviously lose interest.
Under today's unregulated system, a handful of strong teams dominate. Sport is a meritocracy, and unless players' freedom is restricted, talent will flow to the highest bidder. Ohio State University, for example, receives about $17 million a year for placing the Chase Bank logo on uniforms across 36 sports. Arkansas, by contrast, is home to Tyson Foods and Walmart, yet its median household income is the fourth lowest in the country. That is why the University of Arkansas, in the league's lower ranks, cannot compete with powers such as the University of Georgia or the University of Florida without help from Congress. An athletics official at a school in Arkansas described the widening gap this way: "On a per capita basis, Arkansas has the thickest billionaire class in America. But its millionaire ranks are among the thinnest."
For the same reason, Arkansas would need a salary cap to line up against a power like Florida. The NCAA operates a transfer portal, the channel through which players change schools. Any player who enters his information in the portal can be seen and contacted by other universities. A few wealthy universities pour resources into recruiting in pursuit of dominance. Unless a small group of strong teams is stopped from buying up players, fair competition is difficult. Congress could step in to level the field by mandating a national spending cap covering every sport at each university. That is part of the SCORE Act, drafted by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, the panel's ranking Democrat. The bill is meant to set federal rules on compensation, transfers and eligibility for college athletes.
If college players earn millions of dollars, are they employees of their institutions? And if so, are they subject to collective bargaining? One thing is certain: sentimental terms such as "student-athlete" and "amateurism" are already gone. The college sports cartel thrived for a century in an Edenic environment of soaring broadcast rights revenue and almost no labor costs. Now, limiting players' pay and free agency to protect competitive balance serves the interests of most schools, players and fans alike. If Congress delivers, many will let out a satisfied roar in the stands. Only Congress can set football right.
