How to "Save" College Sports; Bay Area World Cup Bust? Stanford Women Rebound

We hear a lot of talk these days about how the wild spending on NIL payouts and transfers in college sports is "unsustainable," and how the federal government must do something to "save" Olympic and women's sports.

So we've had presidential commissions, round tables, executive orders, and now federal legislation to address this "crisis."

The Protect College Sports Act recently introduced in the Senate would allow the NCAA to limit transfers and eligibility, cap spending on athletes, allow conferences to pool their television rights, and prevent coaches from leaving their teams before the end of a season. 

It also would prevent further expansion and creation of a breakaway "super league" by the Big Ten and SEC.

In the midst of this brouhaha--which is unlikely to result in any bill getting through Congress--one might step back a moment to consider whether college sports need to be "saved?" 

Are we really, as Barry McGuire might say, on the Eve of Destruction?

The doomsday scenario being advanced by some in Washington DC and the media ignores the fact that college football and basketball attendance has increased in the last few years, TV ratings are as high as they’ve ever been, record revenues are being received by schools, and players are benefitting not just from long-awaited NIL and rev share compensation, but increased protection around scholarships and medical costs.

Yet there's no question that the current runaway train must be reined in. As payouts to attract and retain top football and basketball players go through the roof, many schools will face financial challenges and choose to jettison non-revenue sports.

Today, top tier programs are spending $30-40 million on football players and $10M on basketball.

Sounds like a lot, right?

But what about the absurd money being spent on coaches?

While Nick Saban, who made over $10 million per year at Alabama, and others bemoan the money being paid to athletes--who actually put their bodies on the line each week--no one wants to address the out-of-control spending on coaches' salaries.

There are now a dozen football coaches making $10M or more per year, and over 40 making $6-9M.

Many schools are also paying off huge buyouts to fired coaches, like Brian Kelly's $54 million exit at LSU, Jimbo Fisher's 75M at Texas A&M and James Franklin's $49M at Penn State. 

Fifty years ago, Stanford hired Bill Walsh, one of the greatest football coaches of all time, for a $40,000 annual salary. That would translate to about $250,000 today, a far cry from the $13M that the disgraceful Lane Kiffin is making at LSU.

In our mind, any crisis that exists has been created by presidents and athletic directors who lavish ridiculous contracts on coaches--not just the $13M head coaches but the $3M assistants--and coaches who find a way to work around player compensation rules, leading to rapidly escalating deals that put all but a few athletic departments in the red.

Fact is, the schools don't want to be governed, as evidenced by their efforts to circumvent the House Settlement revenue share cap and the College Sports Commission approval process for NIL.

If the suits in DC and conference offices want to "save" college sports, we have three suggestions:

The first thing they should do is cap coaching salaries. 

The second is to involve athletes in the negotiations, rule-making and compensation decisions. Whether or not players are defined as "employees"--which they most definitely are--collective bargaining must be part of the process.

And finally, the third thing is that schools must actually consent to being governed, instead of routinely circumventing rules, cheating, and poaching players from other schools.

Why create rules if everyone is going to ignore them?

World Cup Bust? The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup, with the first game scheduled this weekend, but you'd never know it by the incredible lack of buzz. 

Nothing in the media. No talk on the streets. Little or no advertising. No build-up to speak of.

And more importantly, very slow ticket sales and hotel rentals.

It doesn't help that the matches at Levi Stadium feature teams like No. 55 ranked Qatar vs No. 19 Switzerland and No. 23 Austria vs. No. 63 Jordan.

Or that the two teams being hosted in the Bay Area are No. 27 Australia and No. 40 Paraguay.

The unexciting US team is ranked 15th in the world and is unlikely to play here.

But unattractive matchups and exorbitant ticket prices are only part of the problem. The current political climate is also not helping.

A lot of the online chatter and public discourse about World Cup has focused on US immigration policies that limit international travel and fears that ICE will patrol the venues.

I'm not much of a soccer fan. But my company was involved when the US hosted the 1994 World Cup matches at Stanford Stadium and the Rose Bowl, which were hugely successful.

This time, World Cup is being played in the midst of an ongoing war with Iran and travel advisories warning immigrants that they are "vulnerable to serious harm" if they come to America.

My friend, the famed economist Roger Noll, summed it up nicely to the San Francisco Chronicle: "You can't go around the world kicking people and then expect that they're going to spend $1,000 a day to come visit you."

Amen.

Stanford Women Rebound: Stanford women's basketball coach Kate Paye, who lost seven players to the transfer portal, is battling back.

Paye recently signed Indiana's Miss Basketball, Gracyn Gilliard, who led Center Grove to a 29-0 record and the state 4A title this season. The 5-11 guard/forward, rated the 46th best prospect in the country by Rivals and 51st by ESPN, averaged 25.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.9 assists. In the title game she scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds and six steals to help her team erase an 11-point deficit and claim the state championship.

Gilliard is the seventh announced newcomer in 2026-27 along with transfers Ines Sotelo (Michigan State), Ilse de Vries (Miami of Ohio) and Charlotte Tuhy (American), and fellow freshmen Kiara Green, Elyse Ngenda and Jordyn Wheler.

Wheeler, from Ontario, is another four-star, top 100 player, while Tuhy was one of only two freshmen in the country to average a double double (12 points, 11 rebounds) last season.