What we learned about Georgia’s plans after athletic board meeting

The House settlement, which currently is in front of Judge Claudia Wilken and waiting for final approval, would have a new enforcement arm to make sure any NIL deals would be aboveboard. Deloitte is set to run the clearinghouse that would overlook proposed name, image and likeness deals.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported this week that schools in the Power 4 conferences shared a document that, if signed, would waive a school’s right to sue the College Sports Commission, a new entity that would come about should the House settlement pass. The College Sports Commission would have the ability to enforce punishments, such as possible conference expulsion if schools are found in violation of rules.

Morehead shared that Georgia has seen the plan and that Dellenger’s reporting on the matter is accurate.

Of course, there already are questions about the legality of the College Sports Commission’s proposed membership agreement. The state of Tennessee signed a law that began May 1 that allows schools in the state — Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Memphis, etc. — to violate any rules put forth by the House settlement.

Morehead and Brooks made it clear that as college football moves into a new era, it’s critical that rules be followed and everyone plays by the same set of agreed-on rules.

“College athletics is a very competitive environment,” Morehead said. “I think our athletic director would agree. You have to have an enforcement mechanism. That’s always been a part of college athletics.”

Brooks added the enforcement process after the House settlement would be able to move quickly and provide real-time results for any possible violations. Under the previous NCAA system, there often has been a lag in the time punishments are announced and enforced from when the first violations were committed.

Although the House settlement is unsigned, Georgia has long been prepared for any changes on the horizon.

“Obviously we’re having to anticipate what we think will come of that and preparing for what that means the day the settlement goes through,” Brooks said. “There’ll be some impact starting July 1. So we’ve been planning well in advance of that for that. And then we also have to have a backup plan if it were not to be approved, and what that would mean with some interim NCAA legislation, but I think we’re prepared for each and every scenario.”

Morehead said he hoped there would be a resolution on the House settlement as early as Friday.

SEC presidents and athletic directors will meet next week in Destin, Florida, to further discuss issues regarding the conference and college athletics, such as if the league will go to a nine-game conference schedule.

Josh Brooks talks Wes Johnson contract extension

For Brooks, it was important to end any speculation regarding the future of Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson.

The school agreed to a contract extension with the second-year coach Wednesday that will keep Johnson on an extension for Johnson long before the Mississippi State head coaching job came open.

“I actually began working on this earlier in the season and wanted to get this done, and that’s why we were in such a good position to get it done this quickly,” Brooks said. “But we did want to go ahead and get it wrapped up and announced so it wouldn’t be a distraction heading into the postseason. So it was great to get that done and announced before the tournament.”

Johnson previously worked as an assistant coach at Mississippi State.

To this point, Johnson is 85-32 at Georgia, putting the Bulldogs in position to possibly host another regional and super regional in the coming NCAA Tournament.

The full field will be announced Monday, with Georgia in a good place to be earn a top-eight overall seed.

Much of that success can be attributed to how Johnson has come in and energized the program.

“I think he’s got a great understanding of this new world, obviously, the evolution of college athletics, and how to attack the portal and build a team in this new world. He’s really cerebral,” Brooks said. “I think his understanding of technology and how to develop players, and he can pitch that in recruiting. And he’s a great human being. Someone who loves Georgia, someone I love being around and working with. It’s just, he checks every box.”

More Georgia budget notes for the coming fiscal year

Georgia approved its budget for the 2026 fiscal year Friday, with a projected total revenue of $222,973,670.

That is an increase of more than $30 million from the previous year. Part of that can be attributed to an extra home football game, along with an improved home schedule. The Bulldogs draw games against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss, with each expected to bring in more than $5 million in ticket revenue.

This year’s budget also has an additional $1.25 million earmarked for outside events revenue. That line in the budget report represents a potential concert at Sanford Stadium, which could take place next spring.

But that is not the only potential outside event on the horizon for Georgia.

“We’ve done things like Topgolf before, so we have to be open to any of those things,” Brooks said. “And this is just a start, but we have to look at potentially other things we could bring to Stegeman (Coliseum). Now that we have turf on the baseball field, maybe there’s opportunities for maybe a small concert there.

“So we have to be open to all those things, but the concert’s the first driver that we’re looking at.”

Brooks took note of the excitement following the initial news that Georgia was making plans for a possible concert in Sanford Stadium.

“You know, sometimes you work in a vacuum on this and you forget about the excitement around it. Because we’ve been thinking about it just from a logistical perspective. And then when we put it out there, the texts start coming from everybody.

“Everybody’s excited because people love Sanford Stadium, people love a good concert, and it was such a popular thing in 2013.”

The venue has not hosted a stand-alone concert since 2013. Brooks was working at Georgia then, serving as the assistant and associate athletic director for internal operations.

“It was such a great day for town-and-gown Athens, the whole thing,” he said. “I mean, you think about a very quiet weekend normally in Athens to bring in 60,000 people. And what that does for the town and a showcase again on campus. So the excitement has been through the roof and the texts. Now everybody’s suggesting who they want to perform.”

Brooks did add that it was important to try and have the concert while students were still on campus. In an ideal world, the concert at Sanford Stadium would fall between the conclusion of spring football practice and spring commencement.