SEC commissioner on new collegiate sports model: ‘Growing pains can be expected’

“We know this transition will not be without challenges and growing pains can be expected,” Sankey said.

“Any time you go through change at this level — historic and monumental level — you can expect both challenges, growing pains along with the opportunities that have now been introduced.”

In addition to $2.8 billion in name, image and likeness (NIL) backpay to athletes who competed back to 2016, the settlement allows for current athletes to be paid directly by their schools (each school with a $20.5 million cap).

The conference commissioners indicated that at this point, the distribution of those funds will be at the respective schools’ discretion.

“I think everyone’s seen the commitment to football and men’s and women’s basketball, but I know for all five of us, no one’s forgetting about their Olympic spots and continuing to make sure that we invest at a high level for all our schools,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.

He acknowledged that exact breakdowns at each school would be hard to predict.

Athletes can also seek third-party NIL deals outside of their schools’ support, which will be submitted to the College Sports Commission’s online “NIL Go” platform for review (with assistant from Deloitte).

There has been speculation and concern over how the new structure will be governed and enforced.

The conference commissioners, however, are optimistic that with College Sports Commission (CSC) leadership, and congressional involvement, fairness and stability can be attained.

“What’s not debatable is that this new model does bring stability and fairness to student athletes in college sports, and we’ve been in an unregulated environment with no rules and no enforcement,” Phillips said.

“It’s paralyzed the NCAA in Indianapolis, and that’s how we’re responsible for certainly some of that,” Phillips said.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark pointed to the leadership new CSC CEO Bryan Seeley, the former Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of legal and operations, will bring to collegiate sports.

“I often say it’s progress over perfection,” Yormark said. “As (Sankey) stated in his earlier comments, there will be challenges we’ll deal with, but over time, we’ll meet those challenges and we’ll address them appropriately.

“But I’m very confident in Bryan, Deloitte … the new model that’s in place, that we have a bright future in collegiate athletics.”

Sankey explained congressional activity is important in establishing uniform standards for the new model as it evolves into a most effective application.

“The current patchwork of state laws makes it impossible to ensure fair competition or apply uniform standards across college sports,” Sankey said.

“This is why congressional activity remains important on the areas included in this settlement: to support appropriate name, image and likeness activity and provide opportunity,” he said.

“And to provide clear boundaries that more effectively establish national standards for intercollegiate athletics while providing protections for its participants.”