Nick Saban’s efforts to help pass the College Sports Protection Act have expanded beyond that College GameDay This week, as the legendary former Alabama football coach appeared on ESPN’s morning show to make the case for the bill, which passed the US Senate on Monday evening.
Saban reportedly appeared to be unfazed by the language of the bill and appeared in political displays of his travel author. The coach expressed a concern he said he shares with leaders in the game: “going broke” in college sports without a salary cap. He argued that player wages and coach compensation are “completely different markets”. When asked why college athletes shouldn’t have a seat at the table in the creation of the PCSA, Saban said, “I can’t really answer that.”
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The appearances – technically new documents promoting ESPN – were the latest sign of how much influence Saban has over the entire leadership, giving him access to the pulpit where he can push the most immovable new rules.
However, as in the interview of the US Ted Cruz College GameDay Saban’s comments earlier this month hardly paint the full picture of the controversial and wide-ranging bill.
“There is no business in the world that can be run without a budget and some information,” Saban said on . Get up. “If you ask the owner of the NFL, what would you do if all your players were free agents every year? ‘Oh, we couldn’t work.’ What would you do if you didn’t have a salary cap? ‘Oh, we couldn’t work. We want to go broke.’
“Well, what’s going to happen in college sports is it’s going to either take money from the academic side to hire stars because we’re in a runaway, you know, financial situation, or you’re going to drop other Olympic sports and non-venue sports that are great for creating opportunities for young people.”
While Saban is facing more pushback on First Takewhen host Stephen A. Smith (PCSA advocate) was forced to address the bill’s detractors, the coach’s responses further revealed how the bill, in its current form, appears to benefit coaches and athletic trainers more than players.
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“I can’t really answer that, to be honest with you,” Saban said about why college athletes don’t help shape the PCSA.
“All I can tell you is that we’re using the student-athlete involvement to come up with some ideas that we’re happy with as we move this forward so that we don’t take anything away from the athletics of the athletes.”
Athletics reported that between 2005-23, revenue growth for college departments passed at the expense of athletic growth. And that cost increase was far more attributable to facility fees, coach and AD salaries, and staff like nutritionists and barbers, before universities could legally pay athletes.
But Saban argued First Take player and coach compensation are “completely different markets.”
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“You’re asking, ‘Does teaching students equal a professor’s salary?'” Saban said. “I mean, how much value does a coach make for a university?”
Rather than capping coach pay, Saban said, the NCAA should focus on contract length or salary increases. Half of last year’s College Football Playoff teams were coached from the Saban tree. At least a dozen other programs on ESPN were coached by former Saban staffers as of last season.
A Sportico analysis this week noted that the antitrust exemption granted to the NCAA under the PCSA would make it substantially more difficult for college athletes to legally challenge the NCAA or their schools over compensation. However, Saban argued that the college athletes’ collective bargaining agreement still cannot be “fit” in college sports.
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“Now look, I don’t know how colleges, collectively, have agreements to win in college athletics that’s different,” he said. “You have two games that make money, you have 20 games that don’t.”
Part of Saban’s media tour also focuses on his emphasis on not leaving Alabama because of trades for compensation and player mobility.
“It was just time for me … to have some quality of life,” said Mike Greenberg on Get up.
That may be true, but the coach has worked hard since he left coaching to regain control over his programs and players around the country.
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