College Sports – Roy Kessel

Roy’s Ramble 12-22-19

rkessel — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 03:15:28 +0000

It was a busy week spending a few days in Washington, D.C. with members of the Sports Philanthropy Network and attending the Aspen Institute’s Future of Sports event.

Aspen Institute—The Aspen Institute held another forum in their series entitled “The Future of Sports.” You can read my full write titled “NCAA Under Attack” which goes into a lot more detail. Bottom line, changes are coming. The only remaining question is how quickly the process will move and what the final result will be. As you will see in my earlier article, the choice is either a level playing field or a completely open market. Stopping some place in the middle will not work well and attempts to do so will only create more problems by virtue of the additional regulations that would be required.

Washington, DC Holiday Party—We had such overwhelming interest for the Sports Philanthropy Network’s DC holiday party, that the Washington, DC, market is likely to be one of the initial Chapters the Sports Philanthropy Network will launch in 2020. Despite many conflicts, even the people who were not able to attend last week reached out and specifically asked how to get involved with the network and were especially interested in our Membership Levels.

Chicago Holiday Party—We hosted this event in the Top Golf Swing Suites in 900 N. Michigan (Bloomingdales). It is a terrific venue and a fun place to eat, drink and network. I love getting the opportunity to meet people who are just learning about the Sports Philanthropy Network and telling us how they would like to get involved and joining as members of our network.

Meeting Great People and Organizations—One of the best parts of launching the Sports Philanthropy Network 11 months ago, has been the opportunity to meet and engage with so many people who are finding innovative ways to use sports to create stronger, healthier and more inclusive communities. The caliber of people and their efforts is truly amazing. I feel fortunate to be a part of this process, learn as much as I can about their work and hopefully be a part of the solution. As there people join the Sports Philanthropy Network through our Membership Program, we learn more about their needs and their abilities. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak to me, meet with me, record a podcast, speak at the Sports Philanthropy World Conference and participate in any of our other events. We accomplished so much in 2019. We have set our sights even higher for 2020. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Chanukah Party—Earlier today Kayla and I hosted a Chanukah Open House and it was fantastic to celebrate with Julia, Brett and many friends. I am appreciative to have these people in my life and enjoy having the time and ability to host people to share these special occasions.

Holiday Time—As we head into the final 10 days of the year, I am thankful for the great people in my life. I am very fortunate to have two living parents who have been incredibly supportive to me during difficult times. My sister, Sharon, is an amazing bundle of energy who has taught me many things despite her disabilities. Julia had a great first semester at college in Madison and Brett is doing well in his Junior year at Stevenson HS. Kayla has been an incredible addition to my world these last 17 months and I cannot imagine life without her. While life gets hectic and we rush around a lot. I feel fortunate to have a great network of friends, a warm home, plenty of food and clothes. Perhaps most importantly, I have my health, something which I do not take for granted as I see so many other struggling. I also recognize that many people are alone during this holiday period. I encourage you to reach out and include them. Having company is much more important than the food, drink or venue. They will appreciate your kindness!

If you didn’t have a chance to see some of the other things I have been involved with or written recently, take a look here:

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Wishing all of my loyal readers a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and positive vibes for 2020.

NCAA faces increasing scrutiny

rkessel — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 16:09:21 +0000

Aspen Institute’s Jon Solomon interviewing NCAA President Mark Emmert (Photo Credit: Roy Kessel)

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the Aspen Institute’s forum entitled: “The Future of College Sports: The Government’s Role in Athlete’s Pay.”

NCAA President Mark Emmert and a wide variety of stakeholders were present. The challenge for Emmert is the rapidly decreasing strength of the NCAA and the speed at which the NCAA’s credibility is evaporating.

You can read the full coverage that I wrote for the Sports Philanthropy Network here:

NCAA Under Full Attack at Aspen Institute Forum

Roy’s Ramble (12-1-19)

rkessel — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 01:47:13 +0000

Thanksgiving—I was very appreciative of being able to spend the day with my parents, my sister Sharon and Kayla Bradham and her children. It was great to host them all and be able to share a full evening together. It was also great to have some time with my kids over the weekend and hear about my daughter’s first semester in college at Madison. We were also able to share in the celebration of the Badgers clinching a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State and we will be looking for a much better performance than the game in Columbus in October.

Most importantly, I am thankful for all of the good things in my life. A place to live, plenty of food, plenty of clothes and many friends and family to share happy occasions with. I hope to continue to do a lot of work with the Sports Philanthropy Network to help many organizations make positive impact in their communities.

Dean Smith Letters—These are some amazing letters that I found online. They were written from legendary North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith to a young basketball player named Michael Jordan. You can see the attention to detail Smith has and the eye for the game. What I also found interesting in these letters is the fact that you can see how they impacted Michael’s game at the NBA level. It would be very interesting to see other letters from Dean Smith or other coaches in terms of how they want to see their players improving in the off-season (and then looking back on these letters after a player becomes a star).

Nick Saban—Alabama losing 2 regular season games is almost unheard of. The loss yesterday really had to sting because Alabama mostly controlled the game. The first pick-6 was relatively normal, but the second one was a horrendous throw and an enormous turning point in the game. Instead of an 8-point Alabama lead it turned into a 100 yard INT return for Auburn. But the lasting image of the game will Nick Saban’s tirade at the extra time added at the end of the first half. By all rights, Saban is 100% correct. There is no way that the clock should have been stopped or that Auburn should have been given time to kick that FG (which was ultimately the difference in the game). The second dispute at the end of the game seems different to me. Auburn pulled off a good trick play and Alabama got caught with too many players on the field allowing Auburn to run out the clock. As in any close game, there are so many individual plays that can make the difference. Besides the two big disputes, you have a relatively short missed FG and a defense that was clearly not up to Alabama’s recent standards. Still, it is hard to see how so many Tide fans are calling for Saban’s head. As I wrote recently, be careful what you wish for Alabama Fans. You might not make the playoff this year, but I would not bet against Saban next season (and if I were one of his assistant coaches, I would not plan on much sleep).

The Hedges—There were some very funny images of people trying to get through the hedges at Auburn after the win. It would seem that if you were a fan at Auburn you might have a better game plan of how to get on the field after a big win. Surprisingly, Alabama is 0-7 at Auburn when both teams are ranked.

Jim Harbaugh Press Conference—After becoming the first Michigan coach to be 0-5 against Ohio State, Harbaugh was obviously quite testy at his press conference. It might not have risen to the level of contentiousness as Mike Leach does at Washington State, Harbaugh was clearly irritated by questions of what Ohio State did better. It is going to be very interesting to see where Michigan is slotted for a bowl game and how the sentiment around Ann Arbor in the off-season will impact the Harbaugh era. Many Michigan alums were unhappy going in to the season and Michigan lost to the three best teams they played (Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State). They were not even close against Ohio State or Wisconsin and needed a huge comeback against Penn State to get within striking range, a comeback which appeared to be the turning point for Michigan to play well for the second half of the season. While Harbaugh has made Michigan more competitive than the last two coaches (Hoke, Rodriguez), he hasn’t been able to get over the hump in the way that many expected. This will be an interesting story to watch in the off-season.

8-Team Playoff—I recently wrote why I think the 8-team playoff will save college football. The enormous pressure on coaches is just another reason. With only 4 teams making that playoff, there is virtually no margin for error for any team not named Alabama, Clemson or Ohio State. You look at Championship Weekend and there are very few teams that can really improve their spot and only a couple (Georgia, Utah, Oklahoma and maybe Baylor) that can likely play their way in. By contrast, an 8-team playoff would still have a lot of room for movement not only into the field but also into the matchups and into the home-field advantage. What would be better than seeing and SEC team travel to the Midwest for a game in a snowstorm?

Coaching changes—One of the things that I hate most about this time of year (and also Black Monday after the NFL season), is seeing all of the coaches who lose their jobs. These guys gave their hearts and souls to the programs that they are working for. Clearly it is a business and they all understand that it is part of the profession, but too many of us fans fail to recognize the impact these decisions have on all of the family members, especially the children uprooted to new schools or faced with abusive attacks on their parent in the media and on social media. It was refreshing to see the positive press release Northwestern put out after the decision to move on from Mick McCall as offensive coordinator after a truly dreadful offensive season, one which ironically ended up with their best offensive performance of the year.

Josh Shaw betting—The NFL doesn’t play games when it finds out that one of its players has been gambling on NFL games. Josh Shaw was a backup player on injured reserve who laid some action at a Vegas casino, supposedly due to his misinterpretation of the rules. Though he did cooperate fully, he is suspended through 2020. According to the NFL’s own language it would appear to prohibit fantasy football but you frequently hear players referencing their fantasy teams. Maybe they are all just playing for fun. Here are six other things you might not know about Shaw, including the fact that he fabricated a story while at USC about leaping off a balcony to save his drowning nephew.

Medical Independence—One disturbing story this past week was about the lack of medical independence on many college campuses. According to NCAA regulations, the sport coaches are not supposed to be in charge of the hiring and firing of medical personnel for their programs. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that there are still way too many coaches who control this aspect of their programs leading to enormous conflicts of interest and unreasonable pressure on the athletic trainers and other medical personnel. The NCAA itself has provisions for dealing with this situation but it appears that they are rarely enforced or even investigated.

Arena Football Bankruptcy—The Arena Football League filed for bankruptcy this week. The league has had many lives and there is no reason to believe that it is gone for good. There is always a huge appetite for football, but one important element of the league may be replaced by the XFL. The development aspect of arena football is limited because too many NFL positions really do not have equivalent positions in arena. The XFL will be a better developmental mode but the desire to see football is likely to create another desire to resurrect this league. Its biggest obstacle is likely to be the concussion crisis since players are going to be increasingly reluctant to sacrifice their brains and bodies for the meager financial rewards of arena football, especially if it is not a true developmental option for the NFL.

If you didn’t have a chance to see some of the other things I have been involved with or written recently, take a look here:

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Roy’s Ramble, November 1, 2019

rkessel — Sat, 02 Nov 2019 03:35:37 +0000

HUMOROLOGY DONATIONS

SUPPORT BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK, A NATIONAL NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT FEEDS SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES.

TOP STORIES THAT I WAS WATCHING THIS WEEK

NCAA statement on compensation for Name, Image and Likeness–The NCAA came out this week and said that they were going to start to examine how to allow athletes to receive compensation for their Name, Image and Likeness. However, if you read the NCAA’s actual statement about the situation, you will see that it is truly full of gaping holes. Take a read here as I outline some of the problems with the way that NCAA is going about this process.

LEVEL FIELD OR FREE MARKET—After you read the article above, take a read through this analysis about the only two options that are really left for college sports: 1) A level playing field; or 2) A free market system. Are you ready for these changes? Well, it doesn’t matter because you will have to choose a side! You will see the arguments for each side and then we would love to see you vote which side you would take.

ARENA FOOTBALL—The news that the Arena Football League was going out of business indicates the second professional football league to fold this year, after the AAFL. The trouble is that the minor league sports are a very difficult business model and if they cannot get secure financial backing as well as solid TV contracts, they are going struggle. The XFL is picking up momentum as it heads towards its kickoff and it is getting more coverage in the mainstream media and talk radio circuits.

IHSA REFUSAL TO ALLOW CPS SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE IN STATE PLAYOFFS—The lengthy Chicago Public Schools teachers strike had many unintended consequences, not the least of which was the fact that the Illinois High School Association decided that it would not allow the CPS schools to compete in state playoffs for the fall sports. I am still really not clear what the rationale was for that position, but it seems to me that the kids who have worked so hard in their sports all season long should not be forced to miss the playoffs. I am not weighing in on the right decision regarding the now settled strike, but punishing the kids seems to be in nobody’s best interest. Kudos the judge that finally allowed the students to compete.

WORLD SERIES—Truly an amazing series. It is unbelievable that the road team won all 7 games. The Nationals managed to pull it out and won an amazing number of games with clutch hits. Brewers fans are probably still lamenting the one game playoff they lost when they appeared to have the game in hand and the Nationals rallied with clutch hits. To me, one of the most disturbing calls was the interference at first base, but thankfully it was made little difference in the game so it can just be relegated to a footnote.

AXIOS—They hosted an event on Wednesday related to criminal justice reform. A star-studded lineup came through including governor JB Pritzker. A lot of interesting issues were addressed and you can read more of the details here. The criminal justice reform issues continue to lag and the slow pace of change is detrimentally impacting a lot of families.

Chicago Sports Commission—Billed at “Telling Chicago’s Story”, the panel included longtime Chicago media members Dave Revsine (Big Ten Network), Peggy Kusinski, Dave Eanet (Northwestern Sports) and Lou Canellis. The panel was moderated Tarah Cooper Wright who is currently in the role of CEO and Partner of the Rise Strategy Group. She put some very interesting questions and each panelist got the opportunity to tell some of their favorite stories.

AXELSON—The Axelson Center for Non-Profit Management put together a nice event on Tuesday. They host periodic events around the Chicago area aimed at improving the work of non-profit organizations. Take a full read here for more details about Tuesday’s event.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN–The story coming out this week about Jeffrey Epstein’s death potentially not being suicide could be the least surprising story of the year. With all of the information that he had about a lot of powerful people, someone getting to him was a virtual guarantee. The complaints of the Federal Bureau of Prisons aside, you have to wonder how much help someone had to get to him.

ENTREPRENEURS—One of the things I really enjoy is sitting down with entrepreneurs and non-profits and seeing how I can help them improve their operations or take a new product/service to market. I had a chance to sit down with some very interesting organizations and companies this past week and look forward to sharing more details with you over the coming month.

UPCOMING EVENTS

AMERICAN ISRAEL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE—LEADERSHIP AWARD DINNER, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019. Here is a link to the full information. I hope you can join us. If you are interested in coming as my guest, please send me an email ASAP so that we can get you on the list. This great organization builds relationships between businesses in Israel and the United States.
PROJECT PLAY, WESTERN NEW YORK—I have been honored to be invited to present to a group of non-profits that are funding by Project Play of Western New York on November 16, 2019. These organizations do a lot of interesting work in their respective communities and I am excited to share with them a variety of ways to help them build capacity and sustainability in their operations.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Only Two Choices Left for College Sports–Which one will you pick?

rkessel — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 15:39:08 +0000

Do you want a level playing field? Or a free market system?

In the wake of this week’s statement by the NCAA that it intends to explore ways for athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness, it appears that we have only two options left for the direction college sports is going to go.

Option 1: Free Market

Option 2: Level Playing Field

We are going to explore these two options and I am very interested to hear what you think will ultimately be the choice. I have my opinions but I will save them for the end of this article. With California passing its law and other powerhouse states like New York, Florida and Illinois being well on their way to implement similar laws, it was only a matter of time until the NCAA fell in-line with the economic realities and public sentiment about allowing athletes to receive compensation. Unfortunately, the NCAA’s own statement fell far short of coming up with a viable framework which would let student-athletes really understand how the NCAA would interpret the concepts in its statement. You can read more details here in terms of the gaping holes left by the NCAA’s position. Even after you read their statement and understand this holes, you have to take a step away from the anger, hostility and frustration which have long been a part of this discussion. Catch your breath, open your mind and ask yourself what an ideal world of college sports looks like. Most of us can agree we are not there right now, but the question is whether there is even a pathway to get there.

In my opinion, there are only two options. There is no slippery slope, because there is really no place to stop. Or even try to stop. This looks more like a cliff. You are either at the top, or you are at the bottom.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

The entire purpose of the NCAA regulating competition in college sports was to preserve some degree of a level playing field. Recruiting restrictions, scholarship limits, admission requirements and virtually everything else that the NCAA governs were put into place to preserve that level playing field. Why are the restrictions virtually limitless and the penalties so draconian? Because Michigan and Ohio State do not trust each other to compete fairly. Alabama, Auburn and LSU believe that its competitors would do everything in their power to win. While the NCAA is an easy target, the reality is that the rules are implemented by the schools. The schools are the ones that want help to protect themselves against other “rogue” schools that would implement a win at all costs arms race. If one elite school in a conference wanted to pull out all of the stops, then other schools would be forced to do the same thing in order to compete.

Many people would argue that the playing field is already unlevel. If you look at the revenue generated in the Power 5 conferences, there are great disparities between the top schools in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Pac 12, especially when you compare them to the lower level schools in each conference. The challenge in front of the college sports community, is how the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) conversations are going to change college sports.

IF (and that is a big if), you desire to retain a level (or more level) playing field, you will need to grant the NCAA potentially even more power to regulate the actions of the schools, limit the ways that athletes can earn money and monitor how and when that money is paid to the student-athlete.

If that concept sounds repugnant to you, then you are probably a proponent of the FREE MARKET below, but just be careful, because you might get what you wished for.

FREE MARKET

The Free Market solution means exactly what it sounds like. ALL bets are off. The rules are no longer in existence. Colleges can recruit athletes in any way that they choose. Just like colleges can recruit students today. Nobody monitors whether the students Michigan chooses to admit are following the same requirements as the students Ohio State admits. Alabama can currently admit its choice of students and provide them as much financial support as it chooses as an institution, without any regard to what Auburn or LSU might offer that same student. So why is this a bad thing? It might not be. Let the institutions make their own admission decisions just as they currently do for non-student-athletes. Goodbye NCAA Clearinghouse. Goodbye to regulations about core requirements, minimum GPAs, non-qualifiers or any other form of regulation.

QUESTION: Will this change college sports?

ANSWER: Absolutely. 1000%. Schools will now be free to recruit, pay, provide financial support or do ANYTHING else that they want to attract talent. Just as they currently do for regular students. College sports has changed and it is going to continue to change. The current model is not sustainable and expecting the NCAA to solve the problem is naïve. Olympic sports have easily survived the transition from the amateurism model to one that allows all forms of compensation. So what? Don’t we want to identify the best athletes?

QUESTION: Will this concentrate the power in some of the elite schools.

ANSWER: Yes. It is highly likely that many of the elite Power 5 schools will get the first choice of talent. But so what? If they have the incentive to field a competitive team, the school now has the obligation to make its institution attractive to student-athletes. Shouldn’t we want the student-athletes to make the decision for a reason that makes sense relative to their future goals? If some school is willing to pay more for you to come to their university, might that not be a good thing for the student-athlete? Would some of them consider schools that they would not have considered if they were able to be paid more?

QUESTION: Doesn’t that cheapen the process?

ANSWER: No. It actually makes the school selection process more appropriate to the individual athlete. A player could decide if a smaller payment from Alabama was more worthwhile relative to his professional football prospects, as opposed to cashing in a lower level Power 5 school or even a non-Power 5 school that would give him a greater compensation package.

QUESTION: How are student-atheltes supposed to be able to navigate this process?

ANSWER: Like people in all other aspects of the business world—they would have to hire an attorney and/or agent. Open up this type of consultation and representation, would mean that the student-athletes would have someone helping them navigate the process and negotiate the best deal possible.

So now that you have read some of the options, tell us what you think? Do you really feel that there is another way? Is there any room to compromise and implement some reasonable regulations? I don’t see it. I think we are headed towards the free market system, and heading there quickly. We will not ever see a truly level playing field (or even one approaching what we have now). The universities will have to use their own judgments, morals, endowments and other factors to decide who they want to admit. What type of students? What type of athletes? Spending how much money? Now the athletic department will have to make some economically rational decisions as to who it brings in. Currently, a football program will bring in 85 scholarship players. They can only have 85. So if they are full, they have to find a way to reduce that number (also known as running off a player). If someone is not performing, they can be recruited over, meaning the school does not have to continue to honor their scholarship.

Let’s be clear, the free market system is not without problems. Without a governing body it could be like the Wild West. Players could be bought each year. Players at one school could be recruited to transfer to another school the following year (even if the contracts provided differently). An entirely new body of law would develop around this area because none of us have any idea whether courts would enforce a restrictive covenant in the scope of a college athlete who signed with a university for financial aid or other compensation to play football there. In this free market system, we would almost certainly see the development of a players union. Someone would need to representing the players and their long-term interest.

Regardless of which side of the issue you are on, one thing is guaranteed. This next 5 years are going to contain some of the most radical changes college sports have seen. If you look back at this past week, you will see that this was when the change in the landscape became irreversible.

VOTE NOW: WHAT DO YOU PREFER? LEVEL PLAYING FIELD? OR FREE MARKET?

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Take the poll here!!

If you didn’t have a chance to read our earlier post: NCAA Position Leaves Gaping Loopholes, here is your chance

Roy’s Ramble, October 4, 2019

rkessel — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 13:49:37 +0000

California Name Image and Likeness Law. While almost all of us agree that college athletes are exploited in many respects. However, you have to question whether the “solution” is the proposed Name, Image and Likeness law that was passed in California and is now being proposed in many other states. You can see a more detailed look that I wrote in this article which takes a peek at some of the difficulties which would be involved with enforcing this law. Well intentioned–absolutely. But it is a going to be an enormous change in college sports, and not in the way that people are expecting!

Targeting, Helmet-to-helmet and Vontez Burfict. Targeting is bad. Taking cheap shots at players heads is bad. Failing to control your aggression and causing potentially life-changing injuries is something both the NCAA and NFL need to prevent. But the trouble comes about when they penalize a result or a repeat offender way beyond the actual offense. You will be hard pressed to find someone to defend Vontez Burfict’s typical behavior and on-field aggression. He has served multiple suspensions and most of them are well deserved. Suspending him for the remainder of the year for a hit that occurred within the scope of the play seems excessive even given the escaxlating punishments. But his reputation has a major impact here. Here is a link to Burfict’s hit. For comparison, take a look at this hit on Green Bay Packer Running Back Jamaal Williams by Eagles’ Derek Barnett. The hit on Williams was FAR later in the play and completely unnecessary to bring Williams down. It is hard to understand how the NFL can look at that play and not believe he should have been tossed from the game and suspended. To my eyes, the hit on Williams was much more of the hit you are trying to eliminate, especially since it is not really in the scope of the play.

Inadvertent Side-effect of NCAA Redshirting Rule. People rarely feel that the NCAA has an athlete’s best interests in mind. Yet, when the 4 game participation rule was passed last year for football, it seemed like a good way to balance the interests of the players and the universities by allowing athletes to get a bit of experience without losing an entire year of eligibility. Unfortunately, from what you are seeing this year, the inadvertent side effects appear to be reaching epidemic proportions. In the past few weeks, we have had players at Houston and players at Rutgers decide to sit out starting in the middle of the season. Players are deciding after a “poor” start to the season, a mid-season coaching change or a potential coaching change, that they should “stop” playing until the following year so as not to “waste” a year of eligibility. This leaves the team and interim coaches in a really difficult situation where players they were relying on now have the ability to decide not to be part of the team. I am sure that this problem will only grow and ultimately coaches and universities will have to figure out a reasonable (and legal) way to prevent this from happening in the future. UPDATE OCTOBER 8, 2019: NOW EVEN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS COVERING THIS SAME ISSUE!!

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK