In the precarious state of a century-old college sports conference facing extinction, and student-athletes gearing up for grueling nationwide travels, the attorney who could arguably be attributed to these monumental shifts expresses his discontent with the situation.
Andrew Coats, the legal mind who, back in 1984, successfully persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to grant universities the authority to maximize football revenues, thereby triggering a race for television-based financial gains and the current sweeping transformations, now looks back with remorse at the influential case he effectively argued.
"I believe I've inadvertently disrupted college football across the entire spectrum because of that case," Coats shared candidly with NBC News, reflecting on his role in the case of NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of "Oklahoma".
The highest judicial body in the U.S. ruled in favor of Coats' clients, asserting that the overseeing entity of college sports couldn't curtail the trading rights of schools and their respective conferences.
Consequently, the once-stable domain of college football has evolved into a ceaseless exchange, where universities perpetually shift conference affiliations, all driven by the pursuit of more profitable TV contracts. Consequently, the Pac-12, a historic conference with a 108-year legacy, now faces a future with only four schools remaining and the looming possibility of complete dissolution.
These significant agreements have led to an unprecedented surge in the value of televised college football games in recent decades, often at the expense of student-athletes who, across all sports, now routinely travel thousands of miles for games that were once easily accessible through short flights or bus rides.
As of late, Notre Dame's Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick, bluntly labeled the conference shifts a "complete disaster."
"I think decision-making has lost sight of its focus on the student-athlete and what's truly in their best interest," he voiced on "The Dan Patrick Show" last Wednesday. "I'm a strong proponent of emphasizing regional scheduling – it's a logical step."
Although the 1984 case primarily revolved around televised football, its practical repercussions have impacted all sports programs. Athletes in non-revenue and Olympic sports bear an equal or potentially greater burden of extended travel.
Oregon softball player Paige Sinicki grimaced at the newfound reality of distant conference games. Sinicki noted that she hadn't signed up for cross-country trips like the one to New Jersey when committing to play for the Ducks.
"I chose to compete in a high-level softball conference where being close to home would let my parents watch my games," Sinicki recently stated on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "It's disheartening to realize that in my senior year, I'll be playing as far as New Jersey Rutgers, as well as other schools on the East Coast."
"Hopefully, as student-athletes will receive the support we need for all the travel, time zone adjustments, and hours spent on the road every week!" she emphasized in another post.
Ben Westfall, the voice behind Marshall University's Thundering Herd soccer, volleyball, baseball, and softball events, stressed that decision-makers aren't adequately considering athletes in non-revenue sports who bear the brunt of extended travel.
With Marshall about to embark on its first academic year in the Sun Belt Conference, which stretches from New Orleans to San Marcos, Texas, Westfall noted that this realignment isn't solely about money; it affects everyone, especially athletes. He expressed concern over the transformation of college athletics.
This financially-driven trajectory was laid by Coats and his clients, ushering in round-the-clock football on TV and instabilities within conferences.
In essence, virtually every game in college football's highest tier, the Football Bowl Subdivision, is now either streamed or broadcast on national or regional television. The 2023-24 FBS season kicks off as Navy faces Notre Dame, a game airing at 2:30 p.m. EDT on NBC from Dublin.
On a typical autumn Saturday, a college football enthusiast can sit down to watch a Big Ten game starting at noon ET and stay engaged, remote in hand and a drink nearby, until the last West Coast game concludes, often well past 2 a.m. on Sunday. With the right cable or satellite packages and streaming services, more than 100 games can be enjoyed each fall Saturday.
However, prior to NCAA v. Board of Regents, only a few games made it to the airwaves, usually the biggest annual matchups like Michigan-Ohio State, USC-UCLA, Texas-Oklahoma, and Army-Navy.
"When this case was decided, it opened the floodgates," observed Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and TV historian. "From having just one game a week, it eventually led to almost every game being televised, and it obliterated the concept of geographical limitations."
Television networks, fueled by substantial investments, seek to showcase the most prominent names in college football, regardless of their locations. This has driven a series of conference reshufflings that maximize marketability but have thoroughly baffled mapmakers.
The most notable seismic shift was declared thirteen months ago when both USC and UCLA from Los Angeles announced they'd be joining the Big Ten, which will soon comprise 18 schools, based in Rosemont, Illinois, in 2024-25.
As it turned out, the USC and UCLA departures led to a cascade effect that has potentially led to the downfall of the century-old Pac-12. Oregon and Washington, following their Los Angeles counterparts, are slated to join the Big Ten in 2024-25. Earlier this summer, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado revealed plans to leave the Pac-12 and join the Big 12 within a year.
The remaining Pac-12 schools, California, Stanford, Washington State, and Oregon State, find themselves in limbo due to the probable demise of their conference. It was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, with founding members Cal, Washington, Oregon, and what was then known as Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State).
For college sports enthusiasts, this will mark a significant shift, where USC might frequently compete against Penn State in various sports, while encounters with Stanford become rare. The storied Oklahoma-Oklahoma State rivalry could potentially fade into history.
Coats, now 88 years old, who still teaches law at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, and served as the mayor of Oklahoma City from 1983 to 1987, shared, "It's disheartening to witness the extent of these changes. But I doubt anyone could have foreseen the outcome."
Coats stated that his side, including co-litigants from the University of Georgia, had aimed for an out-of-court resolution with the NCAA, which would have maintained TV negotiation authority within the central college sports authority. However, once the Supreme Court made its decision, significant financial decisions were placed in the hands of conferences and schools, leading to the chaotic changes currently unfolding.
"We endeavored to negotiate some form of agreement at every stage, to limit the extent of what would occur. Yet, we discovered that 'NCAA' seemed to stand for 'Never Compromise Anything at any time'; they wouldn't even engage in a discussion with us," Coats revealed.
The NCAA did not respond to NBC News' request for comment on Friday.
Even if the legal action of Oklahoma and Georgia hadn't succeeded, Robert Thompson, the Syracuse University professor, maintained that the drive for more high-profile, cross-conference matchups was inevitable.
"I concur with his assertion that by arguing that case and winning it, he inadvertently disrupted college football," Thompson remarked, with a chuckle. "However, it's worth mentioning that even if he hadn't been there to bring about this disruption, there were numerous others in line to do the same."
Denis Crawford, a historian from the College Football Hall of Fame, agreed that the evolution of the sport is bound to transpire, irrespective of the existing powers.
"Upon reviewing the scope of college football, one consistently observes its evolution," Crawford stated. "Change is an intrinsic aspect, and whether it's perceived as beneficial or detrimental is subjective and up to the individual consumer."
The court's 1984 ruling favored Oklahoma and Georgia by a 7-2 margin, with dissent from Justices Byron "Whizzer" White and William Rehnquist.
Coats recounted an encounter with White, who was once a college football star at Colorado, during a social event several months after the ruling. White's prescient words during that interaction now seem to foreshadow the extensive ramifications that ensued.
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