As July 1 fastly approaches, college football will experience another major change to the sport, and that is revenue sharing.
Penn State coach James Franklin appeared on the Triple Option Podcast presented by Wendy’s hosted by FOX’s Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, and Urban Meyer.
Meyer didn’t start the interview with an easy lay up for Franklin, going full bore into the potential legislation in his questioning.
Franklin didn’t shy away from Meyer’s question.
“I think what the hope is that everybody’s going to have to sign in and agree to this,” Franklin said. “And then with that, you’re basically saying, if you want to be a part of this, that you’re agreeing to all the rules. And how everything needs to play out, the guidelines of how we’re all going to operate within this system. And with that, from what I understand, you’re not going to be able to sue. If you want to be a part of this, you’re in and if you don’t want to be a part of it, then go play somewhere else, whether it’s NAIA or whatever it may be.”
Franklin has been a staunch advocate of protecting the sport through all the radical changes.
During last season’s College Football Playoff run, Franklin mentioned many times that he wanted a transformational relationship with athletes instead of a transactional one, suggesting all teams play in a conference with the same scheduling structure, even suggesting there be a strong centralized body overseeing college football. Franklin namedropped former Alabama head coach Nick Saban to be the commissioner of college football.
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But as the sports begins to make these major changes, there needs to be strong governance, compliance, and more efficient enforcement on infractions.
James Franklin ahead of the Nittany Lions matchup against the Irish in the Orange Bowl.
“There is going to be an entity and an arm that is going to be on enforcement,”‘Franklin said. “And this is going to be different than anything we’ve all experienced because they’re going to have subpoena power and they are going to act and act swiftly. This is not going to be one of these things that we’ve all kind of grew up with under the NCAA where it goes on for two years. A lot of times the coach is gone and the next coach is coming in and having to deal with it, myself included. This is going to be something where decisions are going to be made and made swiftly. Very similar to, I think, maybe a Major League Baseball model, an NFL model.”
Currently, Franklin hasn’t seen final proposals and mentioned it was more at a “presidential/athletic director level.”
Franklin did say that at Big Ten meeting there was a general overview of what is being proposed.
Franklin feels, as this new oversight entity is developed and adopted universally, it’s going to be tough for holdouts not to sign it because of the major financial implications that all parties are tied to.
“Yeah, I think at the end of the day, everything is going to fall under this umbrella because the reality is right now,” Franklin said. “it’s going to be the Big Ten commissioner, the SEC commissioner, and this entity.You know, people are going to get upset when I say that, but they’re going to be the ones running it. And obviously other commissioners from other conferences are going to have a voice as well.”
If there’s a potential hanger to this new structure, it might be challenged by schools who don’t face the financial implications that schools like Penn State face.
“I think the challenge…is in the old days under the NCAA structure, Penn State would have a vote. Ohio State would have a vote. They’d be the same. An FCS school or a smaller school, 1-AA school would have a similar vote under the NCAA structure that we would. And you’d be trying to get things passed and you try to get rules involved, and they were trying to treat us all the same, but we’re not.”
Franklin feels that at all levels the structure is necessary to protect the game, and that all parties are aligned and are close to achieving this structure.
