7/4/2011: Stunning news from my colleagues down at the faculty club.
The University of Oregon’s Athletic Department is preparing to free themselves from the NCAA’s oppressive football recruiting rules by forming a new “united sports association”, in congress with other state universities.
Word is that Howard Slusher and Pat Killenny have formed a secret committee of correspondence with financial backing from Phil Knight. UO Athletic Director Rob Mullens and ADs from Auburn, USC, Ohio State, and Michigan State are meeting today in Philadelphia, seeking support from the many other universities that have recently been sanctioned, or are under investigation, by the NCAA. Their declaration is expected to be signed shortly.
NCAA head Mark Emmert maintains the universities have no right to separate, and he is preparing a response that includes a blockade of any signatories – banning his few remaining loyalist colleges and universities from competing or engaging in any other commerce with the rebel association.
Still to be resolved is the status of the players. Some of the united universities think athletes should be paid, while the southern schools prefer keeping strict enforcement of their amateur status, on the grounds of its historic place in their sporting culture. There’s talk of a 3/5ths compromise. Missouri has proposed that half the universities pay the players, the other half keep the existing relationship.
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