College Football Live is having a series of panel discussions on this topic all week. The exchange between Bilas and Saban at the end was very interesting.
There are 12 people on the panel including the host, Rece Davis:
7 ESPN employees:
Mike Bellotti
Jay Bilas (hoops guy with a law degree)
Rod Silmore (football guy with a law degree)
Kirk Herbstreit
Mark May
Urban Meyer
Robert Smith
4 others on the panel:
Mike Tranghese (former Big East commissioner)
Joan Cronan (interim vice chancellor/AD at Tennessee)
Nick Saban
Bob Stoops
Jay Bias - "What would it hurt if we had an Olympic model, where an athlete could cut a reasonable contract, using his or her name and likeness? It wouldn't cost the University anything, and we're using the players as billboards now."
Robert Smith - "I think the best way to do it is to have school sanctioned memorabilia signings."
Urban Meyer - "Does that mean that a Bowling Green athlete is going to be treated less than a Florida athlete? That a women's rower is going to be treated different?"
Bilas - "They're treated less already. These kids have value - they have tremendous value in the marketplace and we're trying to artificially suppress that value."
Stoops - "It's gonna all be about recruiting. You come here, I'm gonna line you up with the BMW dealer, (points to Bellotti) Nike's right next door to us, you're gonna have this, that and the other ... Who can pay him the most? You talk about it getting out of control."
Mark May talked about problems with the team concept, since the QB will get extra compensation and other players won't be able to.
Joan Cronan - "As an AD, I try to picture having a football team with 125 guys, who all have their own agents. Who's in control? How are you gonna have practice when "I need to go sign this today."
Robert Smith - "Terrelle Pryor was worth more at Ohio State than a long snapper that walked on. That's just the way it works, and if he can get money for an autograph signing, he should be able to do that."
Rod Gilmore - "Think about what we're doing. We are taking the rights from an individual player, when he's 17 or 18, and taking it away from him, and now we're saying we're using that as part of the mixture to fund other athletes on other sports. We're taking that individual right - I don't know that that's the right thing to do."
Bellotti - "Are you saying that the money should go to the kid, if he does an autograph signing?"
Gilmore - "Yes"
Smith - "Absolutely, that money should go to that kid, why not?"
somebody - "That's what the pros do right now."
Herbie - "It's all about me, and it's about my dad or my uncle or my street agent. It's about me and it's all about getting yours - getting money. And by opening up and having an agent, or opening up and paying these guys ... 'Hey you gotta hurry up, your autograph show's in an hour, so get dressed and showered up.' That would destroy college athletics."
Tranghese - "We're sitting here talking about money. We don;t talk about any of the good any more. We oughta talk about this, but I think the devil's in the details, and I think it's complex, and you know ... we really have no one in charge, by the way. Anybody who thinks the NCAA is in charge, has got their head in the sand."
Stoops - "My experience at Iowa gave me this opportunity, No one talks about what the value of an education is."
Cronan - "If these guys want to go out and market themselves, they can go to the pro system. But being a college athlete is a privilege."
Bilas - "You force kids to be pros because we don't want to give them anything. We want to keep complete control, God forbid if they made a couple bucks, too. Like a music student could who's on a full music scholarship, can cut a record, can play at Carnegie Hall, can be on TV, can be in a movie, whatever they want. Regular students get paid all the time."
Saban - "There's nobody takin' profits from what we make at Alabama or any of these schools here, and puttin' in in their pocket. It's not a business, it's revenue producing, that's all reinvested back in the university and the athletic department and the program. Nobody's really making money - I mean we get paid salaries."
Bilas - "I'll say." - laughing.
Saban "Do you?"
Bilas nods.
Meyer (to Bilas) - "I really disagree, but I'll tell you what man, you're a helluva lawyer."