Andy Staples on what Florida politicians could do next in the wake of Florida | 12.13.23
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody continued the state’s assault on the College Football Playoff on Tuesday by issuing a subpoena demanding that the CFP turn over records that Moody hopes prove some sort of broad conspiracy against the state of Florida. Moody, a Florida graduate, indicated in a video that she was putting aside her loyalty to the school in order to avenge the Seminoles’ 13-0 elimination from the four-team CFP final. The cabal responsible for this injustice allegedly includes the conference commissioners who run the CFP, the SEC specifically (because Alabama joined instead) and ESPN.
The plan — along with everything else Florida politicians have floated so far — won’t work. The records Moody wants probably don’t exist, and there’s no point in waging a PR battle when the majority of college football viewers don’t care whether Alabama or Florida State takes the field. If Florida’s elected officials really want to make life miserable for CFP party princes while also scoring points with the general population of their state and 49 other states, all they need to do is draft a bill and pass it. Why waste your energy on plays that don’t actually affect the people you want to influence? Why not hit these people in the most sensitive places?
To find out what Florida leaders could do if they really wanted to strike back at the people running the CFP, I contacted someone uniquely qualified for the task. Corey Stanicchia was chief of staff to State Rep. Chip LaMarca when LaMarca led the charge on Florida’s name, image and likeness rights bill. Staniscia is now a lobbyist, but since NIL came into existence in 2021 — thanks to Florida and its decision to pass a bill with the earliest effective date — Staniscia has also moved into the NIL field. He is the director of Fowler Avenue, the group that serves USF sports. So he knows Florida politics And College sports as they exist in 2023.
What would Stanicia do if he were advising Florida legislators? They would be asked to draft a bill that would make it illegal in the state for schools to set rules to prevent bowl games from sharing money with players. In other words, the Orange, Citrus, Gator, Pop-Tarts and Gasparilla Bowls teams will be allowed to pay players. It is the leakage in the dam that would result in the revenue being fully shared with the schools themselves. Or if they are truly If you want to shake the tree, Florida lawmakers could pass a bill that would also allow schools in Florida to strike name, image and likeness deals with their athletes.
This second proposal would codify a proposal introduced by NCAA President Charlie Baker last week in a move that surprised conference commissioners and athletic directors. It’s not going to turn out the way Baker wants it. Baker wants the US Congress to expand antitrust protections to the NCAA and schools and write into law that athletes are not employees. These are pipe dreams that schools will never get.
Florida politicians can give Baker what he wants, but not the way he wants it. Hey, that’s politics. Baker, the former Massachusetts governor, should understand this.
Stanicia knows what college conference commissioners fear most is sharing more money with players. They are all currently lobbying the US Congress to try to ensure they, administrators and athletic coaches continue to keep most of the money. States have imposed it, and this has slightly changed the way money flows. But don’t worry, the officials have new revenue streams – including an upcoming new CFP TV deal. And as the case of former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher’s $76 million buyout of Texas A&M shows, they’ve been able to spend as foolishly as ever even though some of the money is going to the players now. Two and a half years after the actual date proposed by Staniscia, the world had not ended as these officials had expected. In fact, college football’s popularity is on the rise. Talent is distributed more equitably.
So the next bogeyman for the conference commissioners running the CFP is revenue sharing. They predict that the sports you don’t actually care about now (because we know you don’t watch them) will disappear if they have to split more money with the football players. Florida lawmakers could test that idea by passing a bill that would allow bowl games in the state to award money to players participating in those games.
While the idea of a partially edible Pop-Tarts mascot might convince me to play for the bowl game in Orlando on Dec. 28, the surest way to motivate the best players from Kansas State and NC State to play is cold. monetary. Sure, some NFL players might skip a game for fear of injury. But most have a price that would make them more comfortable choosing to play, and while they might publicly protest out of loyalty to conference officials, bowl officials would probably be happy to try to meet that price.
The Citrus Bowl, Gator Bowl, Reliaquest Bowl and Gasparilla Bowl won’t convince many soon-to-be NFL draft picks to play with Best Buy gift cards, but they might do so with a big cash bonus. The main sponsor of the Citrus Bowl is Cheez-It. Maybe Tennessee coach Josh Heupel wouldn’t have to worry about some of his best players skipping the game against Iowa if they got a five-figure bonus for playing and screaming “I woke up feeling like a coward, coach” into the microphone at some point. .
The biggest of course is the orange bowl. Starting next season, the Orange Bowl will be a College Football Playoff. This may only last for two seasons because every aspect of the CFP is on the table before the 2026 season, but it will have a special impact on those two years. Players probably won’t skip the CFP game anyway, but Orange could ensure everyone participates in its game either through a revenue share that offers players an equal amount (like a playoff bonus in the NFL). The game could also leverage title sponsor Capital One to make one-on-one deals with stars. This could be important as bowls and organizing committees — which also bid on national title games — vie for the position of the next decade.
The domino effect of this would be entirely predictable. California, which has already introduced a bill requiring schools in the state to share athletic department revenues with athletes, is certain to follow suit. Now the Rose Bowl will be allowed to pay. Louisiana doesn’t like to be at a competitive disadvantage in these situations. Now the sugar bowl will be inside.
Conference commissioners who told Congress that any kind of revenue share or employee status would kill college sports will see their lobbying efforts become less effective than they are now. Because again, the market will adjust. The world will not end.
Most of the public have come around to the idea that footballers tune in to watch the huge piles of money generated by their games be shared. Florida politicians will get their PR win.
But that’s not the real goal, and everyone knows that. They want to stick it to the people who created the system that stuck it to Florida. Politicians who created a revenue share law can certainly take credit for hitting commissioners where they will hurt. This will be the first step into a whole new world that most of them don’t want.
And given what we’re seeing in the courts, that’s where the world is coming anyway. The players will eventually be employees paid directly by the schools and abide by CBA rules that eliminate all these lawsuits. So making this world come faster won’t hurt anything in the long run. But if the people running Florida really want to answer to the people running the CFP, this is the map.
As college football season reaches its peak, the potential for Florida politicians to impact the College Football Playoff is a relevant and intriguing topic. With powerhouse programs such as the University of Florida and Florida State University, Florida has a strong presence in collegiate football. However, the state’s politicians could potentially wield influence over the playoff system through their support or opposition to proposed changes or expansions. In this highly political climate, the intersection of sports and government creates a compelling discussion on the potential impact of Florida politicians on the College Football Playoff.