NCAA logoIt’s been a roller-coaster week for the NCAA, a much-besieged group that is fighting for survival and trying to find a path to relevancy in the future landscape of college athletics.
It seems somewhat awkward that the governing body of college sports is now wondering what its role will be in college sports, but the last week shows that the guard dog that was the NCAA carries little bite and the muted tones of its bark seem to be falling more and more frequently on deaf ears.
The lawsuit brought by former college basketball and football players against video-game giant EA Sports was settled this week for a reported $40 million. While that seems like a lot of coin, know that EA Sports reported revenues in the $3.8 billion range — yes, billion with a “B” — for the last fiscal year.
No, EA Sports settled to be done with this — it admits no guilt in the agreement, mind you — and even released this doozy on the way out: “We follow rules that are set by the NCAA, but those rules are being challenged by some student-athletes.”
You bet those rules are being challenged, and they are coming from all angles. Ultimately whether the NCAA survives the transformation could depend on how it handles the current.