DESTIN, Fla. — On the one hand, what this new version of cash-infused college sports needs are rules that everybody follows.
On the other, someone needs to be able to enforce those rules without getting sued into oblivion.
Enter the College Sports Commission, a newly created operation that will be in charge of counting the money, deciding what a “fair market” deal for players looks like and, if things go well, helping everyone in the system avoid trips to court whenever a decision comes down that someone doesn’t like.
With name, image and likeness payments and revenue sharing taking over in college, this group will essentially become what the NCAA committee on infractions used to be: the college sports police, only with the promise of being faster, maybe fairer and maybe more transparent.
In a signal of what the College Sports Commission’s most serious mission might be, the schools from the four most powerful conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision are being asked to sign a document pledging not to rely on state laws — some of which are more permissive of payments to players — to work around the rules the commission is making.