House v. NCAA

  This is my last blog before taking a well-deserved vacation. Not that I won’t be following sports. To the contrary, I will be going to college campuses and seeing games in venues I have wanted to visit. It is going to involve a lot of travel and I may need a vacation afterwards just to get some rest. Just kidding there. It’s going to be fun and I fully intend to report about my travels.

Meanwhile, the current landscape of sports is in flux. Not necessarily MLB, the NFL, NHL or NBA, although they may be greatly impacted by what came from a single court case against the NCAA. For the settlement reached in this historic litigation will forever change what college athletics looks like at all levels.

House v NCAA arose from the NCAA rules which “prohibit student-athletes from receiving anything of value in exchange for commercial use” regarding names, images and likeness (NIL), as well as prohibiting conferences and member schools to share the money made from broadcast partners  and any other contracts where the student-athlete’s NIL is used for the benefit of the school. Those were the two main areas of focus of the lawsuit; other monetary issues concerning NIL were also addressed in the complaint. 

The defendants—the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences forged a united front to try to defeat the lawsuit. Yet they had to settle the matter or risk losing more money and more ground in a quickly escalating battle that was going to be worth more and more to the student-athletes and imperil the status of college sports, an already highly monetized entity. 

With the advent of NIL and the uneven calculus which already threatened chaos for the rich, subsidized by the television and streaming markets along with the more traditional big boosters, the defendants had to make a decision to save themselves further damage while weaponizing the settlement as a way to get Congressional oversight heading forward. 

Make no mistake. This is a monumental decision. Everybody wants a piece of the pie. The money is that big. It is reminiscent of how the MLBPA was formed, for free agency threatened to ruin the National Pastime. It is still a highly imperfect marriage, but there is a level of control which allows for large salaries while providing a salary cap to penalize overspending. In that sense, the other three major sports have followed baseball’s lead and have thrived. 

What is not known is how this settlement will actually be distributed. Former athletes from June 15, 2016 to November 3, 2023, the filing date of the lawsuit will receive $2.8 billion minus plaintiffs’ attorneys fees, as determined by the judge. The NCAA will be responsible for $1.1 billion, the Power 5 conferences ponying up about $1.65 billion, with the remaining 27 Division I conferences on the hook for $990 million. The FCS schools are none-too-happy about supporting their richer brethren, when they were not part of the litigation. 

The formulas and how to determine a fair market value for NIL will be subject to changes and be under great scrutiny. While the fair market value is initially determined, it will be subject to recurring, routine evaluation. 

While college sports involve big money generated from football and basketball, there remains a lot of red ink on their ledgers. Which, without cost cutting measures might grow even larger in staggering amounts while at simultaneously having to increase staffing to handle the new issue. 

Venture capital may be a wave of the future in terms of providing athletic departments with the necessary cash to meet their obligations, which includes paying the athletes in the affected class and prospective ones for their NIL. So, too, will corporations see a benefit here to invest—which might require more Congressional intervention to ensure that donors/sponsors receive beneficial tax breaks. 

Moreover, unionization may still be on the horizon. That will not sit well with the bigger or smaller schools. 

And what about reflecting on Title IX implications? That could create even more difficulty in trying not to violate U.S. and state Constitutional issues. 

Payments won’t commence until 2025. So money can be accumulated and set aside. 

In theory that sounds plausible. In reality, there is a whole class present day athletes who want their fair share of NIL money they believe is due them.

Was college sports economics broken? Absolutely. 

This is akin to the doctors employed by hospitals wanting to be much more appropriately compensated for their efforts and reputations. College athletes, perhaps off of high school rankings, as well as performance as collegiate athletes, want to preserve their individual images and capitalize on their worth. The ones who weren’t as fortunate should receive due compensation for what the present athletes will be getting for their images. 

I would love to see what Caitlin Clark receives for remuneration in comparison with her boyfriend, who played on he Iowa Men’s basketball team. Both fall within the aggrieved class. 

Do championship teams such as Georgia football or Kansas basketball warrant more capital to be distributed to their players because they reached the pinnacle and played the most games? Will this create a disparity with also rans and hurt the other 27 Division I conferences, making the already uneven playing field even more skewed? Or could this actually reconfigure things, bringing the big boys to more parity when they must make such large investments in NIL and staff?

What is certain is that this will be relitigated and legislated until most, if not all, are satisfied. Which includes the affected parties. Because the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences are not going to give up too much without still generating sizable profits. 

It’s going to involve a collective meeting of the minds between college administrators, athletic departments and other interested parties, including the athletes who have a seat at the table and a stake in the money. If such can be achieved. If not, the whole institution may crumble. Even if propped up by media money for the foreseeable future.

It would be foolish for me to speculate on how this plays out—compensating the past inequities and looking ahead even a few years out. The defendants might find that the agreement they have now won’t be suitable in 3 or 4 years hence. If they fight over conference allegiances, ergo dollars in their pockets, they will fight to the bitter end. 

Remember House v NCAA. It’s what made college sports different. 

See you in a couple of weeks. I will have plenty to report on at that time. 

In Memoriam, Bill Eisert

  This is the second time this weekend that I am sitting down to write on my laptop. Both sessions are related. Neither one is joyful. 

You reach point in life when you seek peace and comfort in the daily rigors, even if you recognize that, in retirement, getting older has its definite physical limitations. Things that were easier 10 our 15 years ago are now far more difficult to do. No matter how in shape one is. 

For example, trimming the hedges used to be simply a one evening event. Not any longer. 

Staying up for games that run later or are on the West Coast is all but a dream—unless there is a significant nap earlier in the day—and it still is not guaranteed that I will make it past 11:00 before my eyelids tell me to go to sleep. 

This is not to say that aging isn’t good. There are plenty of things to do, places to go which working full time might have inhibited. 

But also what comes with aging is the certainty of death. No matter how much desire there is to live life to the fullest, there are roadblocks to that pleasure. Those barriers happen for many people, in many forms. A clock ticks, in finite minutes.

May 25th was my daughter’s birthday. A day for celebration, even if she was off in California working. 

It should have been a happy day. And for a while, it was. Until one text changed everything.

Bill Eisert, my trial partner at the Office of the Public Defender in Elizabeth, New Jersey had been in the hospital for what we believed was something wrong with his legs. He was unable to stand and move on his own.

The decision was made to move Bill from Overlook Medical Center in Summit to JFK Rehabilitation in Edison. There he would receive the necessary assistance to help him walk again, if possible. 

On Saturday, Bill was being transported to JFK. Somewhere after he reached Edison, the unthinkable occurred. He went into cardiac arrest and never recovered. Bill Eisert was 77.

A funeral date has been set for Wednesday afternoon to permit relatives to arrive back in the country. I spent my disbelieving afternoon and evening writing a eulogy which I never wanted to deliver. 

I am fortunate that very few of my friends or family have passed away in my 73 plus years of life. I am also very cognizant that such a streak isn’t going to last forever. 

This death has affected me differently than many others. Because I lost a brother—even if I grew up without one. 

Bill and I were close. Very close. I understood him, and he could read me. 

We had so much in common. Our ages were not that far apart. We lived just a few towns away. Both of us married in our 30’s and we both had a male and female child. Our sons played high school tennis, and while their teams played each other, they did not directly compete. 

Bill and I shared so much. Almost every day we would eat lunch together in my office, or, celebrating the end of the work week, have lunch out in an event called “Friday Chinese” for the type of food we ate. 

We talked about everything and anything. I would bring obscure information to him and he would devour it. For Bill Eisert was brilliant, with an intellect so sharp and a sense of humor that ran deep. 

Our work wasn’t pretty. Representing juveniles accused of offenses which, if an adult, would be crimes, is one of the hardest things to do. On a daily basis, we toiled in an unforgiving environment where parents, judges and prosecutors many times were rigidly aligned against us, and our clients were angry and bitter. 

That is why we sought solace in subjects other than our work. Which included sports, playing tennis, running and especially crossword puzzles, which we treated like it was sport, whether we were in court surreptitiously filling in the blanks, during our lunch break, or on the train to a Senior Citizen day game at Yankee Stadium, carrying our subs we purchased in Cranford, his adult life home town. 

Bill had an affinity for sports which began in his youth, like so many of us. He was a native New Yorker, so his allegiance was to the core New York professional teams. Except the New York Mets—he disliked them as intensely as the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and New England Patriots.

We could spend countless hours talking about the Yankees. We lived merrily through the Jeter years and then suffered since 2009 without an additional championship. 

Bill loved to recount that he was present the day Mickey Mantle hit a ball off the facade at the old Yankee Stadium. He lamented about the death of the holiday doubleheader, an event he partook in his youth. To him, Whitey Ford was the greatest pitcher ever to don the pinstripes, although he did like Mariano Rivera very much. The list was endless as to what he loved about his team and how we debated the merits of the roster, the outcome of a game or mere off-season speculation. He knew the statistics of certain players, and who he liked and disliked on the Yankees and the opposition was clear. 

We reminisced about the Knicks championship teams. We struggled with the lousy play of the Jets. And we groused about the Rangers. He had passing interest in the New Jersey Devils, and gave up on the Nets when they left the Meadowlands for Brooklyn. The Islanders lived on Long Island, which could have been Vancouver, as far as Bill was concerned.  

His alma mater was Northwestern. Bill would talk about the games and players of his era, along with the head coach, Ara Parseghian, who later became famous at Notre Dame, to Bill’s chagrin. He became a college fan at Northwestern after a short football playing career in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he was raised after his family moved from Manhattan.

But he became a bigger fan of Rutgers, his law school university. His parents had tickets to football games, and so did Bill. I was fortunate enough to go with him to some of the most memorable games—the Louisville and South Florida upset wins; Notre Dame coming to Piscataway; and even going onto the field when his son was being recruited to play. 

We went to basketball and baseball games as well as wresting matches. We followed everything Scarlet Knights, exhaustively discussing how good or bad the teams were doing each season.

What separated Bill from anyone else I know was his love for Division III sports, which was enhanced by his son playing football at Williams College and his daughter playing tennis at Goucher College. I saw a Williams game at Wesleyan as Bill’s guest. I took him to Lancaster to see F&M play and when the Diplomats’ men’s basketball team had a NCAA game at William Paterson University. I had to be on my toes about NESCAC teams as much as the Centennial Conference, and even the hated Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or any other DIII conference. 

Now, sadly, I will have no one to simultaneously discuss what is going on with Williams or Amherst, F&M and Dickinson (although I have F&M friends for the latter). We would have been on top of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament which ends on Memorial Day, a precursor to the NCAA Baseball Championships in Omaha in June. 

The Yankees are winning like crazy. He would have like that. Maybe this is the year for the Jets. He would be rightfully skeptical if not downright dubious. He wouldn’t be satisfied with the Knicks or Rangers. And if Williams lost the Directors’ Cup, emblematic of the best DIII college sports school, he wouldn’t have been happy. (The Ephs were in third place, behind NYU and Johns Hopkins through the fall and winter sports)

I have written my eulogy. It plays heavily on the sports theme. I am giving it on Wednesday at the funeral. He would have liked my words but hated being the center of attention. That would be the final indignity for him, a life lived long but not long enough. 

No more New Year’s Eve with him, eating Chinese and watching football with his wife falling asleep but always awakening just before midnight. No more excoriating politics, discussing the arts or going to a gallery. No more pontificating as only we could do. No more watching him happily inhale ice cream after dinner.

I still have my wonderful family. I still have great friends. There is a lot to live for. 

It’s going to be a lot lonelier without Bill.

TV Sports Is MyLife--Just No Yankees Games For Me

  I have been inundated with sports of consequence. I will get to that later in this edition. 

Mind you, I am still not watching the New York Yankees, as the team has been on an unbelievable roll, spearheaded by Aaron Judge and despite a slump by Juan Soto, who broke out of it in a big way Saturday by reaching base five times for the 11th time in his still young career and smashing two 400’ plus homers.  I wear my Yankees cap proudly these days, as the Bombers sit in first place, still in a season-long fight with Baltimore for AL East supremacy. 

To the Philadelphia fans who still haven’t gotten over the Sixers going out in the first round to the New York Knicks, take a gander at your Phillies. Sitting atop the NL East, in possession of the best record in baseball. The Phils have the only winning percentage above .700. They have gone 10-0 against the formidable NL West, winning series against the Padres, Rockies and Giants. In the NL East, the Phillies are 10-5; they have a MLB-leading 18-8 home record and have gone 15-6 on the road. Only playing the NL Central have the Phillies struggled, going 7-7. The team’s run differential is 74, tied with the Yankees and trailing only the offensive-minded Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Star player Bryce Harper leads the way with 10 home runs and 33 R.B.I. Alec Bohm has blossomed, carrying a .329 batting average. J.T. Realmuto is solid behind the plate and is competent with the bat, hitting for a .275 average.

There are some low batting averages from mainstays like Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Whit Merrifield and Garrett Stubbs. Edmundo Sosa has filled in well at shortstop with Trea Turner hobbled with a hamstring injury.

Ace Zach Wheeler, who began the season 0-3, is now 5-3 with a 2.52 E.R.A. Aaron Nola is 5-2 and has a 3.10 E.R.A. When Taijuan Walker returns from injury, the Phillies starting rotation will be that much stronger. While Jeff Hoffman has a stellar 0.90 E.R.A., he has blown three saves in six chances; that could be trouble as the season progresses.

The team still has to face the Orioles in Baltimore; host the Yankees; play the Dodgers home and home; and contend with NL East rival Atlanta in a number of crucial games. For now, the perpetually dissatisfied Phillies fans should be cheering, not booing (too much).

And those Dodgers keep on rolling. Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani form one of the top two slugging duos in baseball (Judge and Soto being the other one), augmented by the ever-steady Will Smith. Freddie Freeman, currently hitting just below .300, hasn’t hit full stride yet. That make the Dodger super scary.

The LAD pitching has been outstanding. Tyler Glasnow has a 6-2 record with a 2.90 E.R.A. and 81 strikeouts. With Walker Buehler back in the rotation, the Dodgers are even tougher. Closer Evan Phillips has an 0.66 E.R.A. and has converted all eight save opportunities. 

Los Angeles was the heavy favorite to win it all. They are right in the thick of things. With Betts and Ohtani playing for NL M.V.P. honors, expect LAD to continue its onslaught.

Enough baseball. It is playoff time in the NBA and NHL. This year, fans in Dallas, Denver, New York and Boston were able to see their respective two teams from the winter season continue playing in May, as the Mavericks and Stars, Nuggets and Avalanche, Knicks and Rangers, and Celtics and Bruins all made it to the second round. Now, only Dallas fans have teams in conference finals.

The Celtics have manhandled their opposition thus far. Not sweeping the series isn’t a sign of weakness; as the team goes forward, we will see if the Kristaps Porzingis injury make the team more vulnerable. 

Dallas survived a nip-and-tuck Game 6 at home against a young and determined Oklahoma City squad, winning when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the star of the Thunder, tried too hard to block the final three point shot attempt of P.J. Washington. Washington made the first two free throws then intentionally missed the third, causing OKC to unsuccessfully heave the ball down the court towards the basket as time ran out. 

Both victorious teams awaited the results from two Game 7’s. Upstart Minnesota had blown out defending champ Denver three times en route to tying the series at 3. The last rout was by 45 points, setting up the deciding game on the Nuggets home floor. 

New York came from a bruising six game soiree with Philadelphia and took a 2-0 lead over Indiana. Once the Pacers returned home, they held serve. Back at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks returned the favor by smashing Indiana. Playing with a ferocity that came from their head coach, Rick Carlisle, a member of Boston championship teams led by Larry Bird and Kevin Mc Hale, the Pacers stunned the Knicks. 

Heading into the seventh game, an already banged up New York team entered the game unsure if forwards O.G. Anunoby and Josh Hart would play. O.G. hurt his hamstring in Game 2 and hadn’t played since. Hart hurt his abdomen in Game 6, reducing his effectiveness on the boards and as a defender. 

Nobody told Indiana that they weren’t headed to the Eastern Conference final. In a record-setting shooting display, the Pacers thoroughly dismantled a feisty but in the end, overmatched New York team which made a gallant effort. Don’t dismiss Indiana as a huge underdog—they have the moxie to take it to Boston. 

And no reigning champion will repeat for the sixth straight year. With a stunning second half comeback, Minnesota dethroned the Nuggets. Dallas and Minnesota will vie for the 

Western Conference berth in the NBA Finals.

In the NHL, New York stunned Carolina in Raleigh with a three goal third period outburst by Chris Kreider, the Blueshirts’ all-time playoff goal scorer. Florida shocked Boston, scoring in the last two minutes of Game 6, and holding on to silence a frenzied TD Garden crowd and end the series. The Florida-New York Rangers matchup will be a tough one, with whoever survives being a good prospect to win the Stanley Cup.

Out West, Dallas was just better than Colorado. The Stars are a complete team. They await the winner of a Game 7 between two Canadian franchises—Vancouver and Edmonton. Whichever team emerges from the winner-take-all battle in Vancouver will be the last chance for Canada to win a Stanley Cup. 

All of the games have been high-octane battles. So much fun to watch, even if the New Jersey Devis never made the tournament and still are searching for a head coach. That is the essence of playoff hockey.

If all this wasn’t enough, we had the announcement of NFL schedule on May 15th—the New York Jets host four night games and play in three more prime time clashes, including meeting the Vikings in England. When the Jets fans complained, the snide NFL reminded them that the Jets owed the NFL this season—referring to star acquisition Aaron Rodgers going down with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury six plays into the 2023 season. Lucky us. 

Caitlin Clark made her WNBA debut. Fresh off a second place finish in the recent NCAA Tournament, her not-ready-for-prime time Indiana Fever team lost its first three games. Clark will adjust to the physicality of the league; that she scored 20 points twice shows how good she can be. 

The PGA Tournament was contested in Louisville, Kentucky. With 15 players within five stokes of the American twin leaders Colin Morikowa and Xander Schauffele as play began on Sunday, the finish was poised to be truly exciting. Xander won it all, besting Bryson DeChambeau by one shot. 

Except that World #1 ranked Scottie Scheffler got into a heap of trouble on Friday morning at the scene of a pedestrian fatality near the golf course. Whatever the outcome, sports fans and non-sports fans alike will remember this rather than the level of play exhibited all four days. 

If all this tension wasn’t enough, The Preakness went to the wire where Seize the Grey ended Kentucky Derby winner Mystic Dan’s chance at a Triple Crown. And the Core Hydration Classic featured three US Olympic All-Around champions meeting for the first time as the US women head to the Olympic Trials and then onto Paris, the site of the 2024 Summer Games. Simone Biles once more showed her greatness, winning the title in Hartford.

Whew. I’m tired from this summary. While my eyes need a rest, that just isn’t happening. TV sports is my life—just no Yankees games for me.