Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Is There A FATAL FLAW In House vs. NCAA Settlement? | UNC's Entanglements With ACC Revealed

Starting point is 00:00:00 This multi-billion dollar settlement seems to solve a lot of the NCAA problems, but is there a fatal flaw? You are Locked-on ACCC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday, and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. we are part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. On this episode, we will talk about an interesting point that the ACC made in their motion to dismiss the Clemson versus ACC lawsuit in South Carolina. Reasons why it would be very difficult for UNC to leave the conference. I know there have been a lot of links lately to the UNC, possibly joining the SEC, why that would be more difficult than you think. But I want to talk first about this landmark House versus NCAA settlement. And Kenton, we moved a huge step closer to this becoming a reality because this has been approved by the power conferences.

Starting point is 00:01:24 It's been approved by the NCAA board of governors. Just so people know, it's not a done deal yet because this still needs to be reviewed by a judge for the next several. months. So when we talk about what is, it's going to change college football and college sports completely. Once we get to this revenue sharing, which may start as soon as 2025, you may have revenue being shared of $20 million or more shared with student athletes by each member of the power conferences. But it's a lot more complicated than all this, Kenton, because there may still be a big stumbling block in this House versus NCAA settlement solving all the NCAA's problems. Because the way that this issue has been reported on for the past several weeks is once this

Starting point is 00:02:09 settlement passes, it protects the NCAA from any other antitrust lawsuits. It essentially wraps them in Teflon for antitrust lawsuits. But there's another antitrust case where there are different lawyers because it's the same lawyer for most of these cases, including how but not in the case of Fontenow versus the NCAA. And on Monday, attorneys representing two former University of Colorado athletes, Alex Fontano and Maya Hollingshead, in a putative class action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, they filed a notice with the court signaling their potential objections

Starting point is 00:02:47 to a forthcoming multi-billion dollar settlement, which is House versus NCAA. In their filing, the plaintiff lawyers in Fontenow versus NCAA, who are fighting to keep their case from being snuffed out by the House settlement, told a Colorado federal court that they would, quote, scrutinize the actual terms of any proposed settlement that impacts their own and proposed class members claims surmising that, quote, one or more of the named plaintiffs in House will opt out of its settlement

Starting point is 00:03:16 to join the Fontano versus NCAA case and seek better and fairer terms for athletes. And I know that they're desperately trying to snuff out this Fontenow case. I wonder if this is going to get legs. Because again, we talk about these lawyers. Like, this guy may be in it for his own legal fees and stuff, but it doesn't sound like he's just going to lay down and allow the house settlement to stop him from suing the NCAA. My Lord, if I got to hear about one more court case, I'm going to pull out some hair that I don't even have. You understand, this is getting intense.

Starting point is 00:03:50 But in all seriousness, this is absolutely a fatal flaw, right? This is supposed to be your protection from these types of things. This is supposed to be your, it's like a team running triple option that can't be, that can't stay on schedule in terms of first and second down. That's the whole premise. You three yard in the cloud of dust your way to a championship. That's what is supposed to happen here in the same way that this original settlement in the house case was supposed to cover. This was supposed to be the catch-all. This was supposed to be no more.

Starting point is 00:04:19 I don't want to hear anything else about this. And, you know, this is, if there is a situation where the NCAA is getting sued again, far be it for me to take up for the NCAA, but boy, Julius Caesar had better friends than them at this point, because I mean, they are going to be cooked, done for if there's not only this final case,

Starting point is 00:04:38 but even more cases subsequently after that, how much more, how many more billions do you have to give up? It becomes the question at a point. You know, so if this does grow legs, I very much so believe that we are already looking at not the death of the NCAA, but a great reduction of the NCAA. The NCAA being pulled down from its king's throne

Starting point is 00:05:03 and being thrown into the Jester's dungeon or whatever that type of situation would look like. It's something like that. I think that's what we're already saying. If there are multiple billion dollar lawsuits, I would not be surprised if they're like, hey, that's it. That's enough. We can't do this anymore. We are financially insolvent.

Starting point is 00:05:20 Give me that chapter 11 and we're done here. because, yeah, it just wouldn't continue in a feasible direction. Yeah, so here what's the latest court ruling on this Fontano case, which again is separate from the House case and the settlement. They do not want to be confined within that settlement. This is from On Free NIL in a significant ruling. This came down Thursday yesterday. In a significant ruling, Judge Charlotte N. said Thursday the case would remain in Colorado and proceed outside the House.

Starting point is 00:05:52 settlement. The plaintiff's attorneys in the House case have no concerns that athletes will opt out of the House settlement in the wake of the judge's ruling today. So the Fontenau lawyers, they think that there could be opt out. Basically, I guess the only thing that could save the settlement is if they can keep literally every plaintiff from opting out of the House settlement. But this is still going on, Kenton. Yeah, then this is, if anybody breaks that line, all of a sudden, you're cooked. If anybody steps off and says, hey, we're going to go in the other direction. But I want to, I want to say this. And I know I talk about the history of these things a lot. But when you go back and you look at the history of how the NCAA got here, this isn't an accident, right? This isn't an accident.

Starting point is 00:06:41 And there are so many stories where there's no good guys or there's no bad guys. And this one, there is a definitive bad guy. And that defendant of bad guy is the NCAA. The NCAA constantly acted in its own interest, collecting millions, I'm sorry, collecting billions of dollars while denying players the right to unionize, while the nine players the right to have whatever major they wanted. By the way, if you think I'm lying about that, I want you to ask any former college athlete, were there majors that you could not, especially big time power five former athletes, were there majors that you cannot engage in because of your sport?

Starting point is 00:07:19 I guarantee you if they actually knew the full breadth of majors available and what they could, it could not do because it interrupted one day of practice, if not something more minor than that, you would be just genuinely shocked and surprised. And so I'm saying that not from a standpoint of anger or animus or anything like that. I'm saying this from a standpoint of the facts. The term student athlete was created to deny a young man, workers' comp after he suffered a severe brain injury down at TCU. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:57 So when you think about the long arc of history and how we got here, I don't want anybody feeling bad for the UCA saying, oh man, you know, the governing body that did it right for so long, far being for me, you're making me defend Brian Bosworth. Boswell was actually in the right. It was actually in the right in the 80s. He said, I'm the biggest, baddest guy on the top. The Oklahoma is everything, and I'm everything to Oklahoma. I should be able to make a little bit of money from my shirts.

Starting point is 00:08:27 Yeah. And he couldn't. So I want you to think about this in terms of the NCAA has long been a boogeyman that has suppressed wages, if not outright stolen wages, from 18 to 23, 24 year olds and created an environment where everybody around you was a professional except you. everybody pulled in. Every single coach

Starting point is 00:08:50 pulled into the parking lot at the Murphy Center and this is NC State in particular. Pulled into the Murphy Center riding in the nicest cars you could imagine. And that's not a front to those coaches. I love many of them. I still have great conversation with them.

Starting point is 00:09:04 But they've created a situation where all of them were riding around and nice cars. Meanwhile, some of us didn't have a car we were riding around in beaters. Meanwhile, I've got four or five scars on my body that would not be there without college football. So, yes, I earned a scholarship for what I did and all that good stuff, but there was also things that go beyond, hey, a scholarship necessarily pays for this.

Starting point is 00:09:26 And in incurring those things, the NCAA has taken and taken and taken and not given at any point. And there was only so much you could pull on a band. It was only so elastic before it pop. And we're watching that rubber band pop and hit the NCAA straight in the face. Yeah. Well, I couldn't have said it any better than former NC State defensive tackle, Kenton, Gibbs just did. And even after this House settlement, assuming, assuming this all goes through is planned and revenue sharing will become a thing, which is fantastic, they're still going to fight

Starting point is 00:09:58 to keep the amateur tag or the student athlete tag on these players. I want to read a pretty telling statement by the Notre Dame president when we come back. Plus, we still do want to talk about all of UNC's entanglements with the ACC, why it would be very difficult for them to leave. We're only getting started. It's Friday, and it's a brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You want to keep it locked. And I already know you're keeping it locked to Fanduel. Folks, we're having so much fun. It's winner take all time in the NBA and NHL, and Fandual's giving you a shot to bring home a big win

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Starting point is 00:11:06 Fanduel, America's number one sports book. Thank you so much for making this Friday episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Locked on has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today, now available.

Starting point is 00:11:38 on the free Fire TV channels app. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Caines. He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. So Kenton, you know, not everybody is thrilled with this House settlement. I think they all kind of agree from university presidents to NCAA leaders that this was just necessary to avoid bankruptcy in some cases. This is Heather Dinnich published this on X, a statement from the Notre name president who said the settlement, though undesirable in many respects and promising only temporary stability is necessary to avoid what would be the bankruptcy of college athletics.

Starting point is 00:12:19 To save the great American institution of college sports, Congress must pass legislation that will preempt the current patchwork of state laws, establish that our athletes are not employees, but students seeking college degrees and provide protection from further antitrust lawsuits that will allow colleges to make and enforce rules that will protect our student athletes and help ensure competitive equity among our teams. So, man, Kenton, in light of everything you just said about the blood, sweat, tears, and scars, you obtained while playing college sports in a time where there was no compensation and there was no NIL. Now, we have NIL and we have revenue sharing coming possibly a year and a half from now to college athletics,

Starting point is 00:13:06 you know, when you hear a university president of one of the most prominent brands in college athletics, Notre Dame, speak so firmly on the idea that they need to protect the student athlete label and they need to avoid collective bargaining at all costs, which is what he was implying there. I mean, this whole thing, it feels like a half measure. I mean, I'm glad, I'm glad student athletes are going to get this, you know, $20 million cut in revenue. but at some point we can't avoid, these aren't really amateurs anymore. I would love for all athletes, 18 to 22 year olds who are coming into these different universities, aside where they go, I would love for you all to start taking these statements into consideration into where you go, right? Because let me tell you why, Donno. You think they can replace Kyle Hamilton with Sarah O'Malley from Chicago who attended,

Starting point is 00:14:04 Notre Dame. I'm using that as a generic name. Just to, you know, you'd think they can replace him with her on Saturday and that'd be all right? You think? Probably not. You sure? They're both college students seeking degree. They're the same thing. I'm not uncertain. Donald, who's the best player in Miami when you were there? Who's the best player? When I was there, probably, well, I was there when Sean Taylor was there, so I would go with him. God rest of his soul, you sure the hurricanes couldn't have just pulled you?

Starting point is 00:14:34 sure the hurricanes couldn't just pulled you out the stands and said, Dono, go cover that deep third. We'll be all right. You were ready to give it a shot, he says. And this is what I mean in terms of the NCA has taken and taken and taken because this taker's mindset is instilled throughout college administration in a way that is insane. So just to be sure, right, every single student is participating in an activity and which they're running into other large people that, oh, they do it and it creates great enjoyment in others, which makes them spend millions of dollars, if not billions, to come see them do their thing. You have a TV deal with NBC. Brother, what do you mean? They're just regular students. Again, did Connor in biology,

Starting point is 00:15:23 in your biology labs help you get that deal with NBC? Did NBC watch him do cell cultures? Is that what NBC did? No. They paid to see Ricky running waters. They paid to see Rocket Ishmael. They paid to see Malik Zayy. They paid to see all of those guys. Audra Gesta-Bey, Joe, that's what they came to see. So I think it's so, I think it's such a slap in the face. And again, that's why I say, at least you look at who is saying these things. Look at what's going on at these campuses in university and say, you know what? You know, everybody talks about how bad cancel culture is and oh, everybody's always getting canceled.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Athletes should band together and say, if these administrators don't want us getting paid, we don't want you getting paid. So what does that mean? I'm not going to take my task to your school. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. Because what is this? Again, Donald, if you know the creation of that word, if I knew that a word was created

Starting point is 00:16:19 solely to stop or solely to keep a baby crushing machine going, I wouldn't be like that word is going to protect me and I'm going to use it to keep me making money as kidding. No, just off the inception alone, I'm scared. I don't want anything to do with that. And we're still using student athlete despite the fact that, you know, we have grown so much beyond the NCAA being a one-corner office in a building that wasn't even theirs with one file cabinet worth of information to now, again, multiple offices, headquarters in Indianapolis that has billions in the conference. We're in a different situation, buddy. And I'm sorry to tell you, maybe when you were born, the NCAA was in my smallest situation.

Starting point is 00:16:59 Right now, again, you and I are getting paid to talk about the people who get paid to talk about this stuff. So that's how much the ripples are going here. And it's flatly ridiculous to say that. Oh, yeah, we need the Congress to step in and keep them as permanent second class citizens instead of allowing them to get their free market value. There's nothing less American than that. Yeah. And I'm always like on the federal preemption thing, I'm always. I'm always very split on that, you know, when it comes to basically Congress passing laws that, like, supersede state laws.

Starting point is 00:17:32 Like, I'm big on, you know, a certain amount of autonomy among states. Like, there's a reason why we're divided into 50 states, but at the same time. And it's not just about the student athlete label when it comes to NIL regulations, when it comes to, you know, transfer rules where certain states have laws that contradict other states. I'm open to the idea of some form of federal preemption, but if that is under the guise of like squashing the rights that these players have, I'm not in favor of that, which seems to be what the way I would characterize anyway, what the Notre Dame president has said. Got a couple of ACC matters we want to get to, including an interesting,

Starting point is 00:18:14 an interesting take by, because we've talked so much about the Florida state cases, haven't talked as much about the Clemson cases, an interesting statement the ACC made in their motion to dismiss against Clemson in South Carolina, plus some entanglements folks have been published now. Just how intertwined UNC in the state of North Carolina are with the ACC, and why it'd be more difficult for UNC just to walk away from the ACC, as some people would want you to think. You want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC.

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Starting point is 00:19:58 So guys, take the guesswork out of buying NBA playoff tickets with Game Time. Download the GameTime app. Create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code locked on college. all one word for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. So, you know, Kenton, a couple weeks ago, and we covered it ad nauseum on this show, you had that awkward streaming board of trustees meeting at the University of North Carolina.

Starting point is 00:20:43 where, you know, one of their prominent trustees, like openly advocated for finding a different conference, right? Going to the power to increasing the revenue. And literally, it may happen, but my feeling now, after reading what I've just read, I feel like UNC leaving the ACC could probably only happen if the ACC dissolves or collapses first. I hate that they're, they're not going to be getting out before that. So this is unbelievable what Bill Farley, Ph.D. uncovered, he makes some great points after he received the contract between North Carolina's Department of Commerce and the ACC. Remember, UNC is a state institution. So here are some of the terms of that, Kenton. The state of North Carolina set aside nearly

Starting point is 00:21:32 $1 billion this year to promote sports, tourism, and economic development. Investments include $15 million to host ACC events and $25 million. $25 million. to win the University World Summer Games for 2029. The ACC provides North Carolina a source to host multiple events that attract fans to the state. North Carolina is home to four ACC schools. They point out UNC, NC State, Wake Forest, and Duke. Politicians in North Carolina are likely opposed to the optics of North

Starting point is 00:22:04 Carolina universities playing for Big Ten or SEC conference championships in Indianapolis or Atlanta, towns that compete with North Carolina for sports tourism, which is 5% of the state's economic development budget could address the financial gap between UNC and SEC Big Ten members. So at interesting, at the end of it, it sounds like maybe the state might consider like investing money to address that revenue gap. Remember, not all of the universities mentioned, but I guess half of them are state institutions. But it sounds to me, Kenton, like there are a lot of entanglements that would make it very difficult for UNC, who's, you know, the, and I know you're not going to want to hear this word,

Starting point is 00:22:44 but the, I guess the flagship university of North Carolina within the ACC, why them leaving the ACC could be very problematic for the state. Oh, they're absolutely the flagship, the flagship university of the state of North Carolina. Now, the question of why is important because that gets into the problems that we face today and why beyond this, I don't think UNC should be able to leave because there's, the ones the swaffer boys daddy and son father and son are why we're in this situation so i don't think they should be able to leave but going back to the state measures of this and talking about how the states in particular uh or north carolina in particular has so much revenue tied up into

Starting point is 00:23:27 hey we need the acc to be flourishing and thriving we have conference championships in greensborough we have conference championships in charlotte we have conference championships all over the place that is an absolutely amazing point. But this goes to what I said in terms of all of these teams want to leave the conference. And again, we have not thought about the logistics and the parts of this that are not obvious. But it's a, you throw a rock in a pond and it ripples out, right? The butterfly effect. If you clip of butterflies wings after you go into the past, you can start a tsunami somewhere in West Africa.

Starting point is 00:24:02 It's literally that same deal here. if these teams wanted to leave and if they were able to leave in that way, we are completely forgetting other consequences that would happen. So of the magnificent 7 or whatever the case may have been with the teams that were deciding whether or not they were going to leave, at least two of them were in the state of North Carolina. Hmm. Hmm.

Starting point is 00:24:25 So your 7 just went down to 5, didn't it? Hmm. Interesting. How that works out. The reality is very simple. This is, again, one of those unintended consequences that you do. didn't see, but it sneaks up on you, it hits you like a Mac truck. When you try to pull off these really major things in practice, right? Because we all know that absolutes are only for babies and fools.

Starting point is 00:24:46 In the real world, there is nuance, there's complexity. There's all these layers that work together, crossing things up and working and getting on top of each other. And now North Carolina is bonded with the ACC in a particular way that now state universities leaving the ACC would mean, a particular problem, not just for the ACC, but for the state of North Carolina altogether, which then becomes a circular problem where, oh, no, the state's losing money, which means the schools are losing money. So you're going to lose money to make more money. You know, it's a, it's a cluster word that I can't say without getting that call from David Locke. And, you know, they're not going anywhere anytime. Yeah. And obviously, you know, Florida State and Clemson

Starting point is 00:25:31 in Florida and South Carolina do not have entanglements like that. That's a very, very unique North Carolina issue. I did read something interesting when I was trying to seek more information on what's going on in the courts between Clemson and the ACC, because we read so much and we talk so much about Florida State. There are multiple lawsuits involving the ACC. I was reading a piece. It was actually on a Cal sports website. Remember, Cal is now in the ACC, so they got people right. Shout out to the Golden Bears, baby. Yeah, this was written by a legal analyst named Nick Franz, who observed the recent motion to dismiss slash motion to stay that the ACC filed in the Clemson versus ACC lawsuit in Pickens County, South Carolina.

Starting point is 00:26:15 And he says the ACC opened with a brief summary of how Clemson has loved the ACC until it didn't work for them. In fact, when Maryland successfully left the ACC, Clemson authorized a lawsuit in North Carolina to seek more than 52 million in damages, even though Maryland is as sovereign an entity is Clemson. They reiterate all the times Clemson signed all the documents in dispute and made comments about how great they are, great being the ACC. So it's, and listen, Kent, I think everyone needs to acknowledge, right? And I, you know, I, I try not to, I'm very much just open to what happens here. Like, I don't really have a bias or a horse in the race either

Starting point is 00:26:58 way. Like if Florida State and Clemson were able to win and get out, I would find that fascinating. And it is someone. who covers Miami, I would love to see how that would impact Miami in the future. So I don't have a horse in this race, but I think everyone does have to acknowledge that, you know, for Clemson and Florida State and anyone else, like they love the ACC until it wasn't any longer convenient to do so. And you know what? It's definitely not convenient to love them now.

Starting point is 00:27:22 So I can understand why they're trying to get out. But that is interesting. The ACC does have some ammunition of the way these universities supported them until it no longer benefited them to do so. Yeah, apparently the ACC commissioner and company need to stand outside of Florida State and South Carolina facilities plan 21 questions by 50 cents because they are not going to be loved when they're down and out. But in all seriousness, this is a moment that you're seeing here where we are seeing the greatest this you and possibly the most expensive this you in the history of the world. What do you mean? Hey, remember that time where you guys wanted to challenge somebody's immunity as a state university?

Starting point is 00:28:03 university, this is your signature, right? This is you? Right? You did this? Hmm. I don't know if that under my education, but it might help. It might help to do so. That could be costly. Those signatures to say, hey, we're suing Maryland could cost them a lot of money, a whole lot of ducats all at one time. Yeah. And assuming that's all on the level, I mean, we'll talk more next week about Clemson's counterarguments because I do, I do feel like Clemson has a strong case. And it seems like Clemson actually, has laid some foundations to their case a little bit better than Florida State did initially. Florida State's been able to read off their notes and, you know, amend their complaints and everything. So we'll talk more about it next week.

Starting point is 00:28:43 He is Kenton, Gives. Follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Follow me at Alex Dono. He hosts Lockdown Wolfpack. I host Lockdown Canes. We'll talk to you guys next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Is There A FATAL FLAW In House vs. NCAA Settlement? | UNC's Entanglements With ACC Revealed

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