The Wyoming congressional delegation — Sens. Barrasso and Lummis, and Rep. Hageman — are poised to play a pivotal role in the future of athletics at the University of Wyoming.
Why? Because companion bills reforming the problematic issues that have plagued college athletics in recent years have been filed in both houses of Congress.
Wyoming’s respected and effective congressional delegation, a delegation representing the only state having but one university, are interested in fixing the problems. Some background:
The “House Settlement," NIL, the Transfer Portal, Revenue Sharing - terms that have been in the news in recent years, have been implemented as NCAA “rules”. The rules are the mess that currently is college athletics. Together, they constitute a new and flawed model for intercollegiate athletics.
The transfer portal rule was an idea of the NCAA bureaucracy but was subsequently affected negatively by litigation. The House Settlement, NIL and Revenue Sharing rules are the result of lawsuits in which neither UW nor the Mountain West Conference (“MWC”) were parties.
Gone from college athletics is the amateur model, developed and refined over 174 years. In its place is what some pundits have called the “Wild West model” and what I call the helter-skelter model, a chaotic, no-holds-barred free-for-all, without adult supervision.
The new model encourages 18-year-olds to learn the art of disloyalty and deception; of making threats for money; of how to break commitments without accountability.
It’s a model that holds success is measured in money and money is the most important consideration in decision-making.
It’s a model that encourages predatory “agents” to prey on unsophisticated, inexperienced youngsters.
It’s a model that threatens to force athletic programs to abandon or cut back minor sports, Olympic sports and women’s sports. Why? Because revenue from the major sports, once directed to supporting minor sports, is now being “shared”.
The new model is the result of two things: bureaucratic ineptitude (transfer portal) and litigation resulting in judicial decrees and “settlements”. Lawsuits instigated by only a few “parties” resulted in judicial decrees and “settlements” that adversely affect many nonparty institutions and individuals.
The House lawsuit, for instance, named the NCAA and the Power Five (now Four) conferences, as the defending parties in litigation concerning primarily revenue from football and basketball. The Group of Five (now six) conferences, of which the MWC is one, were kept outside as the Power Five and NCAA negotiated with the plaintiffs.
The MWC and other non-power conferences objected that five large and wealthy conferences were allowed to negotiate a deal that dictated their financial futures and budgets without their input or consent.
The objections fell on the deaf ears of Judge Claudia Wilken, a San Francisco-based 76-year-old federal judge on senior status, who had presided over two other antitrust cases involving the NCAA.
Wilken single-handedly has done more to reshape college athletics than any other living judge. And she did so without any input from the majority of students and conferences who would be affected. The results suggest she may have forgotten that the affected institutions are “nonprofit”.
The dystopia that is college athletics came about because a judge, some representatives of the big and wealthy athletic conferences and a few bureaucrats from the NCAA, took the opportunity to reimagine the college athletic model. They did so apparently without knowledge of the consequences.
To be fair, one of the judge’s NCAA cases was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and upheld. That case began the dismantling of the antitrust exemption the NCAA had always relied on and paved the way for the chaos that exists today.
College athletics continue to be impacted by judicial rulings.
Just this month, a judge in Texas issued an injunction against the NCAA prohibiting the lifetime suspension of Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby who skipped across the transfer portal three times, ending up in Lubbock.
Sorsby was found to have made 9,000 impermissible bets on sporting events, including on games involving his own team. Instead of a lifetime suspension from NCAA competition, the judge enjoined the NCAA and ruled that Sorsby miss the first two games of this season and join Gamblers Anonymous.
Wyoming assistant athletic director Randy Welniak says the belief among his peers is that the Sorsby case means there are no longer any rules nor any mechanisms for enforcement.
The dysfunction since the advent of the new model, has drawn the attention of Congress.
Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman and MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, started meeting with elected representatives from states with MWC members last fall to express the need for congressional action.
Sens. Cruz R-Texas and Cantwell D-Washington introduced the Protect College Sports Act on June 2, with companion legislation also introduced in the House on June 4.
The Senate bill, which has the backing of President Trump, is currently in the “sausage-making” phase. Amendments will be offered at a hearing scheduled for June 18.
The MWC is supportive of the bill in its present form, but acknowledges that improvements can be made. All the presidents of its member institutions, including University of Wyoming President Seidel, have signed a letter of support.
Burman and Nevarez have had numerous meetings on the subject with Sen. Lummis and Rep. Hageman.
Burman has stressed the need for some level of antitrust exemption for the NCAA, changes to the transfer portal rules which eliminate the annual “fee” agency aspect, guaranteed access to all championships, including the College Football Playoffs and importantly, fair representation of the Group of Six in NCAA governance matters.
The Wyoming delegation is poised to get involved and ensure UW’s athletic programs are protected from the helter-skelter model.
Without the reforms contained in the pending legislation, in my opinion UW athletics as we know it, will not survive. It’s reassuring to know our delegation is engaged.
Ray Hunkins, a Marine, is a retired country lawyer and cowman. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wyoming and its College of Law. He was the Republican nominee for governor in 2006.
