Since an ancient college sports conference is on the verge of disappearing after a century, and student-athletes are gearing up for a full cross-country journey, the responsible attorney for these radical changes is expressing his dissatisfaction. Andrew Quotes, that attorney who advocated for allowing universities to maximize football revenue back in 1984, a move that led to the rise of TV-driven financial frenzy and today’s widespread uproar, now looks back with regret on that historic case he successfully argued.
Andrew Quotes recently shared with NBC News his contemplation about his role on the Board of Regents of the NCAA versus the University of Oklahoma, saying, “I think I’ve ruined college football throughout the entire board, because I think the case did that.”
The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Quotes’ clients, stating that the governing body of intercollegiate athletics cannot impose restrictions on the business rights of schools and their conferences.
Now, once-stable college football has transformed into a near non-stop whirlwind of swap meets, with universities continuously changing conference affiliations in pursuit of more lucrative TV deals. As a result, the Pac-12, a conference with a 108-year history, will shrink to just four schools and potentially crumble entirely.
Due to these massive deals, the value of televised college football games has skyrocketed in recent decades, especially in terms of the worth of student-athletes who travel thousands of miles regularly for regular season games across all sports, sometimes within the reach of a short flight or bus ride.
“An ‘Absolute Crisis’
At the beginning of this week, Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick referred to the conference realignment as an ‘absolute crisis.’ He shared on Wednesday with ‘The Dan Patrick Show,’ ‘I think we’ve lost our way in terms of focusing on student-athletes and what’s best for them, how decisions get made around that. I’m more in favor of more regional scheduling. I think it matters a lot.'”
While the 1984 case was related to football on TV, the practical implications have been felt across all programs – non-revenue and Olympic sport athletes being burdened with equal or greater travel demands.
Oregon softball player Paige Siniki recently secured a victory on the new reality of distant conference games, a cross-country trip she hadn’t signed up for Dak. Siniki recently stated on social media platform X, ‘I made the decision to play in a high-level softball conference where my parents could come watch my games due to their proximity.’ ‘It’s unfortunate to hear that I’ll be playing in the New Jersey-Rutgers conference along with other East Coast schools during my senior year.'”
“Optimistically anticipating that every student-athlete is taken into account amidst the frequent travel, shifts in time zones, and countless hours on the road that we’ll encounter each week!”!” she wrote in another post.
Marshall University’s announcer Ben Westfall – the voice of Thundering Herd Soccer, Volleyball, Baseball, and Softball – said those making decisions about non-revenue sports aren’t considering enough about athletes who bear the brunt of long travel. Marshall is about to start its first academic year in the Sun Belt Conference, an eastern-based league that has now expanded to San Marcos, Texas.
In an entry on X, Westfall expressed, “It goes beyond mere finances, and this restructuring extends its impact beyond the realms of football and basketball.”. It affects everyone, especially the athletes. It’s sad to see where college athletics is headed.”
This money-driven path was paved by Quotes and his clients, leading to a non-stop, 24-hour football and conference instability on TV.”
“Destroyed the Geography Concept”
At the beginning of this week, the Director of Notre Dame Athletics, Jack Swarbrick, referred to conference realignment as a complete disaster. He said on Wednesday during ‘The Dan Patrick Show,’ “I think we’ve lost sight of what’s best for student-athletes and how decisions are being made around that. I’m more in favor of regional scheduling. I believe it holds significance.”
As the 2023-24 NCAA football season kicks off this Saturday, the Navy will face off against Notre Dame in a game airing at 2:30 PM. Broadcasted on NBC. Notre Dame will play against Navy, aired on NBC, at 2:30 PM. EDT.
On a typical autumn Saturday, a college football enthusiast can settle onto their couch to watch the Big Ten matchup starting in the early afternoon and stay put until the end of the West Coast competition, holding the remote in one hand and a drink in the other. Alternatively, the game day excitement concludes around 2 PM (or later) on Sundays.
With the right cable or satellite package and streaming services, more than 100 games can be watched each crisp Saturday.
But before the NCAA vs. the Board of Regents, only a handful of games were televised, with only the biggest annual matchups – like Michigan vs. Ohio State, USC vs. UCLA, Texas vs. Oklahoma, and Army vs. Navy – making it onto the tube.
Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University and a television historian, remarked, “When this decision came down, it blew everything open.” “From one game this week to eventually having nearly all games in play, it shattered the geography concept.”
Television networks spending big money want to showcase the biggest names in college football, no matter where they are located. This initiated a series of realignments that maximized marketing capacity but completely confused map-makers.”
A New Reality
The announcement of a remarkable seismic shift was made 13 months ago when both USC and UCLA in Los Angeles declared that they would be joining the Big Ten in Rosemont, Illinois, in 2024-25, which will soon comprise 18 schools from the current 14. USC and UCLA’s decision emerged as a sort of tussle, potentially reshaping the landscape of college sports by disrupting the Pac-12 after overshadowing the once-century-old Pac-12 with their move along with Oregon and Washington in the Big Ten for the 2024-25 season.
Amidst this beginning of heated changes, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado declared that they would leave the Pac-12 and transition to the Big 12 a year from now.
The remaining four Pac-12 schools – California, Stanford, Washington State, and Oregon State – now hang in uncertainty due to the potential collapse of their conference, which was initiated in 1915 by founding members Cal, Washington, Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State) through the Pacific Coast Conference at the Pristine Shoreline Symposium.
For college sports enthusiasts, it’s an astonishing new reality where USC might frequently engage with Penn State in various games, while glimpsing Stanford could be rare, and the famed Oklahoma-Oklahoma State rivalry might just fade away into history.
Cotes, an 88-year-old who is still studying law at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, and who served as the mayor of Oklahoma City from 1983 to 1987, shared, “
“You can’t help but feel a tinge of letdown seeing the extent of progress.” “However, I’m skeptical that anyone could have foreseen the unfolding events.”Cotes recalled that a few months after the legal verdict failed for Oklahoma/Georgia, he had a chance encounter with White during a social event, who was a former college football star in Colorado and had referred to him as a “fortune teller.”
“He said to me, ‘Andy, you may have won that case, but you’ll regret it.'”
Quotes remarked that their side, which included supporters from Georgia University, wanted to negotiate a settlement outside the court with the NCAA, allowing television the right to negotiate with the National Collegiate Athletic Association. However, once the decision was rendered by the Supreme Court, all major monetary decisions were handed over to conferences and schools, leading to significant changes on a larger scale.
“We explored negotiations across various fronts and levels, aiming to maintain a degree of control over whatever unfolds.”. But we learned that the meaning of ‘NCAA’ is ‘Never Consider Any Agreement At All,’ and they won’t even talk to us,” said Quotes.
NCAA did not respond to a request for comments from NBC News on Friday.
So much so that even after the failed legal action of Oklahoma/Georgia, Professor Thompson from Syracuse University stated that the drive for more high-profile, intersectional matchups was always in the cards.
Thompson jokingly remarked, “I’ll go along with their (Quotes’) claim, that by arguing about that case and winning it, they ruined college football.” “But I’ll also say, if he wasn’t there to ruin it, there would have been a line of many other people ready to do it.”
Dennis Crawford, the historian of the College Football Hall of Fame, agreed that the game’s form is changing without much regard for powers.
Crawford remarked, “As you observe the vastness of college football, it’s clear that it’s in a constant state of evolution.” “Change will persist as a natural course, and whether it’s viewed positively or not,”, its impact will fall on individual consumers.”
In 1984, the court delivered a 7-2 decision in favor of Oklahoma and Georgia with Justices Byron “Whizzer” White and William Rehnquist in dissent.
Quotes remembered that a few months after the verdict, he crossed paths with White during a social event, who was a former college football star in Colorado and an associate justice, and the prescient words came from him.
“He said to me, ‘Andy, you may have won that case, but you’ll regret it.'”
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