From Stewart Mandel:

Some of what he’s saying is that the Settlement will restore the “what has always been” instead of what little parity was gained the past few years by schools trotting out mega deals to get top talent.

It seemed to work for OSU, although that was money spent to lure guys to return for another year or keep from transferring while adding a couple of key pieces to the puzzle. Similar to the Texas Tech pitcher who fizzled out in Game 3 of the CSWS last night (hey, she pitched three straight nights, not uncommon for softball) you can’t guarantee winning championships off one big talent alone. Ask Miami, and Cam Ward. Beck might be able to tell you more as he’s currently rehabbing on a roster that lost while receiving talent to the NFL or the portal and haven’t necessarily repaired any of that. If Beck thought drops were a problem, his time in South Beach may be a whole other level of hell. But, he’s cashing in. Mission accomplished, I guess.

The narrative that this simply restores the old guard, though, might be a “wait and see”. The 20.5 million for the school’s NIL payments will have to be funded through school revenues, so places where ticket prices and donor contributions have always been high will be able to meet the requirements of the House Settlement while others will have to raise to keep up. You might be able to get a 1.2 million dollar pitcher through your Collective, but the school’s attempts to meet the requirements for the 20.5 million may mean no one wants to show up and watch.

If a school can’t meet that requirement, what happens? Do they get relegated out of the Power conference? With TV rights contributing, how will fans at a school like Georgia feel about paying more money to prop up a school like Vanderbilt or Mizzou? It’s always been there, but hasn’t necessarily been felt as much as it is now where pricing seems to be squeezing people out of the market.

Alabama’s AD went on record stating that the school money for this “just doesn’t exist”. This, while Alabama secured number one recruiting classes for years. Six national championships. Really?

Maybe the Collectives aren’t the only thing that needs a renewed level of scrutiny.