ESPN, Nick Saban turn 'College GameDay' into political propaganda | Opinion - USA Today

If you’d taken a shot every time Ted Cruz said “chaos” during his stump speech on “College GameDay,” you’d have been seeing double before you’d even finished your Eggs Benedict.

The Republican senator from Texas really wants you — and his colleagues in Congress — to believe the situation in college sports “is nuts” and that only the federal government has the power to fix the issues.

You know what’s nuts? ESPN turning “GameDay” into full-throated propaganda for the Protect College Sports Act for a second straight weekend.

I understand Cruz, who co-authored the PCSA, playing politics and attempting to pivot the narrative before midterm elections away from the president’s underwater approval ratings, an unpopular war in Iran, and high gas prices. Cruz is knee-deep in the politics spin zone.

So, apparently, is “College GameDay.”

Cruz stumped for the bill to become law on “GameDay” during 10 minutes of political advocacy masquerading as an interview.

While introducing Cruz, ESPN’s Rece Davis said “we hope” Congress will vote soon on the bill.

Who’s “we,” Rece? Perhaps, "we" means Rece's employer.

Disney, which owns ESPN, included in a disclosure form earlier this year it’s spent lobbying money on the Protect College Sports Act. The bill includes media rights provisions.

The PCSA would, among other things, codify a cap on how much universities could spend on athlete compensation. This would be different from pro leagues, where salary caps are established through collective bargaining, not by the federal government.

Cruz’s stumping for his legislation on “GameDay” was the latest example of ESPN allowing its popular Saturday morning pregame show to be used as a platform for political advocacy.

Nick Saban campaigned for the PCSA on “GameDay” a week before Cruz’s appearance, while Pat McAfee cheered on Saban and encouraged Congress to act.

Saban is knee deep in the politics of this. He’s President Trump’s anointed mouthpiece for federal action to govern college sports. Saban appears on televised advertisements in support of the PCSA, and he turned “GameDay” into another advertisement for the PCSA, disguised as ESPN programming.

As "GameDay" talent shilled for the bill to become law, ESPN never disclosed to viewers Disney has a vested interest in this, after lobbying for the PCSA.

An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment on why "College GameDay" did not disclose Disney's lobbying efforts to viewers.

President Ronald Reagan once aptly said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

You see a problem, I see a situation Big Government can make worse.

I wouldn’t want the federal government capping my earning potential, nor yours, nor the earning potential of thousands of college athletes.

I’ve got issues with the federal government bailing out the NCAA.

As opponents of the PCSA point out, the NCAA and its members want the benefits of an athlete compensation cap and player-movement restrictions without taking the steps that make these restrictions lawful in pro sports — namely, collective bargaining.

Bottom line: College sports stakeholders want a bailout, and they spent more than five years lobbying for federal intervention.

“Instead of fixing the problem, instead, the college sports industry has come to Congress and is asking Congress to make their illegal behavior all of a sudden, magically, legal through an antitrust exemption,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who opposes the PCSA.

More recently, university presidents and chancellors — the previously spineless powerbrokers of college sports — realized that if they wanted anything to change, they need to stop whining from the sideline and roll up their sleeves.

When Texas Tech wanted to play gambling addict Brendan Sorsby after the quarterback trampled the NCAA’s black-and-white sports wagering rules, the Big 12’s presidents and chancellors muscled up and united to deploy a series of governance and legal moves to scupper the Sorsby comeback.  

When Lane Kiffin, buoyed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, hatched a plan to add NFL castoffs to LSU’s roster, in defiance of NCAA and SEC rules, the presidents and chancellors of the SEC stood firm and brought LSU to heel.

Cruz points to these examples — Texas Tech attempting to play a gambling addict and LSU scheming for NFL rejects — as evidence federal intervention is necessary.

I see it differently. Presidents and chancellors stepped up and deployed some self-governance. Although the process got messy and involved judges and lawsuits, Sorsby and the NFL castoffs never saw the field. Self-governance worked.

Not every controversy demands federal intervention. Recently, one of my neighbors parked a toilet on his front lawn for nearly a month. My wife and I hatched a plan to remedy the neighborhood eyesore ourselves. The toilet is gone now, with no help from the feds.

If the college sports enterprise doesn’t like the eyesores inside its operation, it, too, ought to explore solutions beyond relying on federal intervention.

The Big 12 didn’t like the idea of a quarterback playing with its logo on his jersey after he gambled on games involving his own team. So, it found a way to resolve the issue. Bravo.

Proponents of the legislation say it’ll protect women’s and Olympic sports, but this sweeping legislation isn’t the only avenue to preserve such sports. Instead, Congress could simply codify the NCAA bylaw that requires Division I schools to compete in at least 14 sports, a number that increases to 16 sports for FBS schools. When paired with Title IX, codifying that NCAA bylaw would protect sports opportunities for women.

Proponents of the bill also say federal intervention is needed to rein in college sports’ runaway spending, but, as Murphy pointed out, the legislation co-authored by Cruz and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) wouldn’t prohibit big spending inside college athletics.

It would only cap compensation to athletes.

“This bill doesn’t stop billionaires from spending money on athletics facilities. … It does nothing to stop the runaway coaches’ salaries,” Murphy said. He neglected to mention coaches’ runaway buyouts or the skyrocketing salaries for athletics directors.

“Let’s be clear,” Murphy added, “this bill is really only about solving one problem. It’s a fake problem: the problem of athlete empowerment, that has annoyed coaches.”

Murphy has his own political motives wrapped up in this, but his quote nonetheless illuminates why Saban supports the PCSA. The authoritarian Saban thrived in an era of unchecked omnipotence for college coaches. When Saban tried his hand in the NFL, where athletes enjoy more power than they did in college sports, he swiftly fled the scene.

Then, as college athletes accumulated more power via athlete compensation and transfer freedoms, Saban couldn’t stand it, so he retired. Now, Saban is using his stature to try to strip power away from athletes, under the ESPN banner. McAfee is cheering him on, and Davis is giving Cruz an unfettered floor to turn what’s ostensibly a college football pregame show into political advocacy.

That’s not sports programming you’re watching during Saturday breakfast.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.