Would a college football collective bargaining agreement minimize bowl game opt-outs?

The NIL world has opened doors for college athletes to earn their share of the money for their performance.

According to ESPN senior writer Heather Dinich, amid talk of NIL rules and regulations being implemented, there are bowl leaders interested in a collective bargaining agreement being established among players that would help minimize the number of postseason opt-outs. Bowl Season Executive Director Nick Carparelli shed some light on this at the Fiesta Bowl Spring Summit.

His take on the situation — after speaking with conference commissioners and NCAA President Charlie Baker — was that NIL collectives would likely be brought in-house and that discussions had been held about exchanging contracts for NIL payments. Although Carparelli said Bowl Season does not do an official count of how many players opt out of bowl games, his estimate is that approximately eight players from each team opt out of bowl games. He hopes these contracts will reduce that number.

“If you sign a contract and receive compensation, you will be required to perform certain duties — in this case, play 12 regular-season games and a bowl game or a bowl game and the playoff,” Carparelli said. “It is logical to wait. That’s how the rest of us workers operate.”

Shutdowns continue to dominate the discussion whenever bowl season rolls around, and that was the case this past bowl season in particular. This was especially the case when 33 Florida State players opted out of the Orange Bowl against Georgia.

FSU was 13-0 and ranked fifth in the final College Football Playoff standings entering the game. The players who remained and played in the game, however, lost 63-3.

Fiesta Bowl Executive Director and CEO Erik Moses also sees the opt-out issue being resolved if these contracts come to fruition.

“Think about the industry we’re in,” Moses told ESPN. “We host live events. You come to see the talent. If the main talent isn’t there – you go to see the Stones and Mick Jagger isn’t playing, are you really seeing the Stones? We want the best talent to be involved in these showdowns. , these games and these events, this is what people are paying to see.

“Yes, they care more about the name on the front of the shirt than the name on the back; that’s the special thing about college sports and college football,” Moses said. “But you want to see the best players play, and I think the only way we can achieve that is through a collective bargaining agreement and labor contracts that require you to play in the postseason if you are healthy.”

In fact, there has been a lot of debate when it comes to the validity of bowl games in the era when opt-outs have become commonplace. This period is typically described as having begun during the 2018–19 bowl season. It’s a touchy subject for college football fans.

With the expansion of the College Football Playoff, there is speculation that the number of players opting out could drop. The Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, and as a result, bowls like the Orange almost certainly won’t be harmed by opt-outs if they are important to the College Football Playoff.

“You don’t come to the Fiesta Bowl just to win the Fiesta Bowl and that’s it,” Moses said. “Now you’re going to abandon your brothers, your teammates when you have the chance to win the national championship? This is something these guys will remember for the rest of their lives.

This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic: Bowl Leaders Optimistic CBA in NCAA Can Reduce Number of Opt-Outs