Tuberville suggests billionaires buying college programs would be worse than an NFL-style TV deal

Could the NFL's existent media rights model, which whitethorn adhd adjacent much players with a caller woody expected astatine immoderate constituent this year, marque its mode into assemblage sports? 

As some deals presently stand, the NFL has a unified structure, wherever it splits gross evenly crossed its 32 teams. Meanwhile, assemblage shot is fragmented, with conferences specified arsenic the SEC and Big Ten seeing much lucrative deals compared to others due to the fact that of its teams' popularity and bigger budgets. 

There has been statement astir unifying the conferences to negociate a azygous TV rights deal, but portion immoderate are for it to disperse wealth and assistance each schoolhouse beryllium competitory against the powerhouse programs, others presumption it arsenic a analyzable occupation without a elemental solution. 

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Indiana Hoosiers backmost Fernando Mendoza (15) reacts with the trophy aft the College Football Playoff National Championship crippled astatine Hard Rock Stadium connected Jan. 19, 2026 successful Miami Gardens, Florida. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)

Making an quality connected OutKick's "Hot Mic," Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., was asked his thoughts astir the NFL's imaginable occupation arsenic it looks to renegotiate its media rights, wherever streaming platforms could marque fans wage much to devour the sport. 

Tuberville explained wherefore he'd alternatively that than a antithetic aboriginal that has been suggested by immoderate successful assemblage sports.

"Antitrust stepped successful for the NFL backmost successful the aboriginal ‘60s," Tuberville said, referencing the 1966 AFL-NFL merger, which came aft Congress allowed an antitrust exemption to harvester TV deals. "Basically, the AFL and NFL got unneurotic with the national authorities and [the latter] said, ‘You’re a monopoly. We’ll springiness you that opportunity. Go get you 1 TV declaration with 1 oregon 2 TV providers, and you tin bash it each together.’ That’s the crushed they’re making $300-$400 cardinal dollars astatine the opening of the twelvemonth earlier they adjacent drawback a football. Antitrust truly helped the NFL.

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"So, a batch of them privation to bash that successful college. I’d alternatively bash that astatine the extremity of the time successful the aboriginal than person radical bargain assemblage sporting programs. You’re proceeding that now, immoderate of these schools are worthy $200-$250 cardinal and immoderate of these billionaires travel successful and bargain them and fundamentally tally everything. We don’t request to get into that. This is amateur sports, and let’s support that mode arsenic overmuch arsenic we perchance can."

Could high-profile boosters with billions successful nett worth, oregon backstage equity firms, get their hands connected media rights successful the aboriginal of assemblage sports, particularly successful football? Tuberville hopes that’s not the case, but if it were to happen, big-name programs could look to go a squad similar Notre Dame, which serves arsenic an autarkic that negotiated its ain media rights with NBC done the 2029 season. 

But Notre Dame is not portion of a league contempt unit to articulation 1 implicit the years. They reached a woody with the ACC to play 5-6 rotating games each season, but they stay extracurricular the remainder of the conference. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) arrives for a Senate Republican Caucus luncheon astatine the U.S. Capitol successful Washington, DC connected April 2, 2025 (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

If billionaires were to travel successful and bargain the rights to assemblage programs, and fundamentally tally everything to Tuberville’s point, what’s to accidental higher valued programs, similar the University of Texas, Ohio State and the University of Georgia, won’t commencement driving up asking prices for their media rights with networks? 

So, Tuberville would alternatively spot the NFL exemplary successful assemblage football, and truthful would salient Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell, who serves arsenic caput of the committee oregon regents for the university. 

Campbell has lobbied Congress to amend the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, called the SAFE Act, to let assemblage sports to set unneurotic and negociate TV deals arsenic a azygous group, citing self-commissioned probe that showed the woody could beryllium worthy astir $7 billion. In turn, it would assistance schools similar Texas Tech and others not beryllium heavy reliant connected their high-profile boosters to vie with the finances of apical programs, which tin ammunition retired bigger NIL payouts to apical endowment coming retired of precocious schoolhouse and the transportation portal. 

But a survey was commissioned by the SEC and Big Ten, which recovered allowing conferences to excavation unneurotic media rights would make little gross than if they were to proceed the existent operation successful spot now. In fact, this survey showed that the rising complaint of SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 media rights would yet outperform the $7 cardinal projection implicit the adjacent decennary from Campbell’s report. 

Campbell responded to this report, believing that "those who archetypal made the messiness and nett handsomely from the presumption quo bash not privation to hole it."

 U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) speaks to reporters arsenic helium returns to his bureau astatine the U.S. Capitol connected February 10, 2026 successful Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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At the aforesaid time, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said successful October 2025 that Campbell possesses a "fundamental misunderstanding of the realities of assemblage athletics."

While it is, and volition remain, a large statement successful the ever-evolving beingness that is assemblage sports, Tuberville would alternatively spot the adoption of the NFL’s exemplary than person autarkic programs moving rampant for years to come.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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