Paul Finebaum: NCAA has been ‘brought to their knees’ over agreement to pay players

The NCAA Board of Governors and the Power 5 conferences have all voted to sign off on the settlement agreement in the House v. NCAA lawsuit, which signals a massive change in power and stature for those institutions, according to Paul Finebaum.

The SEC Network host joined ESPN’s First Take following news of progress on the House v. NCAA settlement and explained how the dynamic between the NCAA and these conferences is changing compared to the way it used to be.

“For about 10 years the power group of conferences had really broken away from the NCAA in almost every way,” detailed Finebaum. “But they were still tied to them because of litigation and, quite frankly, March Madness. The NCAA’s existence — they basically run tournaments. They run the baseball, the softball, and they run March Madness, which is their biggest moneymaker.”

Aside from that coveted tournament in March, Finebaum really sees little use for the NCAA as a whole.

“Beyond that, they basically just get in the way. Their enforcement division is a complete sham. The way they rule or lord over academic eligibility is beyond criminal. They’re never trying to help the athlete. They’re just trying to screw them over.”

Well, those are fighting words from Paul Finebaum, but fierce criticism of the NCAA is nothing new from fans and talking heads. He’s now saying that the bill is finally coming due after years of malpractice for the governing body of college sports.

“Now, they’ve been literally brought to their knees,” Finebaum asserted. “They have no enforcement ability. That’s been litigated already.”

Finebaum has no sympathy for the NCAA, who he says is now begging for a way to solve an issue they easily could have addressed years back.

“They basically just exist to say silly things like, ‘We’re going to go to Congress to try to get their help.’ That’s always their answer to everything. And the reason is, as you both know, they could have solved this about 10 years ago.

“In the Ed O’Bannon case, they could have settled it. But they were too arrogant. They thought they knew it all. And quite frankly, a lot of the conferences went along, so they’re not completely virginous in all of this.”

After all, it’s the NCAA as well as the collegiate conferences footing this multi-billion-dollar bill. Plus, Paul Finebaum says this won’t be the end of the legal tango for these parties.

“And it’s not over yet. This is just one case. This solves some of the problems, but it also shows how exposed this organization is and how vulnerable they are to other litigation down the road.”

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