Rece Davis reveals a CFP team contemplated sitting out amid contract issues

ESPN college football broadcaster Rece Davis recently revealed on the College GameDay Podcast that a College Football Playoff team recently contemplated sitting out of the Playoff amid contract issues.

It came up while Rece Davis was speaking about revenue sharing with Pete Thamel. In particular, the two were discussing how there is a new CFP contract worth billions of dollars, and none of that money is earmarked to go to players.

“You probably know this and I’m not comfortable revealing which team,” Rece Davis said. “Because ultimately they didn’t do it, but there was talk on a final four team several years ago, should we sit this one out? At least, sit out and delay the start. Should we make a statement for some of these issues?”

Rece Davis also emphasized that the NCAA has made mistakes in the past that have led to bigger issues and this is a chance to correct those past mistakes. In particular, he pointed to the National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston case, which opened the door to NIL when the NCAA was not prepared for it.

“And, what you bring up, opens the door for a team to do that. For a team that is sufficiently motivated to stand their ground for this cause. And if nothing else learn from your past mistakes, and the NCAA, not that they’re in charge of all of this, but I’m using them as an example. The NCAA had the opportunity with a court case a few years ago and not appeal to the Supreme Court that would have, perhaps, given them the opportunity to create the proverbial framework for all of this NIL, player payment, and revenue sharing, and they didn’t do it because they tried to hold steadfast to the old student-athlete model, which is a made up term anyway. It was made up to avoid workman’s comp cases and all kinds of things like that way back in the day.”

Now, if a new team were to choose to sit out of the CFP, the NCAA wouldn’t be prepared for it and it could create a major issue. So, Rece Davis feels it’s best to be ready for that change now.

“So, this is an opportunity right now to get ahead of this and revenue share and find some framework. Now, you’ve got to figure out who negotiates for the players and who you’re negotiating with, and I understand why they didn’t come up with a model because they don’t know for sure who they’re negotiating with,” Davis said.

“But they need to be open to this or else they’re inviting some type of calamitous situation in the Playoff where a team goes, ‘Yeah, no. We’re not gonna play on your little field over here. We’re gonna try to take State U that we’re playing in the first round and we’ll go over to the local high school and we’ll play over there because we’re competitors and we want to play, but we’re not playing in your playground because you’re not giving us any of what you’re making,’ or some such thing. Obviously, that’s a bit of a facetious example, but it could be disruptive and it will be disruptive if they don’t get ahead of it, which they have not shown the propensity to do in the past. They need to get ahead of this. They need to share the revenue.”