Media personality Jake Crain recently made some statements on the Crain and Company podcast that has everyone buzzing. Speaking on the podcast, he stated that he believes college football operates like a criminal enterprise and there is simply too much structural corrosion for any executive order to change that.
“College football is a dirty game, right? It is like the mafia, man” Crain said during the podcast discussion.
His statement came in reaction to President Trump’s new executive order, which aims to safeguard collegiate sports by outlawing free agency, or third-party-pay-for-play schemes. Under this order, media agents, NIL collectives and third party sponsors will be considered businesses.
In recent times, competing universities have largely been able to flex their financial muscle via their donor networks and in turn, recruit the best players. With little control, these players are able to change teams each season, leading to bidding wars among teams. The executive order issues is largely intended to address this issue by clarifying college athletes’ status.
His analogy was meant to be neither subtle nor diplomatic enough. The insider thinks the system is corrupted to a point where surface-level reforms will not correct the systemic problems that we are seeing in college athletics today.
Jake Crain Questions Whether College Football’s Dirty Hands Can Be Cleaned
Speaking on the podcast, Crain made it clear that college football is “mafia-like,” with strong roots in networks of boosters and their relationships with alumni. Those networks have been in place long before NIL became legal. The dynamics aren’t going to change just with a handful of presidents signing documents.
He also emphasized that some obvious contradictions exist between the recent legal settlements related to O’Bannon v. NCAA and President Trump’s new executive order. The NCAA clarified that collectives could operate as a “school-controlled entity,” while they would be third-party vendors under the current executive order. This leads to more difficulties understanding the legal landscape for college athletics.
The legal landscape for college athletics can be confusing. Many cases have redefined how schools can compensate athletes, and even the rules have evolved with each ruling. This, in turn, has created new opportunities and eliminated others, resulting in a lot of confusion.
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