What would you have Charlie Baker do? The courts won't allow him to do anything.
He's been in the job over a year and has yet to put forth a set of guidelines or policies to rein in the lunacy unfolding virtually year round.
He's talked up legislation but where is it?
It may be that his only chance is to work through the Presidents of the schools, many of whom may be tiring of the inmates running the asylum and are looking for direction. They're also facing demographic changes that will lead to lower enrollments and more financial failures among colleges and universities.
The Presidents must feel like they're on a treadmill seeing their schools become such a major part of professional sports and wondering who benefits. Is it just the coaches and allied staff, the AD's, architects and construction companies building all the fabulous facilities?
Do the schools actually benefit in any way? We hear it's great for marketing and applications go up when we get all the great publicity for winning a championship but how do you quantify if that offsets the losses we're experiencing operating like a power conference member without power conference money?
And, from what I've read elsewhere, some of the major P5 schools are already facing financial issues despite the lucrative broadcast payouts.
As an aside, when UConn played Yale in the 60's we had Rick Forzano as Head Coach, Sam Rutigliano as one assistant along with three others. That was it. There was probably a secretary but now we have 38 or 39 people just on the football staff. Go to a women's basketball practice and you'll see two full time video coordinators, and on and on.
I don't know if there's enough money to keep paying all the staff, build new and maintain existing structures, and pay all the other expenses and now the NIL costs (that I think have already been approved to be paid by the schools).
If Dartmouth's players successfully join a union that opens the issue salaries and benefits and all the other employment expenses plus the potential for strikes. How wil the big money schools will be able to stay in business if there's a strike and there's no money coming in to pay all those costs. Can DB and the others insure for that?