Stephen A. Smith: It's going to take government intervention to fix NIL, transfer portal issues facing NCAA

The debate over how NIL and the NCAA transfer portal should be governed has raged over the last half decade. As it stands, thousands of student-athletes transfer schools each year and are getting paid higher than at any point before in history.

Student-athletes have even begun suing the NCAA for extra eligibility because of the compensation level. To fix these ongoing issues, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes the NCAA’s only hope at this point is for legislative action.

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“Unfortunately, it’s going to take government intervention,” Smith told Paul Finebaum on his show Monday. “And, I hate saying that because I never wanted that to be the case.”

Smith expressed a desire to communicate with leaders from both parties to address the NIL and transfer portal issues facing the NCAA today, including Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and Sen. Cory Booker (NJ). They share the belief with Smith that the NCAA needs to address some of these “pertinent” issues that have diminished the product on the court or field. In turn, he called the current state of college athletics “an absolute mess.”

“My problem is I think its become an absolute mess where agents are involved,” Smith said. “As much as I hate how universities and the NCCA as a sanctioning body has been able to exploit the student athlete over the years, I consider it equally disturbing that players can transfer at a moment’s notice and go and play for somebody else the next season.

“I think if you’re going to transfer you should have to sit out. You should have to miss a year. I think stuff like that should happen. But I just think the same should be applicable to coaches as well as the players. Why should the players play under different rules than the coaches have to?”

Government intervention would help to allow the NCAA establish rules and regulations in regard to NIL and the transfer portal, adding protections to issues like anti-trust exemptions. Smith believes something needs to be done and is calling for the powers that be to facilitate it.

“In the end, it’s going to take the courts, it’s going to take Congress, it’s going to take Capitol Hill to intervene and say these are the rules that have to be played by when we’re taking into account institutions supposedly of higher learning and the exploitation of the student athlete,” Smith said.

“Somewhere along the way, there has to be order because when there’s no order there’s chaos. And when there’s chaos, mayhem is obviously right next to it. And so that has to be diminished significantly and I think that’s the only thing that’s going to resolve it.”