Breaking News:New York Times gives new intel about Jim Harbaugh

At National Championship media day Michigan head Jim Harbaugh was asked about a topic he’s passionate about — player revenue.

Harbaugh made the point that the players are who people come to see — not him, not the coaches, not administrators — yet the players don’t receive a share of the revenue and don’t have a voice on the subject. It’s clear Harbaugh’s trying to be that voice.

When will other coaches take Harbaugh’s lead? At Rose Bowl media day, I asked Alabama head coach Nick Saban if players should receive some television revenue. Saban called it a complex issue but it wasn’t the time and place to have the conversation. Well, it was the time and place to have the conversation — 27.2 million people ended up watching the Rose Bowl, making it the most-watched college football playoff semifinal since 2014 and the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since 2018.

The SEC has a $3 billion television contract with ESPN, and the Big Ten has a seven-year, $7 billion deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC. Yet players don’t even receive a single cent from those contracts while putting their health on the line? It doesn’t make sense. The fact that it’s only Harbaugh willing to engage in-depth on this topic is a sad state of where things currently stand in college football. Harbaugh’s comments should be the norm, not the outlier.

Harbaugh went on to say that players making a profit from NIL isn’t enough, he even had percentages in mind that would lessen the salaries for coaches and administrators as well as the profits from conferences and television networks — all the money would be put in a pot that would go to players.