Sports
How is college football trying to rein in ‘wild West’ of transfers? Make players pay to leave
For four years, college coaches and administrators have lamented the “wild, wild West” nature of the transfer portal, with athletes hopping from school to school in search of more money, more playing time or a better fit. Now, some universities are invoking a new threat to keep their players: Leave, and you’ll owe us money.
Programs are chasing that kind of leverage under the assumption that they will soon be in a position to directly sign athletes to NIL deals without having to depend on outside collectives or individual donors to make arrangements. They would gain that ability with the landmark House v. NCAA settlement, which would permit schools to share as much as $20.5 million in revenue with their athletes in the next school year if the settlement is approved by a federal judge in California. A hearing is scheduled for April 7.
Many schools during the recent winter portal cycle used that anticipated revenue to make school-funded NIL deals that would go into effect only if the House settlement is approved. The Athletic reviewed redacted copies or was briefed on the terms of several Power 4 schools’ proposed or finalized contracts, which were shared on the condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the contracts.
While there is no such thing as a standardized NIL contract, all contained language intended to deter the player from entering the portal.
“You’re seeing some stuff similar to coaching contracts with the buyout language in there,” said agent Joe Hernandez of Just Win Management Group. “Which is something that you wouldn’t really see in an NFL player-team contract.”
One Big 12 school required the athlete to pay a buyout equal to 50 percent of his remaining compensation if he transferred before the end of the deal’s term. An ACC school required the athlete to pay back 100 percent of his earnings if he transferred before Jan. 31, 2026.
One Big Ten player’s contract, based on a suggested template the conference sent to all of its members, requires the athlete to pay liquidated damages in the event he transfers. Another defers two-thirds of the athlete’s payments for the coming season until the end of January — after the winter portal window closes.
“They can’t stop players from moving from school to school,” said NIL attorney Mit Winter. “But the buyout clause is an attempt to limit that by making the player have to pay back money to the school if they want to get out of that contract.”
Shane Burnham, a former FBS defensive line coach who is now director of football for Ascension Sports Consulting, said he recently reviewed the contract of a player who signed with an ACC school in January. The deal included a clause where the player would have to forfeit 50 percent of the money he’d received if he entered the portal in April.
“It’s predatory what these schools are doing,” Burnham said.
Industry sources say the practice did not become prevalent until the most recent transfer portal cycle, when programs’ general managers began negotiating NIL contracts directly. In the past, schools were more mindful of maintaining separation between the school and an outside collective, but that’s gone by the wayside with the advent of revenue sharing.
“There’s just so much money,” said Walker Jones, executive director of The Grove Collective, which supports Ole Miss. “It got to the point where collectives and schools felt they had to be protected.”
It remains to be seen whether that protection is realistic.
Wisconsin set the tone for this new era in January when it refused to enter cornerback Xavier Lucas’ name into the transfer portal after Lucas had signed a two-year NIL deal. Lucas still left the program and enrolled at Miami, which Wisconsin subsequently accused of tampering with Lucas.
“A request to enter the transfer portal after entering into such an agreement is inconsistent with the representations and mutual understanding of the agreement and explains the reason for not processing a transfer portal request under these circumstances,” Wisconsin said in a statement, which also hinted at potential legal action. “Under the terms of the agreement between Xavier and Wisconsin Athletics, it remains in effect and enforceable.”
The schools are asserting that these contracts are licensing agreements that don’t make the athletes employees, echoing a red line for the NCAA and universities. They also say that the payments are not for athletes to attend the university or to play for it, even as they try to disincentivize players from leaving.
Several figures interviewed for this story speculated or assumed that schools that sign transfers, rather than the players themselves, would be expected to pick up the tab for a buyout.
“It’s basically a carbon copy of what happens with coaches,” said Winter. “They all have employment contracts that say, ‘You can’t coach anywhere else, but if you want to break the contract, here’s what you have to pay.’ And it’s almost always the new school that pays the buyout.”
In interviews with several athletic directors, football general managers and lawyers, all sounded skeptical that the buyout provisions concerning transferring could actually be enforced.
“Our preference wouldn’t be to be the first school to have to take a kid to court to chase down your $25,000 or $50,000,” said an ACC football administrator. “But … the student-athlete would be aware that, ‘Hey, I signed this contract and if I go in the portal, there’s a chance I might owe this money back.’”
“Theoretically, this kid isn’t getting paid to play still,” said a Big 12 general manager whose program did not include a buyout, “so when push comes to shove, if it gets litigated, you’re not going to win that. Now, I see the advantage of potentially using it as a scare tactic to keep players. They don’t know better. But the second any agent gets involved, they’ll just bypass it.”
“The first team that sues a kid — I’d like to see their next recruiting class,” said a second Big 12 GM.
Three agents told The Athletic they’ve insisted the buyouts be removed or reduced from their clients’ deals. However, many players do not have agents and may be unaware that this is a possibility.
Winter said schools need to be careful not to insist on such a high buyout that it might be deemed a penalty, which a court would not enforce, rather than a reasonable estimate of damages.
Meanwhile, it’s believed that most schools’ NIL contracts this cycle were only one-year deals. (Star quarterbacks may be a notable exception.) If there are buyout clauses, the remaining payments owed might be minimal. Multi-year contracts would make the buyouts more prohibitive and, in theory, decrease roster attrition. But as tempting as it may sound to lock down players, in reality, schools may want their own roster flexibility.
“If there’s a buyout, it’s usually both ways,” said the first Big 12 GM. “So it would limit our freedom to just cut the kid if he doesn’t turn out to be good.”
Which would be especially pronounced at a school with a coaching change. A new football hire will invariably want to bring in “his guys,” but may be stuck with some well-paid underperformers who know they won’t make more elsewhere.
After four years of seemingly never-ending chaos and relentless legal challenges, NCAA president Charlie Baker and others have been hoping the House settlement will bring much-needed stability to the NIL space. Collectives are not likely to disappear — if anything, they may help programs spend more than $20.5 million — but the Power 4 conferences have enlisted Deloitte to serve as a clearinghouse for all deals above $600.
As it pertains to transfers, though, any sense of order does not feel imminent.
“I’m not sure my expectation is that the current revenue sharing contracts will change the (transfer) flow,” said Nebraska AD Troy Dannen. “It hasn’t shown to be that way yet.”
— The Athletic’s Jesse Temple contributed to this report.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Alex Slitz / Getty Images, AP Photo / Michael Conroy)
Sports
MLB commissioner addresses sport’s illegal gambling scandal, will cooperate with Congress on investigation
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday the league will cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.
“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.
The sport has been rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who are accused of aiding gamblers by taking bribes to rig pitches.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the first round of the MLB Draft July, 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5.
The committee is asking for responses to six questions by that date:
- “How and when was MLB made aware of suspicious betting and game manipulation activity by Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide documents sufficient to support your response?”
- “Provide documents sufficient to show MLB’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
- “List any investigation into an MLB or affiliate team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners for violating MLB rules relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
- “Provide all documents related to any investigation listed in response to Request 3, including: Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation; Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
- Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
- Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and
- Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
- “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers: Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
- Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or
- Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
- “Explain the extent to which MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game rigging that have occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
- How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure;
- How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and
- How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.
“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.
MLB CRACKS DOWN WITH NEW BETTING LIMIT AFTER CLEVELAND PITCHERS CHARGED IN GAMBLING SCHEME
Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave July 3 and Clase was placed on leave July 28.
“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said.
Both Ortiz and Clase have pleaded not guilty.
Clase and Ortiz were arrested and appeared in federal court in New York last week. Clase, a three-time All-Star, pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win money on his pitches. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Officials said in the indictment that, from May 2023 to June 2025, Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.
The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor to throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in specific games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets; June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.
Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.
Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.
When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.
The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.
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Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase’s leave was extended indefinitely Aug. 31, 2025. (IMAGN/AP)
The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving alleged illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the alleged scheme.
Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Prep basketball roundup: Jordan Askew scores at buzzer to give Sierra Canyon win over Millikan
Trailing most of the game with five transfer students still not declared eligible, top-ranked Sierra Canyon turned to point guard Jordan Askew to deliver a 67-65 win over Millikan on Wednesday night.
The Trailblazers forced a turnover and got the ball near midcourt with 3.3 seconds left in a 65-65 tie. Askew took the inbounds pass and drove to make a layup before the buzzer sounded for the win.
What a debut for Millikan freshman point guard Quali Giran. He finished with 31 points. The Trailblazers couldn’t stop him except at the end, when they put together a double team to create a turnover. He had made a 15-foot shot earlier, but the basket was nullified because of a foul called before the shot.
Stephen Kankole had 20 points, Jordan Mize 19 and Maxi Adams 13 points and 10 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.
Brentwood 84, Simi Valley 54: AJ Okoh scored 28 points and had seven assists, and Ethan Hill contributed 15 points and 14 rebounds for 2-0 Brentwood.
Fairmont Prep 58, Tesoro 45: Fairmont Prep advanced to the semifinals of the Ocean View tournament.
Westlake 55, Golden Valley 48: Axel Ostergard and Zachary Kalinski each scored 16 points for the 2-0 Warriors.
Inglewood 86, Long Beach Cabrillo 38: Kevin Singleton scored 26 points and Jason Crowe Jr. had 24 points for Inglewood.
Oaks Christian 67, Milken 41: Grayson Coleman had 20 points in his debut for Milken after transferring from Calabasas to play for his father.
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The minute sports fans found out there was a new American pope and he’d been born in Chicago, every American sports fan had one thought: was he a Cubs or White Sox fan?
Soon, news emerged that he was a White Sox fan — not without a false report, however, that he was a Cubs fan — and shortly thereafter footage emerged that not only was the newly christened Pope Leo XIV a fan, he’d been in the stands for the 2005 World Series, which the White Sox won in a series sweep.
Justin Ishbia, Ambassador Brian Burch and Clay Travis with an autographed World Series 2005 jersey signed by all the players seen on the left, as Pope Leo XIV is seen on the right. (OutKick; Reuters)
Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, was elected as pope in May of 2025 and then one month later it was announced that my Vanderbilt law school friend and classmate Justin Ishbia was buying the Chicago White Sox.
The two of us were chatting about fun ways Justin could introduce himself to Chicago sports fans and I tossed out an idea — we should travel to the Vatican and invite Pope Leo to throw out the first pitch at a planned new White Sox stadium.
After all, Pope Leo was a big enough White Sox fan that he’d attended the World Series 20 years ago as a fan in the crowd. Sure, he’s the pope now, but deep down he, like all of us, is a diehard sports fan.
We were both convinced the idea was a good one, but it presented a challenge: how do you get a meeting with the pope to invite him to throw out the first pitch?
Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful ahead of his inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on May 18, 2025. (David Ramos/Getty Images)
POPE LEO XIV CALLS OUT CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AMID LATEST MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN AFRICAN NATION
An Invitation to the Pope
It’s not like you can just call the Vatican and ask to speak to the pope’s people.
Ultimately we hit on our answer: Vatican ambassador Brian Burch, who lived in Chicago with his family prior to his confirmation as ambassador.
Luckily, Ambassador Burch loved the idea and, this morning in Vatican City, Justin and his wife Kristen met the pope, delivered a team autographed 2005 White Sox World Series replica jersey, and conveyed the first pitch invitation to Pope Leo, who said yes so long as his schedule permits. (It turns out the pope is kind of busy).
So, the result, as many of you have likely seen on social media already, is an awesome one — the first ever American-born pope will be throwing out the first pitch in a new Chicago White Sox stadium, which will potentially mark the first time the pope has visited Chicago since 1979.
Pope Leo XIV prays over members of the international media in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on May 12, 2025. (Domenico Stinellis)
Let’s hope it’s a strike.
And that Pope Leo can help return the magic of the 2005 season for White Sox fans.
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