Cody Campbell donated enough money to Texas Tech that it re-named its football field after him.
In early December, the Texas Tech alum donated $25 million to help renovate the southern portion of Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, so in turn, Texas Tech announced the field is now Cody Campbell Field.
Despite his pledge and commitment to Texas Tech, Campbell is fully aware of the problems that encase college athletics.
The business model of college athletics is a successful failure. No business needs free money quite like college sports.
As college football re-erupts in over-the-table money for players, and coaching salaries that are now aligned with the CEO of Manhattan Bank, Campbell is sure that this path will eventually ruin the sport that he credits helped make him today.
"Professionalization of the system threatens the life-transforming benefits it provides student athletes," said Campbell, who played at Texas Tech for four years before spending two seasons in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts.
Today, Campbell is a Fort Worth resident and co-CEO and co-founder of Double Eagle Energy. He's also a member of Texas Tech's Board of Regents.
"Only 1.6 percent of college players get to the NFL; if we let money cause us to lose focus on what is important — education, life lessons, and personal development that prepares the athletes for the rest of their lives — it will be to the great detriment of the thousands who currently benefit," he said.
He's right. Everyone involved in major college athletics knows he's right.
There is also zero effort to stop it.
This is not some dumb dolt ranting about the color of the sky.
This is a successful professional who has donated millions to his alma mater, and sees problems that will eventually derail athletic departments, and hurt a kid's chance of landing a scholarship.
"In the current trajectory, college sports could be destroyed by either a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions (foreshadowed by Justice Kavanaugh in NCAA v. Alston) or by a chaotic amalgamation of individual state laws," Campbell argued.
"How do we make college sports sustainable—for the sake of the athletes and for the sake of the great tradition that surrounds the sports? I have some ideas."
Campbell is concerned that the proposed College Athletes Bill of Rights, which has been supported by U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, would turn college sports into the pros.
We are already there, but Campbell believes revenue sharing is needed.
"All college football and basketball players should be paid a cash amount, beyond their scholarship award. To maximize parity and fairness, the amount paid should be the same for all players but should be different among Power 5 schools than Group of 5 schools — say $50,000 per player for P5 and $25,000 per G5," he said.
"Half of the cash payment would be made to the players, and half would be deposited in a trust for their benefit. The trust would be managed by whatever entity manages the university's endowment, and the players would receive the full amount of the trust upon completion of their college degree.
"Each player would contract their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights with their school for $10,000 per year for P5 and $5,000 for G5. The school would be responsible for marketing the rights, and the players would receive a 25 percent royalty on any revenue the school receives from their NIL. Half of the upfront payment, and all the royalty revenue, would be placed into trust."
He proposes no high school athlete should be recruited until after their sophomore year of high school, with a more restrictive recruiting calendar. These are points most college coaches would sign off on today.
Penalties would be a federal crime.
Schools can choose the level they want to compete, based on the pay scales they elect to adopt. If a school doesn't want to pay the players, they are in the FCS, or Division II, level.
"Downsides? We know that football and men's basketball programs bear the weight of funding the non-revenue sports (women's sports and Olympic sports), which typically operate at a financial loss," he said. "To the extent that this revenue is diverted, it will inevitably be at the cost of the other sports and will diminish the opportunity that is provided to the athletes who play them.
"We can minimize the impact of this, however, through careful stewardship of the programs. Yes, it will take congressional action — and I admit I'm someone who usually thinks government is the problem, not the solution. But if we institute a uniform system, something like I described, we can preserve college athletics before it comes crashing down from its own inequities."
As evidenced by the $25 million gift he handed Texas Tech, Cody Campbell is not about to give up on college football, or college athletics.
He just wants to see it work.
