Kirk Herbstreit Shares ‘Only Answer’ to CFB Transfer, Tampering Issues

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was asked about the transfer portal and tampering that is taking place across the sport and potential remedies to the issues in the sport today.

The longtime ESPN analyst gave his opinion on the matter during Saturday’s edition of College GameDay.

“Ultimately, the only answer to all this, in my opinion, is you’re going into this new playoff—the 12-team playoff—you create a new world,” he said. “That’s the reality. We still have realignment issues. We’re still not settled with what the Big Ten’s going to be, with what the SEC’s going to be. So once that gets finished, you create a new governing body. You create your own world. You go to the players and you say, ‘You form a union.’”

So what would a potential union accomplish? Rules.

“The players and this new world will negotiate a CBA, just like the NFL. There will be rules. There will be a governing body. They will enforce the rules. That’s the only answer to this. That’s the only way this thing can land, and it’s going to have to be within the next year, once we head to that 12-team playoff. If you have a CBA like the NFL does, you know the rules of engagement. Right now, it’s chaos. There’s no rules. 

“Can you imagine the NFL being run by six, five different commissioners? Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, they along with the ownership, figure things out and they create rules and everybody follows it. That’s what college football needs. With the NCAA, they have no authority,” Herbstreit added.

Tampering with rosters across college football, where players are negotiating their new spots prior to formally entering the transfer portal, is the worst kept secret across the sport right now. There are no easy answers, but perhaps Herbstreit’s suggestion could be a feasible solution for the sport in the future.