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The business of college athletics is run by stakeholders rather than stockholders and the bottom line is measured by victories rather than profits.

That, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist says, is why Texas A&M is paying Jimbo Fischer more than $75 million to not coach its football team and coaches at some of the nation鈥檚 top programs have similar, massive severance packages baked into their contracts.

There will be no end to these golden parachutes, Zimbalist and others said, until the business model changes and significantly more revenue is redirected to the athletes.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e having this conversation in 30 years and athletes are employees, all these benefits and ridiculous severance payments coaches get will start to come down,鈥� said Zimbalist, a who has written more than a dozen books on college and pro sports. 鈥淚n the meantime, there鈥檒l be substantial losses for athletic programs.鈥�

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Fisher was fired Sunday, just over two years after he signed a fully guaranteed 10-year, $95 million contract. Texas A&M said it will use donor funds to make an initial payment on the $75 million-plus owed to Fisher and pay the rest with athletic department revenue on an installment plan.

Six active coaches have buyout clauses that would pay each more than $50 million if they were fired without cause, topped by Georgia鈥檚 Kirby Smart ($92.5 million), LSU鈥檚 Brian Kelly ($70 million) and Penn State鈥檚 James Franklin ($64.5 million).

The length of contract affects the buyout amount and is typically determined by the number of years remaining. Some coaches have contracts up to 10 years, which creates the eye-popping buyout figures.

Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts hired Matt Rhule last November and signed him to an eight-year, $74 million contract. Rhule agreed to receiving 90% of what he would be owed as opposed to having a fully guaranteed contract, and his buyout stands at $62 million this year.

鈥淭hink about it this way: If you鈥檙e a coach, you recognize that universities and their fans and donors can be very emotional and rash decisions can be made,鈥� Alberts said. 鈥淏uyout provisions, length of contract and those types of things are very important 鈥� because that鈥檚 what protects you or at least makes it more difficult for institutions to make those kinds of decisions.

鈥淚 understand why there is a want or need to have some of that protection long term based on that emotion,鈥� Alberts added. 鈥淥n the other hand, it certainly does put universities in precarious situations if it鈥檚 apparent a leadership transition is required.鈥�

The buyout balloon could be popped if athletes prevail in court cases yet to be decided and an administrative law judge sides with the National Labor Relations Board鈥檚 contention that college athletes have been misclassified as 鈥渟tudent-athletes鈥� rather than as employees.

In House vs. the NCAA, billions of dollars of back pay for lost endorsement, broadcast and video revenue is sought for up to 15,000 athletes dating back to 2016. In Johnson vs. the NCAA, as with the NLRB complaint, employee status for college athletes, and the pay and other benefits that would come with it, are being sought.

at the University of South Carolina, said as long as athletes remain mostly unpaid and schools are able to bring in, and spend, revenue from media rights agreements, tickets and corporate sponsorships, coaches and their agents will hold a distinct advantage in contract negotiations.

鈥淣FL owners negotiate much stronger and don鈥檛 allow coaches to have the leverage in their contracts because NFL owners know it鈥檚 fundamentally about compensating the players,鈥� Southall said. 鈥淵ou have to take care of your players before anything else whereas in college sport you don鈥檛 have to compensate your labor at a market rate.鈥�

Zimbalist and Southall said university presidents and trustees typically aren鈥檛 comfortable dealing with athletic department matters and often defer to their athletic directors, whose own careers hinge on winning. Financial prudence goes out the window, they said.

鈥淚n a metaphorical sense, they鈥檙e back in high school 鈥� university chancellors and academics are afraid of going up against the jocks,鈥� Southall said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e like, 鈥榃hatever you want.鈥� University presidents don鈥檛 negotiate hard with agents, and there are only so many agents representing all the coaches who are in their pool. They just accept it.鈥�

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