NCAA Budget Buster to Force Big Changes

There is an NCAA budget buster looming that will forever change the landscape for college athletics. An upcoming lawsuit called House vs NCAA is an antitrust lawsuit that accuses the NCAA of suppressing student athletes' right to earn money.

Now that Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL, is here to stay this lawsuit looks to undo many wrongs against student athletes across the country. Damages in this case could triple, therefore, the NCAA may be on the hook for 2.7 - 4.2 billion dollars! Such a ruling would be the end of the NCAA as we know it.

So, the NCAA is scrambling behind the scenes to come up with a settlement it can live with. Athletic directors at all major schools are being told to carve out 30 million dollars each, per year, for ten years, in their annual department budgets. That's 300 million dollars per school! That is absolutely an NCAA budget buster! This money will be used for some sort of revenue share formula with student athletes.

This will not be an easy pill to swallow for any school. The major players in the Big Ten and SEC will handle it much easier than schools in the ACC for example. After all, the Big Ten and SEC receive 75-100 million dollars a year in media revenue. ACC schools get about a third of that amount so asking them to fork over 30 million dollars a year would be financially fatal.

This may create the final push toward the Super Conference(s) we've been talking about for so long. This is no longer something vague somewhere in the future. This is now. This is an NCAA budget buster. Get ready. We always love to jump into this topic on Craig Shemon and Company on ESPN Southwest Florida.

There's been some activity across the web about where you can get the best fast food chicken nuggets. The problem for those of us in Southwest Florida, is not all of those franchises are here. And the national lists don't include some that we do have. So we needed to create a chicken nuggets list that's specific to Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres - really just all of Southwest Florida.

This list is just nuggets, not tenders. Or fingers. If we did tenders we'd have to include Zaxby's and even the ones at Racetrac, which are actually quite good. And then you get into the ones at Publix which isn't a fast food place. (Ya'll know my thoughts on the Chicken Tender Sub- love it). And then you have to allow Burger King's Chicken Fries, which are waaaaay better then their chicken nuggets. No, we have to stay focused. This is just a chicken nuggets list. Regular or spicy.

Let's face it, if you have to drive a long way to get your nuggets you may make another choice. or more importantly, if you're Door Dashing it, those nuggets won't be as good if they've made a long trip. Am I ranking Wendy's Spicy Nugs higher because the store is right in front of the Publix I shop at? Maybe. And maybe the reason I rarely go to Popeye's is because there's a Chick-Fil-A on the right side of the road on the way there. Do you drive past Chick-Fil-A to get to Popeye's? Sometimes the best fast food chicken nuggets are the ones that are closer.

One last thing before we get to the list. Why aren't fast food chicken nuggets available as dinosaurs? Honestly, Dino Chicken Nuggets really aren't that good, but I buy them anyway because they're fun. Give me Wendy's Dinosaur Spicy Nuggets and I'd make them number one on this list. Didn't Burger King once shape their nuggets as crowns?

We're putting Chick-Fil-A at number one. They are the perfect combination of taste, sauce, and proximity to the radio station. And service -  I'm also really liking the way the Estero store is handling the drive thru. As places like Wendy's are moving towards AI ordering boards, Chick-Fil-A has people standing outside with tablets taking your order. Chick-Fil-A nuggets are the best in Southwest Florida.

Wendy's nuggets come in second. More specifically, their Spicy Nugs. They are really everything you'd want in a chicken nugget. Maybe not quite as good as CFA, but solid. Another thing Wendy's is doing right are those fries. They've changed the fries to keep them crispy as they're being delivered. How often have you had a combo meal delivered from somewhere and the fries have turned to a soggy mess? Wendy's solved that, they stay crispy. Nice job. Front Office Rita has Wendy's at 1, but the rest of us say 2.

Usually at PDQ you think tenders, but their nuggets are really good, too. They're just smaller tenders. And they are fantastic. There are a ton of choices over by FGCU, but I'll pulling up PDQ every time. They make 'em spicy, too.

There's a lot of nostalgia in this choice, but you gotta place McDonald's McNuggets high on the list. Here's my problem, though. They come in 4 sizes - bell, bone, boot, and ball. Why aren't one of those dinosaurs? Seriously. Remember when Rick and Morty did that Szechuan dipping sauce episode? That stuff is fire. 

I know they have other options now, but this ranking is based on their regular nuggets. And those, are just kind of - blah. I do want to try their new Saucy Nuggets. I think they realized they needed to step up their nugget game. 

Let me start off by saying I'm a huge fan of the Popeye's Chicken Sandwich. I'd rank that as my favorite fast food chicken sandwich. But their nuggets. Their nuggets just don't hit. I want to like them. But I don't.

My big issue is that the Chicken Fries are really good. But the nuggets. Well, they aren't. Maybe the Fiery fries are better, I haven't tried those. This person on Twitter (X) seems to like them. Stay away from their regular nuggets, tho, unless you have lots of sauce. Drown those things in BBQ sauce and they'll work.

I can't rank them because I've never had them. And there's an Arby's on Corkscrew Road just down from my house. I guess I'll need to give Arby's a shot. Not the first place I think of when it comes to nuggets, but maybe I can get some Horsey Sauce and Arby's Sauce with that? Maybe?