Chuck Neinas, a key architect and adviser over decades of college sports, dies at 93

Chuck Neinas, the onetime Big Eight commissioner whose media savvy and dealmaking helped turn college football into the multibillion-dollar business it is today, died Tuesday. He was 93.

The National Football Foundation announced Neinas' death, with its president and CEO Steve Hatchell calling him “a visionary in every sense of the word.” A cause of death was not disclosed.

From 1980-97, Neinas was executive director of the College Football Association, an agency created by several big conferences that sought to wrest control of their TV rights from the NCAA.

Two key members, Georgia and Oklahoma, sued the NCAA over TV, and a 1984 Supreme Court ruling in their favor effectively made the CFA a separate business from the rest of college sports. It gave Neinas a key seat at the negotiating table.

He brought home deals worth billions in the 1980s and ’90s, and those huge contracts set the stage for today’s industry, currently highlighted by a TV deal worth $7.8 billion for the College Football Playoff.

After the CFA disbanded in 1997 — with conferences taking their TV rights into their own hands and the Bowl Championship Series, the precursor to today’s playoff, about to start — Neinas founded a consulting firm that helped schools create policies and hire athletic directors and coaches.

He was CEO of Ascent Entertainment Group, which owned the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and their arena when they sold to Liberty Media Group in 2000.

But his passion was college sports. He served as interim commissioner of the Big 12 from 2011-12, solidifying that conference during one of many surges of realignment by adding TCU and West Virginia.

In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Neinas envisioned a future that looks much like today as he pondered lawsuits against the NCAA that would eventually lead to players being paid.

“There is a need for some changes,” Neinas said. “The auto industry is always trying to improve their model. College athletics should do the same. But the basics are still sound.”

Born in Wisconsin, Neinas was a longtime Colorado resident and was living in Boulder at the time of his death.

After working as a play-by-play man for Wisconsin football and basketball, Neinas got a job with the NCAA, where he served as an assistant executive director from 1961-71. He became commissioner of the Big Eight Conference in 1971 until moving to the CFA.

During his Big Eight tenure, Neinas chaired the committee that recommended the NCAA withdraw from the U.S. Olympic Committee. That led to a major reorganization and the passing of the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act that governs the Olympics in the U.S. today.

FILE - Chuck Neinas, right, speaks after being named commissioner of the Big Eight conference as professor Charles H. Oldfather looks on, Oct. 6, 1971, Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo/William P. Straeter, File)

FILE - Big 12 Conference Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas speaks during a news conference to announce West Virginia's entrance into the conference, Nov. 1, 2011, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/David Smith, File)

FILE - West Virginia President James Clements, left, Big 12 Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas, center, and West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck discuss the school's entrance to the Big 12 Conference during a news conference, Nov. 1, 2011, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/David Smith, File)

FILE - Chuck Neinas sits in his home office with an old football trophy, Feb. 27, 2003, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans placed a trio of safeties on injured reserve Tuesday, effectively ending the seasons of Xavier Woods, rookie Kevin Winston Jr. and Mike Brown with only three games remaining.

All three were hurt early in Sunday's 37-24 loss at San Francisco. Brown hurt an ankle, while both Woods and Winston hurt hamstrings.

A nine-year veteran, Woods started 10 of 11 games he played and had two interceptions. Winston, a third-round pick out of Penn State, started six of 10 games played. Brown played nine games in his third season with the Titans and recovered a blocked punt on Dec. 7 in Tennessee's win over Cleveland.

The Titans signed a pair of safeties off practice squads, adding Erick Hallett from Detroit and Sanoussi Kane from Baltimore. They also claimed rookie guard Garrett Dellinger off waivers from Cleveland.

Hallett started a game with the Lions in October and was undrafted out of college at Pittsburgh. He started with the Jaguars in 2023 before signing with Detroit in 2024 with stints on the roster and practice squad. A seventh-round pick out of Purdue by Baltimore in 2024, Kane has played in 22 games, mostly on special teams.

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Tennessee Titans safety Mike Brown recovers a blocked punt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/David Richard)

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings catches a touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Purdy over Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Winston Jr. in the first half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Tennessee Titans safety Xavier Woods (25) returns an interception as Cleveland Browns' Isaiah Bond (16) gives cahse in the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/David Richard)