The future of college sports?

[Corn Pop]

You CANNOT pay the players. I don't care how creative you get with the contracts, the unions, the regulations, etc. It simply won't work.

The minute you start paying them, you are now a professional sports league, and a shitty, minor-league one at that. How many fans show up at G-League games? At XFL games? At NWA Naturals games? Not many. Do those leagues have lucrative TV contracts? No.

So where's the money to pay these players going to come from? NCAA football and basketball will survive for a few more years due to slick marketing and simple tradition, but it won't be long before there are very few butts in the seats and eyes on the television sets because you've taken away the one thing that made college athletics better than professional athletics to a lot of people, i.e., that the participants were AMATEURS.

Then they will have finally killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Who will be left to take care of the poor, abused athletes then?

[vegashog]

uhh, the collectives are already paying them.

if you have coaches with a clue and team that are competitive, people will support them. i'm sure if cal gets us to a final four this season, all you doomsayers will be here to say how bad college sports suck.

[Sus-Scrofa]

The minute you start paying them, you are now a professional sports league, and a shitty, minor-league one at that. How many fans show up at G-League games? At XFL games? At NWA Naturals games? Not many. Do those leagues have lucrative TV contracts? No.

I don't think this analogy works.  Those leagues and teams never had a big fan base to start with.

[The Whyte Boar]

I don't think this analogy works.  Those leagues and teams never had a big fan base to start with.

Sure it does.  The value is provided the teams, not the kids. 

[BleedinRed]

I'm sure college sports will be fine.  There are people who love "professional" sports and I assume there is a subset of people who will love "semi-professional" college sports teams.  I hate professional sports and assume I'll end up hating the semi-pro college system as well.  Time will tell.

[piglosopher]

Legislation is coming at some point. There's a growing amount of prominent people such as Saban that are clamoring for reform.

When and what it would look like is the question. But certainly before the death of collegiate sports.

[jdcatty]

Legislation is coming at some point. There's a growing amount of prominent people such as Saban that are clamoring for reform.

When and what it would look like is the question. But certainly before the death of collegiate sports.

I agree legislation is probably coming.  Just not sure how it stands up to court room challenges based on the constitution

[flash23]

The counter argument player activists make is that those players aren't getting the full value of that education because they are there to play ball.  Paraphrasing noted scholar Cardale Jones, they ain't come to play

This is probably just me being slightly pessimistic about it but I do not believe a college education is worth a whole lot these days. The connections and local fame they get are probably worth way more than any degree they can get from the school. I have no issues with players being able to make a good chunk of a change while they're playing.

[olive_branch_hog]

It is not the paying of players that Saban et.al. is bothered by - it's the transfer portal.

The most successful programs have all been recruiting with impermissible benefits. The difference is they could stash starting-caliber players on their bench to keep them off their opponents rosters for the competitive advantage. The portal dismantled that.

Now the playing field is much more level (although not completely).

[piglosopher]

It is not the paying of players that Saban et.al. is bothered by - it's the transfer portal.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5339689/2024/03/13/nick-saban-nil-college-sports-congress/

[Pig Benis]

https://x.com/rossdellenger/status/1790524340989210674

[jdcatty]

https://x.com/rossdellenger/status/1790524340989210674

Hate to say it, but this looks like one of those settlements where the lawyers make a lot of money but nobody else does.  21 million per year in revenue sharing?  That's nothing. 

[Corn Pop]

Backpay? Reparations, anyone? D.C. politicians and plaintiff's lawyers, yeah that's the ticket, they'll fix it. College sports is like the chicken running around with its head cut off, its dead but it doesn't know it yet.

[Trigger7672]

You CANNOT pay the players. I don't care how creative you get with the contracts, the unions, the regulations, etc. It simply won't work.

The minute you start paying them, you are now a professional sports league, and a shitty, minor-league one at that. How many fans show up at G-League games? At XFL games? At NWA Naturals games? Not many. Do those leagues have lucrative TV contracts? No.

So where's the money to pay these players going to come from? NCAA football and basketball will survive for a few more years due to slick marketing and simple tradition, but it won't be long before there are very few butts in the seats and eyes on the television sets because you've taken away the one thing that made college athletics better than professional athletics to a lot of people, i.e., that the participants were AMATEURS.

Then they will have finally killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Who will be left to take care of the poor, abused athletes then?

They've been paying players for a few years now. Did people stop watching or stop going to games?

[olive_branch_hog]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5339689/2024/03/13/nick-saban-nil-college-sports-congress/

No subscription so cannot read it.

Nevertheless, he lost his advantage and since there was nothing left to prove, he got out. (Regardless of what he is willing to say publicly)

[Corn Pop]

They've been paying players for a few years now. Did people stop watching or stop going to games?

It won't die instantly. It'll be a slow and depressing death, kind of like Sears & Roebucks. But make no mistake, the death knell has been struck. Ed O'Bannon will go down in history.

I can't quote you any official attendance figures or Neilson ratings since they started paying players, but I can say that I've never seen as many seats consistently empty at Bud Walton Arena, except for marquee games, as I saw this year. Same thing for the football Hogs in Razorback Stadium. You can blame that on a myriad of factors, but I can't help but think that NIL is in the middle of it somewhere.

I've heard many people say they are glad the players are getting paid now. I haven't heard any say, however, that they like the product on the field better now, not one. Over time, that will take its toll.

I take no joy in saying this. I say it with sadness and, yes, bitterness. I hate that my grandchildren will never experience the awesome era that was true, amateur college football and basketball. But I know I have no say in the matter. What's done is done. I'll still be watching college sports this coming season, and rooting on the Hogs, just with a little less fervor.

[vegashog]

fans don't show when the team is playing like shit. someone should look into that.

basketball tickets have been sold out the last two seasons and it would be a miracle if they DIDN'T this year. and that despite more nil money being pumped into the team than ever before.

i have no idea where the baseball team ranks in nil, but you can bet some of those guys are getting theirs and it damn sure hasn't kept the fans away.

when it keeps the razorbacks from being competitive, and not the lazy or incompetent coaching, i'll start getting worried.

[Corn Pop]

fans don't show when the team is playing like shit. someone should look into that.

basketball tickets have been sold out the last two seasons and it would be a miracle if they DIDN'T this year. and that despite more nil money being pumped into the team than ever before.

i have no idea where the baseball team ranks in nil, but you can bet some of those guys are getting theirs and it damn sure hasn't kept the fans away.

when it keeps the razorbacks from being competitive, and not the lazy or incompetent coaching, i'll start getting worried.

Can you say that you like the product on the field better, post-NIL?

[vegashog]

me personally, i really don't care about the 'product' or the 'good of the game'. imo neither has done arkansas the favors other programs seem to get.

when we are good at football, it's because we have a coach that knows how to get shit done. we've done ok at the other two big sports so i don't see nil as a hindrance to having a competitive football team. yet

[Corn Pop]

me personally, i really don't care about the 'product' or the 'good of the game'. imo neither has done arkansas the favors other programs seem to get.

when we are good at football, it's because we have a coach that knows how to get shit done. we've done ok at the other two big sports so i don't see nil as a hindrance to having a competitive football team. yet

I'll take that as a "no." I'm still waiting to find someone who can answer "yes." I thought for sure you'd be the first. I'm now more sure than ever that I am right.