The future of college sports?

[Corn Pop]

How are college sports ruined? Because YOU don't like it doesn't mean they're ruined. Let them get their money.

They were already getting their money, in the form of a free college degree, if they applied themselves. The ones good enough to play professionally weren't denied the opportunity to get rich, that opportunity was just delayed a bit. Giving an 18-year-old a million dollars is a curse as often as it's a blessing.

For me, the beauty of college sports was that the kids played for the love of the game, for school pride, for state pride. I enjoyed watching them being molded into men over the course of four years by a coach who instilled in them the values of teamwork, discipline, delayed gratification, brotherhood, etc. Values that will last them a lifetime. That system taught the right lessons. This system teaches the wrong ones.

Now you've got borderline talents like K.J. Jefferson making a million dollars being protected by an O-Line getting free catfish at the Catfish Hole. Or you've got Nick Smith, Jr. flying to L.A. during the season for "knee management" because he's already been paid. It builds resentment.

Then the borderline talent takes his "talent" elsewhere next year because some other school offers more NIL money. The fan is denied the opportunity to watch them grow together, AS A TEAM, over the course of four years.

So what you end up with is the worst of both worlds. You no longer have the beauty of amateur athletics and you still don't have the beauty of true professional sports because the beauty of the NFL, NBA and MLB is that you are watching the best of the best. College sports will never provide that. So we fans are left with a watered-down, bastardized version of the G-League or the XFL.

The beauty of college sports was that its participants were amateurs.

[jdcatty]

They were already getting their money, in the form of a free college degree, if they applied themselves. The ones good enough to play professionally weren't denied the opportunity to get rich, that opportunity was just delayed a bit. Giving an 18-year-old a million dollars is a curse as often as it's a blessing.

For me, the beauty of college sports was that the kids played for the love of the game, for school pride, for state pride. I enjoyed watching them being molded into men over the course of four years by a coach who instilled in them the values of teamwork, discipline, delayed gratification, brotherhood, etc. Values that will last them a lifetime. That system taught the right lessons. This system teaches the wrong ones.

Now you've got borderline talents like K.J. Jefferson making a million dollars being protected by an O-Line getting free catfish at the Catfish Hole. Or you've got Nick Smith, Jr. flying to L.A. during the season for "knee management" because he's already been paid. It builds resentment.

Then the borderline talent takes his "talent" elsewhere next year because some other school offers more NIL money. The fan is denied the opportunity to watch them grow together, AS A TEAM, over the course of four years.

So what you end up with is the worst of both worlds. You no longer have the beauty of amateur athletics and you still don't have the beauty of true professional sports because the beauty of the NFL, NBA and MLB is that you are watching the best of the best. College sports will never provide that. So we fans are left with a watered-down, bastardized version of the G-League or the XFL.

The beauty of college sports was that its participants were amateurs.

There is a lot of truth in this. If you don't think this is going to devolve into a "whoever can pay the biggest bucks" situation, I am afraid you are wrong.  I just don't see any way out of the morass.

[vegashog]

where was the concern for these kids when they were operating in a system that was found to be unconstitutional by one of the most conservative scotus ever?  oh yeah, your feels.

not a damn thing wrong thinking the direction of the sport is not to your liking, you have lots of company. to try to interject the financial well being of the players into the argument is kinda weak, imo.

They were already getting their money, in the form of a free college degree...

they were denied the right to make money, like any other college student. it was the stupid rules that brought this on. why weren't they changed? 

funny how the finger seems to get pointed at the 'greedy player', not the system that only stayed the way it did because the ncaa had the money ($68 million thru 2021) to spend fighting it in court for years on end.

[Feral]

So what you end up with is the worst of both worlds. You no longer have the beauty of amateur athletics and you still don't have the beauty of true professional sports because the beauty of the NFL, NBA and MLB is that you are watching the best of the best. College sports will never provide that. So we fans are left with a watered-down, bastardized version of the G-League or the XFL.

Been saying this for a while.

College sports is basically devolving into shitty, disorganized semi-pro leagues with better branding.

[Corn Pop]

where was the concern for these kids when they were operating in a system that was found to be unconstitutional by one of the most conservative scotus ever?  oh yeah, your feels.

not a damn thing wrong thinking the direction of the sport is not to your liking, you have lots of company. to try to interject the financial well being of the players into the argument is kinda weak, imo.
they were denied the right to make money, like any other college student. it was the stupid rules that brought this on. why weren't they changed? 

funny how the finger seems to get pointed at the 'greedy player', not the system that only stayed the way it did because the ncaa had the money ($68 million thru 2021) to spend fighting it in court for years on end.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

[DrMongoose]

where was the concern for these kids when they were operating in a system that was found to be unconstitutional by one of the most conservative scotus ever?  oh yeah, your feels.

not a damn thing wrong thinking the direction of the sport is not to your liking, you have lots of company. to try to interject the financial well being of the players into the argument is kinda weak, imo.
they were denied the right to make money, like any other college student. it was the stupid rules that brought this on. why weren't they changed? 

funny how the finger seems to get pointed at the 'greedy player', not the system that only stayed the way it did because the ncaa had the money ($68 million thru 2021) to spend fighting it in court for years on end.

yes they were denied the opportunity to make money like the average college student but again they already had so many benefits the average colleget student didn't get - full scholly (for most SAs, tutoring, appearl, equipment, meals, stipends, top notch health care, counseling, training (facilities, programs, coaches), etc.

if they are going to get additional money it should come from the revenue they generate (TV, tickets, etc) not the fan on top of what they are giving the program.

[Usafhawg]

If you don't think this is going to devolve into a "whoever can pay the biggest bucks" situation, I am afraid you are wrong. 

What is wrong with that? I did that the last time I switched companies. Coaches do it all the time. What is the difference?

[Thin Red Swine]

I don't like it either. But there I'll be...every Saturday morning...watching GameDay and watching football until the last Pac-12 game ends at 2:36 EST.

Do you really?

I've noticed how much I've checked out. I barely even watch the Gameday predictions, much less the three hour slog it is now. I can't remember the last non-Arkansas game I watched in its entirety outside the playoffs. I usually only watch parts of more than a couple of games if it's bigger weekends toward the end of the season.

No question the direction of the game has turned me off because I used to be almost that level of committed. 

[Barton Fink]

Gonna put this one here.

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1790002691650830721?t=ydLps5v9V9amYt8ThPOZPg&s=19

[DirkPiggler]

What is wrong with that? I did that the last time I switched companies. Coaches do it all the time. What is the difference?

Contracts. 

I'm betting you signed a contract that limited your ability to work for other direct competitors, share information you may have learned during your time at your previous job, etc.  Maybe, if you're valuable enough, you even had to pay a buyout to your company to leave before the contract expired, or your new employer paid it for you.

That's the big problem here.  It's not THAT the players are making money.  That's been a long time coming for reasons so many others have pointed out.  The issue is that they are able to take that money and leave with no restrictions. 

And that's not the players' fault.  The system they are in allows it.  Schools are required to honor the player's scholarship for four years if he sucks on the field, is injured and can't perform, etc. but get no protection if that same player blows up and gets a better offer from a competitor on next season's schedule. 

This is all headed towards a players union and collective bargaining, for better or worse.  The leagues won't be able to set policies that apply to the entire group without some way to negotiate with the entire body. 

[hit_that_line]

Contracts. 

I'm betting you signed a contract that limited your ability to work for other direct competitors, share information you may have learned during your time at your previous job, etc.  Maybe, if you're valuable enough, you even had to pay a buyout to your company to leave before the contract expired, or your new employer paid it for you.

That's the big problem here.  It's not THAT the players are making money.  That's been a long time coming for reasons so many others have pointed out.  The issue is that they are able to take that money and leave with no restrictions. 

And that's not the players' fault.  The system they are in allows it.  Schools are required to honor the player's scholarship for four years if he sucks on the field, is injured and can't perform, etc. but get no protection if that same player blows up and gets a better offer from a competitor on next season's schedule. 

This is all headed towards a players union and collective bargaining, for better or worse.  The leagues won't be able to set policies that apply to the entire group without some way to negotiate with the entire body. 

Those contracts won't be valid any longer.

[The Whyte Boar]

where was the concern for these kids when they were operating in a system that was found to be unconstitutional by one of the most conservative scotus ever?  oh yeah, your feels.

not a damn thing wrong thinking the direction of the sport is not to your liking, you have lots of company. to try to interject the financial well being of the players into the argument is kinda weak, imo.
they were denied the right to make money, like any other college student. it was the stupid rules that brought this on. why weren't they changed? 

funny how the finger seems to get pointed at the 'greedy player', not the system that only stayed the way it did because the ncaa had the money ($68 million thru 2021) to spend fighting it in court for years on end.

The rules didn't cause this.  The rules held it off for as long as they could.

I'm just not that sympathetic to the argument that the kids were getting taken advantage of by the schools.  I've got a 17 year old junior who thinks she might want to go to TCU.  The tuition there is $63k a year.  With room and board and living expenses it's going to be $100k a year easy.  We can argue all day about it being worth it, I don't think it is, but I see a shitload of athletes, many of them from poor underprivileged places, who are attending TCU for more or less free.  In practical terms that means they are getting paid roughly $100k a year to go to school.  My kid won't be going there unless she gets a shitload of academic scholarships because it's too expensive for me to make any sense of the sacrifice it would entail.  TCU ain't Harvard even though it costs more.  But I'll be damned if I'm going to be  lectured about "poor wittle minority athletes" who are being preyed upon by these "mean old white men". 

[DirkPiggler]

The rules didn't cause this.  The rules held it off for as long as they could.

I'm just not that sympathetic to the argument that the kids were getting taken advantage of by the schools.  I've got a 17 year old junior who thinks she might want to go to TCU.  The tuition there is $63k a year.  With room and board and living expenses it's going to be $100k a year easy.  We can argue all day about it being worth it, I don't think it is, but I see a shitload of athletes, many of them from poor underprivileged places, who are attending TCU for more or less free.  In practical terms that means they are getting paid roughly $100k a year to go to school.  My kid won't be going there unless she gets a shitload of academic scholarships because it's too expensive for me to make any sense of the sacrifice it would entail.  TCU ain't Harvard even though it costs more.  But I'll be damned if I'm going to be  lectured about "poor wittle minority athletes" who are being preyed upon by these "mean old white men". 

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 school. 

I counter that with this example.  If you give a $250,000 Lamborghini to some turd like Keith Olbermann who never learned to drive a car, that doesn't lessen the value of the automobile.  It just means that he's too stupid to take advantage of something that holds real worth.  It's not the fault of the schools if their scholarship athletes don't use that degree for the higher earning potential it gives them.

But again, the open market person in me says that players should be sharing in some of the profits they generate, or at the very least should be able to cut side deals that help them earn money when the rules limit what they can be paid to the terms of the scholarship.

[FNG]

Less than 2% of NCAA football and basketball athletes make it to the professional level; put another way, over 98% of these athletes will only have their college years to profit financially on their physical talents. While a "free" college education is a valuable gift in the right hands, the sad truth is many, if not most, college athletes are so poorly prepared and/or motivated to take advantage of that education that it loses much of its worth.

On the other hand, some colleges and universities make obscene amounts of revenue from their Athletic Departments. During Covid (2020-2021) the University of Arkansas took in $152,513,755.00 in total sports revenue and was only 20th on the list (The Ohio State topped the list at $251,615,345.00).

I'm still not sure what to make of all this. I do feel that college athletes should receive compensation in addition to their education but I'm not sure about what the source/sources of that money should be and how or if that money should be distributed equally among athletes.

However, what I am sure about is that the entire process of compensation, transfers and total limits must be strictly regulated and enforced or else college sports will cease to exist as we know it.

[Third_down_draw]

What is wrong with that? I did that the last time I switched companies. Coaches do it all the time. What is the difference?

How many companies do you tailgate for?

[Usafhawg]

How many companies do you tailgate for?

I don't understand the question.

[The Whyte Boar]

I don't understand the question.

You wouldn't.  It's pretty obvious.

[Usafhawg]

You wouldn't.  It's pretty obvious.

Will the tailgate I work for help start the civil war too?

[The Whyte Boar]

Will the tailgate I work for help start the civil war too?

One trick pony, you are.  Typical government worker.

[Usafhawg]

One trick pony, you are.  Typical government worker.

Go chase an ambulance