Texas will begin to pay players $10,000 per year

[UNT90]

First step? It's like the 50th step. The P5 won this fight a long time ago.

The best the G5 can do now is try to hang on. The monopoly is in place, only government action could break it, and since the big schools who put in the legislators are in the G5, we can forget that.

So the question is:

Will the G5 take the RV approach of doing what they have always done and beg for money games to make themselves slightly semi-relevant, or do they file an anti-trust suit against the NCAA and P5?

I think the answer is as clear as the 2 body bag game, 4 home game schedule UNT currently has in place for next season.

[untjim1995]

Just let them go...they aren't inviting anyone else to the P5 party and they will probably knock out some of their current members down the road when conferences get even more realigned.

We missed the boat--hell we didn't even try to get to the dock until very recently and we got a place on a raft. It's just what we decided at the highest levels of how we wanted to fund the entire program. It stinks for all of us who dreamed of playing against the big state schools in the Big XII and the Sec and others, but our leaders and our location made it to where our competition was the SLC, the Big West, the SBC, and now CUSA. We just couldn't beat TCU and SMU for conference placement and we got slotted below them both. It's too bad--I think we could have competed against those schools

If we had been given a chance. But no one wanted to give us that chance and our leaders refused to aim higher for

A longtime with the program's direction. It's all coming home to roost now.

[Eagle1855]

If we had been given a chance. But no one wanted to give us that chance and our leaders refused to aim higher for

I was with you 100% til this. I think people never took us seriously because we never made anyone take us seriously. The move back to 1AA is all the evidence you need. We're largely where we are by our own choosing. We weren't UH or TCU. We didn't have a seat at the table that was taken from us.

The second half of this quote is basically the crux of all of it: weak foresight. Maybe it would have all looked different if we'd secured a spot in the SWC. Maybe. But the admin didn't want to spend the time, money, whatever to make it happen. We can blame SMU. But really, it all comes back to the same place.

So we move on. And I think we do the very best we can, be the best of the rest in our little slice of heaven. That's not a give-up in any sense of the word. It's realizing our place in the world is not that of Texas A&M or Texas Tech. But that it can be that of Boise, BYU, Marshall and others.

And I think we are on track for that with the investments that have been made. We just need a big season. An actual big season.

[Got5onIt]

Don't get me wrong, I think it's ridiculous what the NCAA fat cats, universities, & coaches make on the backs of these young kids. We're talking a multi billion dollar industry controlled by a few with a select few reaping the monetary benefits. The kids risk their bodies every week to put $5 million in coaches pockets hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Ncaa president's bank account. I'm all for the kids being compensated. With that said the rise in player salaries is inevitable. Little Ol' North Texas, just too bad....

Edited October 24, 2014 by Got5onIt

[MeanGreenZen]

I like June Jones' idea of playing in the spring. More $$$ in it as networks are desperate for programming then and we aren't competing for attention with Big 12/SEC. NFL can have a supplemental draft after the season for the few players they would be interested in (It is a long time since Cody Spencer was drafted). This could be real, amateur college football played by guys who go to class and actually graduate. Screw the minor league system of hired labor these schools are creating on the back of student debt and an education economic bubble that is sure to pop soon. If we don't like the P5's rules, let's change the game. It would only take 1 conference to make this happen. Everybody plays everyone else once. Top 2 teams play at end of season for the title.

[TheColonyEagle]

So what will be the qualifications to be in this new college world order?

Being able to afford to pay your players?

Is that it? How much money do you have?

Not to harp on SMU but why would they pay Mack Brown $4 million per year to be relegated to a new FCS?

How long until this all begins? 2 years?

[TheColonyEagle]

And I'll add...

I think the new Division I Football league will be less than 60 teams.

[Got5onIt]

What is the actual goal of G5 schools? They've poured a lot of money into their programs in recent years in terms of facilities and coaching salaries. If G5 becomes just another 1AA, then what becomes of all that money outlay? Nothing?

There's got to be a strategy among G5 schools to A) realize that they are not semi-pro minor leagues the P5 are about to become and that it's simply not economically viable to attempt to become as such (see Boise and San Diego St). B ) Commit to that realization. C) Generate a long-term marketing plan that sells the G5 as real college football that's accessible to the fans, that's welcoming, that has tailgating, whatever. D) Profit?

Honestly, as much as the Ohio State dude was talking of a division 4 withdrawing from the NCAA, perhaps that's exactly what the G5 should do. Create something akin to NAIA that separates completely from NCAA, runs its own show on its own terms, and stops taking it up the orifice every time the president of LSU sneezes.

The G5 have a huge market to potentially tap into. The P5 will be shifting into Minor League mode. Americans love their amateur sports and will hopefully be smart enough to differentiate the 2 leagues. I can see the G5 growing from this but they have to have the balls to break off and go their own way....

[Baby Arm!]

To begin with everybody is reading this wrong. Of thet $10k/yr, $5000 would be put into the fund for the players likeness that would be paid when they graduate/leave school. It's not a total of $15,000,

So each player gets $5000 per school year. That breaks down to less than $140 a week during a 9 month school year.

That's not a lot to buy your personal items, put gas in a car, take your girlfriend out, etc. Heck in some SEC schools this would be a pay cut for the players!

[UNT90]

To begin with everybody is reading this wrong. Of thet $10k/yr, $5000 would be put into the fund for the players likeness that would be paid when they graduate/leave school. It's not a total of $15,000,

So each player gets $5000 per school year. That breaks down to less than $140 a week during a 9 month school year.

That's not a lot to buy your personal items, put gas in a car, take your girlfriend out, etc. Heck in some SEC schools this would be a pay cut for the players!

And it's a starting point that will skyrocket as quickly as the UT's of the world can manipulate the system, which will be very, very quickly.

[Stan R]

And it's a starting point that will skyrocket as quickly as the UT's of the world can manipulate the system, which will be very, very quickly.

Don't disagree with you. What' I'll be curious to see will be how will the Iowa State's of the world compete in this? Will we see a group of 5-10 teams sharing the NChamp. tropy forever? Oh wait, we have that now. Nevermind.

[untjim1995]

And I'll add...

I think the new Division I Football league will be less than 60 teams.

I think it will be somewhere in the 64 to 72 range, that will give 4 conferences 16-18 teams each.

If 16 is the number, then the realities of that would mean there are 4 spots available in the Pac, 2 seats available in the B1G, and 2 seats available in the SEC. Its my belief that the ACC is much stronger as an overall league than the Big XII, so they have 2 spots left. That's 10 spots that are available--you could say that makes the Big XII a perfect fit to fill them correct? Not really at all. Notre Dame has their quirky deal with the ACC, which may be BYU's way of doing the same thing out West with the Pac. The PAC won't offer any small private religious-oriented schools into their league, so schools like BYU, Baylor, and TCU are out for conference membership. I still think the Texoma 4 go out west, eventually. WVU goes to the ACC, KU goes to the B1G with UConn. The SEC then goes after a couple of ACC teams (Va Tech and NC State) to get to 16, which leads the ACC to invite in Cincy and UCF or USF to get to 16.

The rest of the Big XII gets relegated downward, except for K-State, who somehow finds a place in the p5 world somewhere.

And Baylor sues everyone. Then joins the new SWC with the rest of the G5s around here...

[Eagle1855]

And it's a starting point that will skyrocket as quickly as the UT's of the world can manipulate the system, which will be very, very quickly.

So is the thought that UT wants to pay players more money so that they come to Austin instead of going to schools like UNT or UH? Because they're already going to Austin instead. They don't need to pay players a dime to sell the UT football program.

UT has no desire to run up the $ price for college athletes. No college wants to spend money on what they've been getting free since the beginning of time.

I think this board is dealing with severe paranoia. No one's out to get us. Everyone's out for themselves. And every college will get behind the appeal of the O'Bannon ruling.

And if it is upheld, you can be certain the less fortunate P5 schools aren't going to let UT, Ohio State, and others run a limitless payroll.

[untjim1995]

So is the thought that UT wants to pay players more money so that they come to Austin instead of going to schools like UNT or UH? Because they're already going to Austin instead. They don't need to pay players a dime to sell the UT football program.

UT has no desire to run up the $ price for college athletes. No college wants to spend money on what they've been getting free since the beginning of time.

I think this board is dealing with severe paranoia. No one's out to get us. Everyone's out for themselves. And every college will get behind the appeal of the O'Bannon ruling.

And if it is upheld, you can be certain the less fortunate P5 schools aren't going to let UT, Ohio State, and others run a limitless payroll.

I agree with your last sentence. Texas is setting a floor here, but its a floor they know that the members of their conference can still pay. They know it will help them all in recruiting and in PR, both in the media and with legislators. The less fortunate P5 schools, in terms of budget, can still easily afford to pay $10k to each student just off of their conference TV money, much less any other stream of revenue they get. The Tech's of the world can pay $10k knowing that they get $25 million in revenues from TV, bowls, conference funding, etc...

And there are way more Tech's of the world in the P5 than there are teams like Texas. Texas knows this all to well--they aren't going to rile up the P5 ranks against them.

[UNT90]

I agree with your last sentence. Texas is setting a floor here, but its a floor they know that the members of their conference can still pay. They know it will help them all in recruiting and in PR, both in the media and with legislators. The less fortunate P5 schools, in terms of budget, can still easily afford to pay $10k to each student just off of their conference TV money, much less any other stream of revenue they get. The Tech's of the world can pay $10k knowing that they get $25 million in revenues from TV, bowls, conference funding, etc...

And there are way more Tech's of the world in the P5 than there are teams like Texas. Texas knows this all to well--they aren't going to rile up the P5 ranks against them.

Getting the bottom rung of the P5 out and narrowing it down to about 30 to 35 teams to share all the money us the end goal.

Don't fool yourself.

How many teams are in the NFL?

[oldguystudent]

Getting the bottom rung of the P5 out and narrowing it down to about 30 to 35 teams to share all the money us the end goal.

Don't fool yourself.

How many teams are in the NFL?

So what we're looking at on the horizon is direct NFL affiliation a la MLB minor league teams in which the NFL begins to actively engage in high school recruitment and the draft, placing them at their affiliated colleges for development.

[UNT90]

So what we're looking at on the horizon is direct NFL affiliation a la MLB minor league teams in which the NFL begins to actively engage in high school recruitment and the draft, placing them at their affiliated colleges for development.

I think that is where this is heading. It allows access to NFL money for the P5 and allows the NFL to partner local teams. A&M partnering with the Texans, UT with the Cowboys, etc.

A true farm club that allows the majority of grads of a university to follow those players to their favorite NFL team.

[rcade]

Athletes are already getting the vast majority of their expenses covered.

I got paid for the work I did at UNT while I attended school. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was enough for me to live near campus and focus on my studies when I wasn't working.

Why shouldn't student athletes get paid for their jobs? College sports generate billions in revenue:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/

Paying athletes a small amount so they can focus on school and their sport seems like a fair deal to me a long time in coming.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I got paid for the work I did at UNT while I attended school. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was enough for me to live near campus and focus on my studies when I wasn't working.

Why shouldn't student athletes get paid for their jobs? College sports generate billions in revenue:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/

Paying athletes a small amount so they can focus on school and their sport seems like a fair deal to me a long time in coming.

Are you aware that college sports at North Texas loses money? So by your reasoning, UNT student-athletes should pay for the privilege to play.

[rcade]

Are you aware that college sports at North Texas loses money?

The link I provided shows that UNT breaks even.

Surely you recognize that a lot of schools are making a lot of money from sports. Why should athletes be the only ones not sharing in that revenue? A college athlete in a top sport has no time in his or her schedule to work an outside job. It's ridiculous to not pay them a little money to compensate them when many other students who works on campus are paid,

[UNT90]

The link I provided shows that UNT breaks even.

Surely you recognize that a lot of schools are making a lot of money from sports. Why should athletes be the only ones not sharing in that revenue? A college athlete in a top sport has no time in his or her schedule to work an outside job. It's ridiculous to not pay them a little money to compensate them when many other students who works on campus are paid,

That's funny, because I remember a certain WR who worked at whataburger all the way through college, even after he was awarded a scholarship.

Don't say they can't work, because it simply isn't true.

They also aren't playing year round. Work in the off season and save your money. You already are being given A $30k EDUCATION AT NO CHARGE!

Such a silly, silly argument. And you buy into exactly what the P5 want you to buy into.

[trud1966]

How does the NCAA not see the potential for problems and corruption by allowing this now? There are already boosters out there high-fiving because they now have a method to hide money. Within 5 years it's going to be discovered that kids are getting much more than 10,000.

[Mean Green 93-98]

The link I provided shows that UNT breaks even.

No, it doesn't. It shows revenues as coming in under expenses. And UNT athletics is known for using some crafty accounting practices to show the gap much narrower than it actually is.

Surely you recognize that a lot of schools are making a lot of money from sports. Why should athletes be the only ones not sharing in that revenue? A college athlete in a top sport has no time in his or her schedule to work an outside job. It's ridiculous to not pay them a little money to compensate them when many other students who works on campus are paid,

I don't care about a lot of schools. I care about North Texas. So whatever amount other schools make and could afford to pay players is moot.

And the dollar amount paid by a North Texas athletic scholarship is far greater than almost any college student could hope to earn working an outside job.