“Student Athletic” in college sports. JJ Watts’ take on the subject.

[DeepGreen]

Spot on!

NCAA Charade

 

[Mean Green 93-98]

I agree with everything he says except, "Run [college athletics] as [a business]."

The thing is, I don't see any way we're ever getting that toothpaste back in the tube.  Tighter regulation of collectives is about the best we can hope for.

[rcade]

I agree with J.J. Watt that it's wrong for the athletes whose sports make no money and attract few NIL deals to have to travel great distances for conference games.

It would be a better system if schools could have a conference affiliation for football and basketball and another for the rest of the sports.

[GrandGreen]

  On 3/25/2025 at 4:43 PM, Mean Green 93-98 said:

I agree with everything he says except, "Run [college athletics] as [a business]."

The thing is, I don't see any way we're ever getting that toothpaste back in the tube.  Tighter regulation of collectives is about the best we can hope for.

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Run it like a business and over half the D1 football teams would be gone.  Unless you consider mandated student fees as income, few outside of the SEC actually have more revenue than expenses. 

[GMG_Dallas]

  On 3/26/2025 at 5:31 AM, GrandGreen said:

Run it like a business and over half the D1 football teams would be gone.  Unless you consider mandated student fees as income, few outside of the SEC actually have more revenue than expenses. 

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If you ran the NCAA as a business, you'd be giving all d1 programs an equal cut of media revenue (with respect to each sport). Then you could actually grow each program to be successful on their own right. McDonald's didn't become what it is today by focusing all their efforts on flagship locations at the expense of small market stores.

[GrandGreen]

  On 3/26/2025 at 12:20 PM, GMG_Dallas said:

If you ran the NCAA as a business, you'd be giving all d1 programs an equal cut of media revenue (with respect to each sport). Then you could actually grow each program to be successful on their own right. McDonald's didn't become what it is today by focusing all their efforts on flagship locations at the expense of small market stores.

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I didn't know all businesses now or ever got consistent government funding. 

I would be for most of anything that leveled the playing field with more equal funding, but i doubt Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas Universities are going to give up a cent to support lower tier teams.  

Socialism exists to an extent in the NCAA, with limits on number of scholarships, number of coaches, non-NIL financial support for players, etc.   However, the current trend with the increasing impact of NIL, which as evolved into paying players is highly capitalistic. 

Unless there are major unexpected changes in the NIL rules, I think the number of teams attempting to play D1 will dwindle down to something akin to the NFL with about thirty members.   

[GMG_Dallas]

  On 3/26/2025 at 5:41 PM, GrandGreen said:

I didn't know all businesses now or ever got consistent government funding. 

I would be for most of anything that leveled the playing field with more equal funding, but i doubt Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas Universities are going to give up a cent to support lower tier teams.  

Socialism exists to an extent in the NCAA, with limits on number of scholarships, number of coaches, non-NIL financial support for players, etc.   However, the current trend with the increasing impact of NIL, which as evolved into paying players is highly capitalistic. 

Unless there are major unexpected changes in the NIL rules, I think the number of teams attempting to play D1 will dwindle down to something akin to the NFL with about thirty members.   

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If you want to run the NCAA as a business, the model exists in the NFL, NBA, and so on. Media dollars are split evenly, there's a salary cap, a salary floor to ensure money goes to the players as intended, contracts, structured free agency, and so on. Pretty simple. I don't love it, but it's better than what we have.

[TIgreen01]

  On 3/26/2025 at 8:23 PM, GMG_Dallas said:

If you want to run the NCAA as a business, the model exists in the NFL, NBA, and so on. Media dollars are split evenly, there's a salary cap, a salary floor to ensure money goes to the players as intended, contracts, structured free agency, and so on. Pretty simple. I don't love it, but it's better than what we have.

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You are correct.  However, what's the point?  There is no reason for it to exist when we already have the NFL.

[GMG_Dallas]

  On 3/28/2025 at 4:36 PM, TIgreen01 said:

You are correct.  However, what's the point?  There is no reason for it to exist when we already have the NFL.

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Player development. An 18 year old isn't ready for the NFL. Most aren't ready for the NBA or MLB either. I'd imagine your average pro team doesn't want to deal with developing kids.

[untjim1995]

  On 3/28/2025 at 4:36 PM, TIgreen01 said:

You are correct.  However, what's the point?  There is no reason for it to exist when we already have the NFL.

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And the NFL, with 32 teams, only provides a maximum of 16 games a week. The need for more games is there. But people won’t watch leagues that are considered “minor”. What they will watch, in person and on TV, are the kids who will be in the NFL, representing the schools of states and cities they live in or went to or grew up near. The problem is that there aren’t more than probably 30 brands that really move the needle for ratings and attendance. If the CFB powers decided to coalesce into the following schools, the media and most of the CFB fandom wouldn’t even think twice about those left behind. Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA, Texas, A&M, OU, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Bama, Auburn, Georgia, FSU, Florida, Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Penn State. These schools play in huge stadiums that are almost always full when they play someone else on the list, they represent 99% of the eyeballs for TV, and the media cover them big time. And their alumni give tons of money to these programs. Sure, there are other programs that could meet some of the criteria I mentioned above, but nobody is clamoring to make sure they get to watch Utah vs Texas Tech or West Virginia vs BYU as if it’s the same as a game between the 30 teams mentioned above. At some point, the government will make its way to taking fees for athletics away from the students and making it paid for by alumni and local supporters. When that happens, CFB at places like here will probably end. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

No more student fees or federal funding...

[Graddean]

There is a question of why do we have collegiate athletics under the current system.  Why should universities worry about developing players for professional leagues.

[untjim1995]

  On 3/31/2025 at 6:12 PM, Graddean said:

There is a question of why do we have collegiate athletics under the current system.  Why should universities worry about developing players for professional leagues.

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Clearly, as times moves on, this will be the wake-up call for these universities that don't make any money with their athletic departments.

Until/unless scholarship-only play comes back to competition for college athletics, the cat that has been let out of the bag isn't going to get back in. And for folks like me, that bascially ended college football, because it led to stipends, NIL, and the last straw, the portal.