A little birdie told me

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

"More viewers mean more money and more t-shirt fans means more merchandise sales." This would be true, for my favorite NFL team. They'd get my money and time. If they split leagues then I am a season ticket holder at Jerry World and my Saturdays are eternally free. My girls enjoy UNT Soccer and Basketball more anyway because we can sit so close. College football politics are making me dislike it as an entity. I'll always love our team but I don't want to see us go through the 80s and early 90s again. I just couldn't stomach it.

This is where I am with it as well. The facts are ugly, but must be faced: NCAA will disappear. Big Ten commish was on last weekend scolding smaller college for hanging on, basically saying they (the 5 Monopoly Conferences) would be forced to separate from the NCAA and do their own thing.

It's pathetic. It's also part of the reason why I've said before that they should just drop the charade and make those conferences a minor league to the NFL. Have the NFL draft for the rights to players coming out of high school, like in baseball.

NFL teams could trade rights depending on how a kid's college career is going. They could give them bonus money to pay for school expenses. That would get around the ugliness of schools paying the players.

Also, it would give some financial stability to a group of athletes who really tear their body up at a young age so that colleges (and their coaches) and networks and advetisers can make millions, now billions, off of them.

Baseball players coming out of high school can get a pretty good chuck of cash, even if they are drafted in late rounds and only play a couple of seasons in the minors.

It's an ugly thing going on. And, at the heart of it is money. It is, of course, the height of hypocrisy that so many conferences can participate in March Madness for basketball - and every other amatuer college sport - but football is closed off. But, no one will do anything about it.

For our part, I simply hope those schools not in the 5 Monopolies will simply stop scheduling them.

Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Oklahoma and Georgia kicking this whole thing off by winning their antitrust lawsuit agianst the NCAA over television rights. In the 30 years hence, it's transitioned from the NCAA picking the games to be televised to:

(1) the CFA, to

(2) Notre Dame getting their own TV deal, to

(3) Conferences negotiating their own television contracts, to

(4) the Bowl Alliance, to

(5) the BCS, to

(6) the Big Ten starting a network, to

(7) Texas starting a network...and,

(8) it will end within the next 18 to 24 months with the 5 Monopolies leaving the NCAA.

We were mired in I-AA during (1) - (4), stuck with bad facilities and lack of funds/interest during most of (5) and (6). By (7), we had our new stadium up. But, we will already be too late to participate in (8).

It doesn't matter to me. You look at the circus going on between Texas and Alabama over a football coach, the circus of the USC and Miami player pay schemes, and Penn State ignoring a child molesting assistant...and, it kind of makes me feel decent about not being there.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

And, so here is what I'd like to see in the future: A Super Bowl of the 5 Monopoly's champion versus the 6 Others champion.

They said the AFL would never beat or compete with the NFL. Okay. Let's have the presidents, athletic directors, and coach of the 6 Other conference get the nuts to tell the 5 Monopoly, "Screw you...we'll play you once a year - your champion versus ours."

Edited December 13, 2013 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[oldguystudent]

[Green Mean]

Really not sure what the big deal is. They don't represent anything that's wrong and soulless. I'm hopeful that one day we could be able to pay a coach that money. Hell It would be great when paying our coach 2 or 3 million a year will be just fine. People don't realize what athletics can do for a university as a whole. It's all a business and it's all about money.

[GangGreen]

If the P5 do split from the NCAA, they will no longer have to abide by any of the current NCAA regulations. This could affect the G5 in a way that has not been talked about much.

They would no longer have to worry about transfer rules and could pick off the best players from the G5 schools without having to worry about players losing eligibility, etc. There are plenty of guys in the G5 that could start for the P5 schools. Take a look at the NFL draft any given year.

What would stop them from using the G5 the same way JUCO are used now?

[LongJim]

If the shoe was on the other foot, I think most here would be ok with it. I would.

[Mean Green 93-98]

If the shoe was on the other foot, I think most here would be ok with it. I would.

Which shoe? Which foot? I do not share the vehement anti-Longhorn sentiments of some on this board, but I do feel like $12 million a year is simply way too much to spend on a football coach. In 7 years, that amount would more than pay for an Apogee Stadium.

[LongJim]

Which shoe? Which foot? I do not share the vehement anti-Longhorn sentiments of some on this board, but I do feel like $12 million a year is simply way too much to spend on a football coach.

Make no mistake--it is too much. It's ridiculous.

But if it is coming out of the pockets of your donors, and the program stays relatively clean--who gives a rip? I certainly don't. If a donor to the music department said "I want to donate 12 milllllllion dollars yearly to hire the best faculty and staff for the music department, because I want the results to be the best anywhere", I'm not going to tell him "That's ridiculous. We don't need that much."

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

If the P5 do split from the NCAA, they will no longer have to abide by any of the current NCAA regulations. This could affect the G5 in a way that has not been talked about much.

They would no longer have to worry about transfer rules and could pick off the best players from the G5 schools without having to worry about players losing eligibility, etc. There are plenty of guys in the G5 that could start for the P5 schools. Take a look at the NFL draft any given year.

What would stop them from using the G5 the same way JUCO are used now?

Which is why I've said just drop the charade and have the NFL have an amateur/high school draft and use the schools those drafted players attend as minor leagues.

[oldguystudent]

Of interest, if the P5 did indeed break away and become a professional minor league to the NFL, it would ironically make it much, much more difficult for the schools to cheat.

[Cr1028]

Which is why I've said just drop the charade and have the NFL have an amateur/high school draft and use the schools those drafted players attend as minor leagues.

So they would be telling young men where they would have to go to school?

[Rudy]

If the P5 do split from the NCAA, they will no longer have to abide by any of the current NCAA regulations. This could affect the G5 in a way that has not been talked about much.

They would no longer have to worry about transfer rules and could pick off the best players from the G5 schools without having to worry about players losing eligibility, etc. There are plenty of guys in the G5 that could start for the P5 schools. Take a look at the NFL draft any given year.

What would stop them from using the G5 the same way JUCO are used now?

The NCAA could pass new eligibility rules regarding G5 and P5 schools.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Make no mistake--it is too much. It's ridiculous.

But if it is coming out of the pockets of your donors, and the program stays relatively clean--who gives a rip? I certainly don't. If a donor to the music department said "I want to donate 12 milllllllion dollars yearly to hire the best faculty and staff for the music department, because I want the results to be the best anywhere", I'm not going to tell him "That's ridiculous. We don't need that much."

I can't disagree with that.

I just hadn't heard in this thread that that is how Saban's (or whoever the new coach is's) salary was going to be funded.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Mean Green 93-98

[forevereagle]

So they would be telling young men where they would have to go to school?

If that were to happen, I doubt there would be any need to force an education into the mix. Just use the facilities for the players.

[stebo]

A little birdie told me that Harbaugh was in Austin this week meeting with Regents. Not sure how true it is, but this birdie would definitely know. Maybe a backup plan?

The same birdie also told me that in the pages of donors, the first three pages were filled with million dollar and more gifts (just for this year).

It's pro football. UT's athletic budget is higher than the payroll for the Patriots.

[UNTFan23]

A little birdie told me that Harbaugh was in Austin this week meeting with Regents. Not sure how true it is, but this birdie would definitely know. Maybe a backup plan?

The same birdie also told me that in the pages of donors, the first three pages were filled with million dollar and more gifts (just for this year).

It's pro football. UT's athletic budget is higher than the payroll for the Patriots.

Long time no post, eh?

[Cerebus]

Stebo lives! It's a Mean Green

Christmas miracle!

[H-towngreen]

And it looks like Mack stays

[Harry]

Stebo is back. Mean Green must be bowling again. All is good in Mean Green Land.

[Mean Green 93-98]

And it looks like Mack stays

Huh? It might not be Saban--which was always a pipe dream anyway--but I still think Mack's gone.

[GreenBat]

Saban has been offered a 10 year 120 million dollar contract from UT. This is coming from my parents CPA who is a big UT alum, but has bigger friends... We'll see if it's true but that's quite a bit of money for a coach

Looks like the little birdie was full of bird poop.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10135355/nick-saban-agrees-new-deal-stay-alabama-crimson-tide

[keith]

Would they have any money left to pay the refs?

[ragpicker]

AGAIN, "BASICALLY, THEY REPRESENT ALL THAT IS SOULESS AND WRONG."

Gluttony, love of money and the of worship filthy lucre trumping all that is descent and clean. There has always been a natural affinity for the underdog and I will support an honest Scrappy over and obscenely bloated Bevo any day. We may not be BCS bowl bound, but we do retain some semblance of college football. Go Mean Green and keep it real.

[ragpicker]

Gluttony, love of money and the of worship filthy lucre trumping all that is descent and clean. There has always been a natural affinity for the underdog and I will support an honest Scrappy over and obscenely bloated Bevo any day. We may not be BCS bowl bound, but we do retain some semblance of college football. Go Mean Green and keep it real.

worship of. Damn typos.

[pastorgrant]

I don't care what they pay him, but if the P5 splits off, I may never watch another P5 football game unless somehow UNT got into the mix. I already have one professional league to follow; I'm no more interested in a college semi-pro league than I am with the arena league.