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College Sports Died Today

by Mark Singletary
17 replies
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Starting with football but eventually it'll spread to other sports.

Have you been following the new pay for play agreement that was entered into today? The details have to be worked out, but the bottom line is that there are no more amateurs because schools can pay athletes. And not just can but it will be a requirement to succeed in the future.

There can be a good argument saying that sharing revenue is only fair. My argument for me personally, though, is that one of the reasons I don't watch the NFL is it's a job for the athletes vs. a passion that is so strong they would do it for free (besides scholarships) like they do in college. There is a difference between the two in my mind. Now, all that is dead. NIL has already started hurting the sport and this is just the next blow.

Your thoughts?
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Personally, I say it's about damn time. It is only fair that these athletes ( particularly football) who risk their life and limbs everytime they step out on a field get a share of the profits.

    To me why would I risk it and receive NONE of the rewards when my coach and University gets to rake in the billions??

    It's ridiculous !!

    Plus, with this maybe we do away with one and done like UK basketball. Gives the players incentive to stay in college. But that's a whole other story.

    I applaud all of this
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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Originally Posted by discrat View Post

      It is only fair that these athletes ( particularly football) who risk their life and limbs everytime they step out on a field get a share of the profits.
      I have not seen the agreement yet. I will look into it.

      Just my 02: I'm not sure what the numbers are for football, a wide majority would play for free, even without the slight chance to make the pros.

      Take auto racing there's no money in the sport unless you make it into the upper echelons of the sport. Or you are a paid driver for a car owner on the local short tracks. Drag racers race for trophies and drop thousands of dollars to go a tenth of a second faster. Yet this weekend the majority of drivers around the country race for fun.

      Somewhere along the lines, this is going to hurt the sport. It's just over an hour to Yankee Stadium or about 1:45 minutes to Citi Field. However, I prefer to attend the minor and independent leagues in the area, half the professional players or prima donors. The local ball players still have that hustle to try and make it to the big leagues. Disclaimer I do know the the minor league ball players do get some income.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    I know nothing about college sports...or football....or anything the least bit manly.
    But I know this...

    It's not bad news or good news. Ten years from now nobody will be talking about this...except a few guys talking about the good old days.

    We simply get used to any new reality.

    Imagine if college players always got paid, and now they wouldn't get paid. For a week, it would be a topic of conversation, parents of students would be up in arms about it....for a week. "News" would cover it nonstop for a week...until the next travesty arrives. ...and then we would get used to the new shiny object.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      I know nothing about college sports...or football....or anything the least bit manly.
      But I know this...

      It's not bad news or good news. Ten years from now nobody will be talking about this...except a few guys talking about the good old days.

      We simply get used to any new reality.

      Imagine if college players always got paid, and now they wouldn't get paid. For a week, it would be a topic of conversation, parents of students would be up in arms about it....for a week. "News" would cover it nonstop for a week...until the next travesty arrives. ...and then we would get used to the new shiny object.
      Claude you make sense ( oh boy did I really say that lol). Change at first seems hard to swallow but with time we all become accustomed to it and it becomes a non-.issue.

      Good observation
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
        Originally Posted by discrat View Post

        Claude you make sense ( oh boy did I really say that lol). Change at first seems hard to swallow but with time we all become accustomed to it and it becomes a non-.issue.

        Good observation
        You wrote it so I didn't have to. I remember being mad as fire when FSU changed its logo. It was the topic of conversation in our family for 2-3 weeks. We would never get over it and NEVER forgive the university for such a travesty. Since then, I haven't talked about it or thought about it even once in several years and ultimately their change didn't affect my love for them.

        So, yeah. What Robert said.

        Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      I know nothing about college sports...or football....or anything the least bit manly.
      But I know this...

      It's not bad news or good news. Ten years from now nobody will be talking about this...except a few guys talking about the good old days.

      We simply get used to any new reality.

      Imagine if college players always got paid, and now they wouldn't get paid. For a week, it would be a topic of conversation, parents of students would be up in arms about it....for a week. "News" would cover it nonstop for a week...until the next travesty arrives. ...and then we would get used to the new shiny object.
      I'm outraged, they are going to pay college students to play sports???

      Ohhh, lookadee here, a new post on Ken Leatherman's joke thread
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Originally Posted by lanfear63 View Post

        I'm outraged, they are going to pay college students to play sports???
        Come on a scholarship is only worth about on average $250, 000 for 4 years. That is peanuts for the top college athletes who alone are generating millions and millions for the University they are a part of.

        It's simple finance and mathematics
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        • Profile picture of the author Odahh
          Originally Posted by discrat View Post

          Come on a scholarship is only worth about on average $250, 000 for 4 years. That is peanuts for the top college athletes who alone are generating millions and millions for the University they are a part of.

          It's simple finance and mathematics
          As much money that gets generated from college sports this is fine. But it's a little late. Unless the income from college sports can be used to slow down the increase in cost of college tuition.

          But it will probably be used as an excuse to increase tuition cost much faster .

          With these changes do college teams get to start openly paying money to the best high school players rather than trying to hide it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jamell
    I think its an incentive .Let's see if the players maximize the opportunity .
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  • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
    I live in Australia so what do l care just as long as no one mentions the Wallabies!

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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
    This was destined once conferences started signing these mega contracts with broadcasters. Quite honestly, it probably took too long. The optics are pretty bad that schools, conferences, and coaches make billions yet students lost scholarships because they traded game swag for tattoos. The student athletes brought the viewership, yet reap none of the financial reward. A free education is a pittance compared to the money everyone else was making off their labor (and potentially life-long injuries and ailments).

    Further, one could argue these athletes stopped being amateurs the minute they received scholarships. It's just a different form of remuneration.

    The people who are scared of this, or who should be, are fans of mid-upper tier schools who trade off past glory but don't have the fanbase to generate significant money for salaries, or upstart universities like UCF that might have broken through given a few more years of the previous system.

    I don't think this changes much for the upper tier schools (Ohio State, Alabama, FSU, Tennessee) or the cellar dwellers (Kent, Akron). The upper tier have the funds and the lower tier aren't getting great players anyway.

    The real shift will be in the middle. Which of those schools are going to fade because they refuse to pay, and which will gamble in attempt to climb the ladder?

    I think it's going to be interesting and offputting at the same time. Kinda like watching Claude at a buffet or Mark at a speed dating event.
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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Originally Posted by Dan Riffle View Post

      The real shift will be in the middle. Which of those schools are going to fade because they refuse to pay, and which will gamble in attempt to climb the ladder?.
      Watching ABC News last night they said the money is coming from the NCAA. The way they stated it, would be distributed to all the teams. I wonder if this will help the schools in the middle? They also noted that they may pay former players back to 2016.

      It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
        Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

        Watching ABC News last night they said the money is coming from the NCAA. The way they stated it, would be distributed to all the teams. I wonder if this will help the schools in the middle? They also noted that they may pay former players back to 2016.

        It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
        That's how it will start. We'll see how long it stays that way. You'll have schools suing for distributions based on school-based viewership ratings. There's much more money in OSU vs Michigan than Toledo vs Directional Michigan.

        If there is some kind of salary cap, I assume there will only be a minor shift from a recruiting standpoint. I think what we're more likely to see is a salary *floor* based on NCAA subsidy with schools being allowed to cough up their own cash.

        Further, I can envision a scenario where the NCAA has considerably limited power and schools and/or conferences directly bargain with broadcasters in a much broader sense than they are capable now.

        That's my 2 cents and I'm likely wrong. I've been dealing with work bullshit and a second grader heading into Summer Break so I'm a bit out of the loop.
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    I think it is fine for the college athletes to get a basic salary,
    but nothing exorbitant like professional sports.

    They spend their time studying (supposedly) and training
    so it's not as if they have time to get another job to earn
    the money necessary to cover their living expenses and
    other incidentals.

    I prefer they get paid rather than being caught shoplifting
    groceries and committing other crimes or shady deals to
    be able to eat.

    And it will reduce the under-the-table transactions that go
    on in college sports, where some athletes are given cars
    etc. or their families are enriched.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    id just ditch the student pretense and turn these into state owned sports clubs that only play sports. youll get better players,better students, and it wont add to the admin overhead of already large state unis.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    I just saw this. I had no clue they were dealing in $ like that. $400,000 for one year of playing football? I wonder what the FSU offer was. He says it was less than the USC offer.

    Even though I'm not sure how I feel about all this pay for play stuff, I'm glad Brandon went to FSU even if it was for hundreds of thousands. Looking at it that way and knowing the impact he had on our undefeated regular season, makes me think maybe $ ain't so bad after all.

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    They never did it for free: they did it for a scholarship. Which is a lesser amount than what they are going to get paid now, it's true. But they were not amateurs, ever. They were badly paid professionals (taken-advantage-of professionals, if you want) and now they're going to be well-paid professionals. Should have happened from day 1.



    Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

    Starting with football but eventually it'll spread to other sports.

    Have you been following the new pay for play agreement that was entered into today? The details have to be worked out, but the bottom line is that there are no more amateurs because schools can pay athletes. And not just can but it will be a requirement to succeed in the future.

    There can be a good argument saying that sharing revenue is only fair. My argument for me personally, though, is that one of the reasons I don't watch the NFL is it's a job for the athletes vs. a passion that is so strong they would do it for free (besides scholarships) like they do in college. There is a difference between the two in my mind. Now, all that is dead. NIL has already started hurting the sport and this is just the next blow.

    Your thoughts?
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