The End of College Sports As We Know It

[bigrabbit]

You are right on current endowment sizes but if these football schools realize roll call dollars are going for football and not research, every trailer park in alabama will be funding roll call - and there are a lot of trailer parks in alabama. At Stanford and Duke, I don't think roll call adminstrators will be for using every dollar going to football and other sports per rules.

The top 10% control 70% of wealth in this country. The average person living in that trailer does not (according to current data) have cash to pay an emergency $400 expense (two new tires or heat going out). Stanford grad VCs and tech company execs could easily round up billion dollars for football if they wanted to…that would only be 3% of their current endowment. It’s just not a priority to them. The trailer park crowd makes noise but I’d be shocked to learn they are really capable of competing with that. Maybe the plumber millionaire next door h.s. grad dwag fans otoh…

 

[RamblinRed]

Reading the articles one note is that 50% of the money in the educational trust that would be established by a University has to meet Title IX - basically the money has to go to women sports.
Beyond that, there is no maximum put in the document, only a minimum - $30K per every 2 athletes at a school.
If a University wants to create a trust that pays every athlete $100K, they can do that.

NCAA president proposes creation of subdivision allowing schools to directly compensate student-athletes

Charlie Baker's plan is a radical attempt to move the NCAA to the front of the compensation conversation

www.cbssports.com

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/05/ncaa-economic-proposal-smart/

" Money distributed by the university would be subject to Title IX requirements, meaning half the allocated money would be required to go to female athletes. "

"Player compensation gaps will inevitably emerge inside every conference, even the big ones — Ohio State will surely pay more than Purdue; same for Alabama compared with Mississippi State — and eventually, the tribal identity of the sport will migrate completely from history and geography to economics and marketability."

"The football-based subdivision would be independent of the FBS and FCS dichotomy. Teams at either level are eligible to opt into the football subdivision. However, teams that opt in will ultimately be able to exist at a different level than the rest of college football. The group could decide different roster sizes, recruitment practices, transfer or NIL rules, even while competing against other members of FBS or FCS working under the existing rules. "

 

[roadkill]

Reading the articles one note is that 50% of the money in the educational trust that would be established by a University has to meet Title IX - basically the money has to go to women sports.
Beyond that, there is no maximum put in the document, only a minimum - $30K per every 2 athletes at a school.
If a University wants to create a trust that pays every athlete $100K, they can do that.

NCAA president proposes creation of subdivision allowing schools to directly compensate student-athletes

Charlie Baker's plan is a radical attempt to move the NCAA to the front of the compensation conversation

www.cbssports.com

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/05/ncaa-economic-proposal-smart/

" Money distributed by the university would be subject to Title IX requirements, meaning half the allocated money would be required to go to female athletes. "

"Player compensation gaps will inevitably emerge inside every conference, even the big ones — Ohio State will surely pay more than Purdue; same for Alabama compared with Mississippi State — and eventually, the tribal identity of the sport will migrate completely from history and geography to economics and marketability."

"The football-based subdivision would be independent of the FBS and FCS dichotomy. Teams at either level are eligible to opt into the football subdivision. However, teams that opt in will ultimately be able to exist at a different level than the rest of college football. The group could decide different roster sizes, recruitment practices, transfer or NIL rules, even while competing against other members of FBS or FCS working under the existing rules. "

Why am I unable to take an NCAA proposal seriously?

 

[UgaBlows]

I assume there would be caps on NIL? Another answer would be values/prioritization…Stanford could have easily already bought the best football team in history but didn’t because it’s not that important to them. My guess is you could get our peers i.e. UVA, Duke, Stanford etc. to agree on NIL in some not-so-crazy range.

Boosters would absolutely not comply to any agreement and there is currently no way to cap or limit NIL without getting sued. I like the idea in principle but I believe the same problems That cfb has currently would follow. Top players would still be bought away by the factories at the end of every season. There is literally no way to fix college sports without federal legislation and a governing body with teeth- the ability to fine or jail rule-breakers.

 

[UgaBlows]

Why would anyone want to watch pro sports “light” aside from the fans of those schools? Why would anyone care about pro college teams with athletes that don’t even attend classes or get a degree? (I know this is already happening but it’s mostly undercover) It would just be a ****ty version of the NFL. Alternate versions of pro football have been tried several times and have mostly been abject failures.

 

[Randy Carson]

Why would anyone want to watch pro sports “light” aside from the fans of those schools? Why would anyone care about pro college teams with athletes that don’t even attend classes or get a degree? (I know this is already happening but it’s mostly undercover) It would just be a ****ty version of the NFL. Alternate versions of pro football have been tried several times and have mostly been abject failures.

Why do some schools get jacked up over their women's basketball programs?

It's just basketball "light" - a slower version of the men's game without all the dunking.

 

[MusicalBuzz]

Good Lord has this country lost its way. Is it so difficult to accept that the purpose of higher education — the “University” — is to prepare and develop the life skills of kids for the next 30yrs for their own benefit and the benefit of society? The University system does NOT exist as an entity to enrich kids for the next four years.

And mind you: all this and all of NIL is matriculating down to high school, where arguably it’s more important that kids develop intellectually and socially. Instead, all this system is doing is driving their attention away from the books, is driving their attention towards an over-titled payout when they’re only just turning 18. This is wrecking havoc on a segment of society that really should be focused differently.

 

[bigrabbit]

Boosters would absolutely not comply to any agreement and there is currently no way to cap or limit NIL without getting sued. I like the idea in principle but I believe the same problems That cfb has currently would follow. Top players would still be bought away by the factories at the end of every season. There is literally no way to fix college sports without federal legislation and a governing body with teeth- the ability to fine or jail rule-breakers.

Seems like IRS tax laws address much of this - failure to issue a 1099 or to report income? Would we need another tax law specific to nil income necessarily? Maybe we’re back full circle to the old fashioned cash deals, free loaner cars. That’s harder to institutionalize and colleges wouldn’t want direct involvement, but totally agree it’s hard to regulate, always has been.

 

[Eli]

This will be a ****ty product. We will capitulate with the money spent to watch 10 teams. Will kill college athletics and I do believe the money will dry up.

 

[ChicagobasedJacket]

Good Lord has this country lost its way. Is it so difficult to accept that the purpose of higher education — the “University” — is to prepare and develop the life skills of kids for the next 30yrs for their own benefit and the benefit of society? The University system does NOT exist as an entity to enrich kids for the next four years.

And mind you: all this and all of NIL is matriculating down to high school, where arguably it’s more important that kids develop intellectually and socially. Instead, all this system is doing is driving their attention away from the books, is driving their attention towards an over-titled payout when they’re only just turning 18. This is wrecking havoc on a segment of society that really should be focused differently.

The school and education piece is out at most of the P5. GT is one of the last schools actually trying to educate their “student” athletes whereas other said forget it years ago. The Athletic had a great article about a massive portion of the FBS P5 players being in non-rigorous majors (i.e., football majors such as General studies, communications, general education, etc) to preserve eligibility.

 

[orientalnc]

.

 

[jbv1108]

If GT drops down in football we should demolish BDS and build a nice High School Stadium. Won’t need anything bigger. That move likely kills off most other GT sports. But by God we are principled.

Given our athletic department's massive debt (~$278M per recent reports), I'm not so certain we are even able to retain the land BDS sits on in this scenario. Can any GT sports (incl. football) remain solvent without a "big money" TV contract?

Maybe someone on this board better versed in finance can explain what the path(s) forward (bankruptcy, etc.) might realistically look like should this new world come to pass.

 

[Doddjacket]

There's 32 NFL teams. How about those colleges that decide to follow this model work out deals with NFL teams to sponsor those programs as a college-based minor league system.

The rest of college football programs can then go about playing the sport as it is supposed to be played. The players make the choice where to play and if they choose college football, then their NIL/transfer opportunities are limited, and they have assumed any "risk" associated with that.

Hate it but that's where it's seems to be going. Kind of like, major league baseball. Like so many are saying. Upper crust sports schools and everybody else fighting for the players that change schools year to year. I don't like it.

 

[GT33]

Given our athletic department's massive debt (~$278M per recent reports), I'm not so certain we are even able to retain the land BDS sits on in this scenario. Can any GT sports (incl. football) remain solvent without a "big money" TV contract?

Maybe someone on this board better versed in finance can explain what the path(s) forward (bankruptcy, etc.) might realistically look like should this new world come to pass.

Our annual debt service is roughly $14M/yr. If I'm not mistaken we refinanced 2-4 yrs ago thankfully or this might have been a crippling number. We're still really high. If the annual conference payout ($34M/yr) got cut off, oh my we'd be in a world of hurt. Try selling Women's softball or basketball tickets to make up that revenue, we can't get people to half fill a football stadium most weekends. Men's basketball is worse that that & these are our 2 revenue geneating sports.

 

[GTJake]

Reading the articles one note is that 50% of the money in the educational trust that would be established by a University has to meet Title IX - basically the money has to go to women sports.
Beyond that, there is no maximum put in the document, only a minimum - $30K per every 2 athletes at a school.
If a University wants to create a trust that pays every athlete $100K, they can do that.

This in a nutshell is the problem, the big money programs will further separate themselves.

 

[orientalnc]

... we can't get people to half fill a football stadium most weekends.

This is not true.

BDS capacity is 55,000. Our attendance this year was 31,452/30,097/35,656/35,945/33,332/51,447 for a total of 217,929 for the six home games. That's an average of 36,322 and represents 66.04% of the capacity of BDS. So, while not good, we are well over half the capacity of BDS.

Note: The UL game was at MBS, but I used the BDS capacity since I do not know how many seats were available for that game.

Data source: GTAA published attendance

 

[yeti92]

This is not true.

BDS capacity is 55,000. Our attendance this year was 31,452/30,097/35,656/35,945/33,332/51,447 for a total of 217,929 for the six home games. That's an average of 36,322 and represents 66.04% of the capacity of BDS. So, while not good, we are well over half the capacity of BDS.

Note: The UL game was at MBS, but I used the BDS capacity since I do not know how many seats were available for that game.

Data source: GTAA published attendance

Yes but MOST weekends there is not a football game being played there, so TECHNICALLY he's right. But it's also true for most every other college stadium too.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Given our athletic department's massive debt (~$278M per recent reports), I'm not so certain we are even able to retain the land BDS sits on in this scenario. Can any GT sports (incl. football) remain solvent without a "big money" TV contract?

Maybe someone on this board better versed in finance can explain what the path(s) forward (bankruptcy, etc.) might realistically look like should this new world come to pass.

Neither GTAA nor Georgia Tech own any real property.

 

[GaTech4ever]

How do you keep NIL and transfers out of the academic league? How long would it take before some private school with great academics and lots of money just became a new nerd version of Alabama?

Harvard’s endowment is larger than the GDP of several countries… they could easily play this game if they wanted to. But they’re smarter than that.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Harvard’s endowment is larger than the GDP of several countries… they could easily play this game if they wanted to. But they’re smarter than that.

Largest endowment of any school from what I’ve read.