The charade is over. College athletes are now employees.

I dunno about that. A players union would probably do exactly what it does in every other sport. It’s by the players and for the players. We aren’t talking about just the top 300 or so every year. If one got health insurance, they would all get it. We aren’t just talking Lagway, that kid no one thinks about would be compensa with a minimum salary and benefits. Lagway would get his either way. What about players that are hurt and can no longer play like Ethan White. We had a lot of kids that were medically unable to continue. Those guys in the nfl are being helped which never happened in the nfl before the players union. It’s coming like it or not.

 

Just because Texas spends all the money generated by football on their sports program doesn’t mean they didn’t turn a profit. They profited 271 mil last year. What they do with it to turn it into zero is beside the point. There’s an elite league within a league of pretenders that aren’t profitable but I don’t see the Vandy’s of the world lasting too much longer. It’s just going to be the legit football powers and the real money separating somehow. Football and the select teams that are on a different level will go their own way.

 

In a different article that I read, coaches were cross examined and gave contradictory testimony about what the expectations of the players were. What was considered required by the coaches and what was suggested by the coaches but was actually required. It showed that the coaches controlled aspects of the players ability to play this showing an employee relationship between coaches and players. That is what the judge used as the basis of their ruling.

 

I would say being a football player for a college is a job. Pretty hard and taxing job.

 

You just nailed it. Fantasy football and betting in general are the reasons why viewership is as high as it is. The NFL product is not as good as it was. There’s like 8 good quarterbacks, the officiating is terrible, the games by and large end up 20-17, most of the passes are short, and it’s all running qbs because they haven’t been developed at the college level. If it weren’t for FF, I wouldn’t tune in but for a handful of times per year.

 

I won money on Lamar Jackson throwing like shit in the playoffs yet again. Average nfl qb with great wheels and a strong arm. Why do people believe running backs with strong arms that can’t win from the pocket are tge future hall of famers. Passing from the pocket has and alway will rule. Running is a big plus and Mahomes can do both, he’s just a vastly superior qb which is because there’s no comps between the two when in the pocket.

 

Does this mean other employees get free education?

 

No, I’m not too young to remember, but I also don’t see the huge change you are describing with respect to the actual sport. The offseason stuff in college sports is frustrating, but it’s just a part of the game now. Schools and coaches now have to be masterful GMs to win. Honestly, I don’t care about that too much. Whoever is on the field come season start is our team. If you leave, then peace out… you’re the opposition now. I think a lot of people are upset because they don’t have the earning power or freedom to move around that these athletes do. It’s not important and respectfully just because you want to see a player do this or that, it’s not your decision. Just root for the guys who are on your team.

 

I agreed with you until you talked about the product not being good anymore. In general, the QBs now are way more skilled and better passers than the QBs in the past. They are more developed, largely because they don’t approach the game the same way. They are getting coached up and attending camps from a very early age. They are way more advanced. A good team today would destroy a good team from the past.

 

In the beginning, college sports was about the best team that you could field from your student base who were enrolled to get an education. Now, college sports is about the best athletes you can buy to come to your school as professional athletes who mostly don't give a damn about an education. When all that started many years ago, that was the beginning of the end. It's been a slow creep towards the dark side, and, in the last five years, it's been an exponential decline. Be careful what you ask for...

 

Did anyone really expect college sports to remain the same today as it was back then? The entire world has changed, society has changed, people have changed, technology has changed etc. So naturally college sports would drastically change too.

 

No, it just means that the ones that earn billions of dollars get a cut of the pie and we’re talking about the ones that could not pass admissions in the first place

 

I'm curious about how the Ivy's fill out their teams. Do they recruit? Do the athletes get special admissions privileges to attend (in other words would the admissions department break out in guffaws if their application was for a non-athlete)?

 

If players and their greedy parents want to be hired guns and act like independent contractors, then have them sign a non-compete when they sign their scholarships. That would end this musical chairs with players and scumbags like Alabama and Georgia stockpiling and burying other schools with their seemingly no-life boosters with millions to burn, to live vicariously through primarily 18-20 African American men. The non-compete would mean players could NOT just leave for greener pastures. It would cut down on 90% of the shenanigans and feed into this insanity.

 

At the end of the day, the ones with all the power are the ones that own the Logo and Brand. Which is the presidents, chancellors and trustees. If the president of UGA decided that they weren't going to pay any players then that's that and those good players can go play elsewhere. If unknown players out of high school had that much value then some group could go start another league and make their money and leave the public universities out of it (good luck to them).

Now comes the tricky part. Human nature being what it is, the Universities would NEVER agree to act all as one for the good of the game. One would always look for an advantage (and have over the years with bag men etc.). The reason the NFL is successful is that there are rules that all ownerships (that own the brand) have to follow and they can't get a leg up on another team. The two biggest are the salary cap and a draft.

If we are going down that road then the players are going to have to accept that they are bound by their contracts to play at a school unless the school wants to trade or sell their contract to another school (within the salary cap of course).

What's likely is a scenario where two separate leagues are set up, one with paid players, salary cap, draft etc. and both players and schools have to decide which one they want to be part of. Schools that can't afford to play in the big pool and players that aren't good enough to get drafted go to the old school model. And you can forget about Title 9 balances being maintained. If your sport isn't profitable, well.... bye. Football money won't be used to support other teams (women's teams). That money will go to football players.

 

Dartmouth does not offer athletic scholarships.

 

I’d imagine there’s several that would be laughed out the door.

 

The Universities can’t just decide to act all as one for the good of the game. That’s collusion/price fixing and is highly illegal. In order to do anything even remotely close to that, the athletes would have to agree to it. Right now, they aren’t even allowed to pay directly and have almost no control over any of this stuff.

We are not going to have a college draft.

A cap won’t actually cap anything. The third part money isn’t going away, and cannot be capped. It will continue to be used the same way it’s being used now. The teams that have fanbases willing to spend the money will continue to circumvent any type of cap.

 

That’s pretty much what I see happening also but am skeptical about any draft.

 

There’s going to be options for sure. What the big money schools want is how it will go.