This is true, but the schools are still plenty powerful. Them being disproportionately more powerful than the NCAA is what’s caused college football to go through so much change over the past 30 years (see the OU/Georgia lawsuit vs the NCAA from the 80s). The schools have since empowered their conferences so that they’re ALSO more powerful than the NCAA, and used them as a conduit to enrich themselves through TV deals. In fact the only reason they keep the NCAA around is to administer the other sports, as it would be a disastrous mess if they had to do it themselves. They only care about football.
I don’t know how Title IX affects all of this, but like @frm710 I would be very, very surprised if school football programs went away. They may simply become a professional (minor) league only associated with the school in name, but that’s just semantics. They would still play at the current stadiums and keep the same conferences, etc…
Effectively what i expect to happen, the devils advocate of pure minor league etc was extreme comments in regard to what could happen if the colleges let the ncaa and title ix do what was being suggested.
I expect the colleges to tell both entities to piss off as they create the new league on their own but the college association becomes only in name as you suggest. Not much different than what i am thinking, i just dont see a reality to where we can go back to college football is an “amateur” sport or argue that college football players should make the same as a guy on the wrestling team.
If that gets pushed and colleges cave (they wont) then i see everything come crashing down. Again, its extreme but that is more the point. We raise these articles and muse about the “what if” i am merely saying i dont see it goingg backwards in NIL and the minute it gets communicated that we can/should is the minute i believe that the players that could previously have made millions in NIL balk at it.
You may be right, but if all of the changes are behind the scenes, how is it really any different? In fact some would argue college football has basically been professional and separate from schools for a long time. Sure, players are getting their slice of the pie now, but it’s still more or less a different animal from every other collegiate sport. Making it official won’t change much imo.
Actually it might even improve, if NIL essentially becomes a contract, it could restrict the movement in the transfer portal. I know some are fans of the portal but I hate it, it’s nonsense from a competitive standpoint, and no other sporting league in the world works that way. Bigger teams can’t just take the best players from smaller ones, not without paying them exorbitant sums, or offering them something of equal value in return.
Minor quibble, I agree with just about everything else you say (as usual). But two things:
The NCAA bball tournament is still a billion-dollars-annually property. Again, it’s one of those rare, extremely valuable HUGE NATIONAL EVENT media properties that are so few and far between these days.
While TV executives are definitely exercising HUGE influence at the conference level and when it comes to football contracts, the ultimate decision-makers are still college presidents and the ADs that work for them. And while it’s hard to believe for those outside, most of these people* genuinely DO care about their schools’ broader athletic and academic programs. They have gotten addicted to huge cash infusions from monster TV deals to fund college athletics, as well as their own salaries and bonuses, but I think it’s incorrect to say that they don’t care about anything else, or that nothing else will influence their decisions.
Also, as others have said in this thread, even if there are administrators who really do just care about maximizing dollars above all else, many of the big-name programs are public institutions that are answerable to their state governments, who are both committed to preserving the sport, but also committed to not screwing over other public institutions in the state.
On number 1, I have been told that the NCAA tourney is basically a bone schools throw the NCAA to fund all the work they do for them. That was from someone who used to work in the athletic department of a P5 school, so take from it what you will, but it makes plenty of sense to me.
You’re probably right on your second point, I shouldn’t have been so dismissive. I kind of said it that way just for emphasis, but I do think some ADs and presidents care about the success of other sports. But most of them care about football first, at least if they’re in a P5 now P4 conference.
Top coaches are getting paid $10 million/year. I have it on good authority that the safeties at UM were offered 400k each to come back. And Michigan is a team with a sub par NIL package. You think some minor league with no built in fanbase wants to compete with that?
You miss my point around the ncaa and title ix altering the nil value and the basis of this discussion being that tehy would push funding to make it equitable across all college sports.
That to me is the issue i am arguing would lead to a more clear separation as players will not accept going backwards at this point imo.
A super league wont be a minor league like the UFL. It will just be like another division. Just above NCAA FBS.
But it wont be under the control of the NCAA.
according to lawyers that have fallowed this story as it’s gaining traction. There is nothing the NCAA can do if the schools AD and President decide to break away.
The football programs will break away from the NCAA NOT from colleges.
Teams will have a NIL/ rev share cap. Likely around $20m annually.
And private companies CANNOT recruit. Ie Ford Motor company telling highschoolers to come to UoM and they will pay them. Even if Ford isn’t affiliated with Michigan.
Same goes for the NFL. Ford cant tell FAs that if they come to the lions they get more money. Thats a MAJOR violation.
And it will be handled much better than the NCAA. Because investors and footballl experts will be behind the committee that have millions on the line. Vs the NCAA thats a not for profit on a fix salary
The NCAA tourney, as I understand and openly can easily be wrong, is what funds most of the NCAA as it is theirs. The CFB playoff is not the property of the NCAA which is a significant difference.
The discussions between the B1G and SEC also include how to deal with the NCAA tourney to the point of separating from the NCAA. That is putting the cart way in front of the horse but you know the NCAA is not happy. They have lost a lot of power the last cpl years.
Looks like they’re assuming that the number of scholarships offered will be subject to title ix but not dollars, which makes sense. It will still likely be challenged in court at some point, but they have a much stronger case that they’re providing equal opportunity, and that the law doesn’t demand equal $$$.
This is my position also. It’s shameful how some (most?) football players at big-time colleges are separated from the normal college life.
I would enjoy watching college football that was only Student athletes and without the “student” athletes.