College Sports Inequality - the Elephant in the room

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WYO1016
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OrediggerPoke wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:47 pm I actually think it is the likely demise of the NCAA for certain revenue sports amongst money making programs. Why would a school like Ohio State or Alabama need to involve the NCAA from a regulatory standpoint and pay the NCAA (to basically share with the have nots) when the bigger schools can keep all of the money for themselves and pay the players directly? I personally believe we will ultimately see a 'super league' for football and basketball that does not have NCAA oversight. I don't believe Wyoming stands any chance of being a part of that super league and thus Wyoming and the majority of smaller programs will remain relatively 'amateur' status while the big boys ultimately create their own structure where players are either independent contractors or employees. For sports like swimming, tennis, etc...I think those sports are ultimately in the most trouble because it is football and basketball that mostly subsidize those sports.

From a player's perspective, this is probably good for football and basketball but terrible for the non revenue sports. Change will be coming.
The NCAA really screwed themselves on this whole deal. They should have seized control after they signed their billion dollar NCAA tournament deal for basketball. This whole mess would be a lot different if they NCAA took the power when they had the chance. Instead they let the conferences walk all over them; making their own TV deals, poaching teams from each other, and growing more and more out of control.

Let's go back to 2008, when this mega deal was struck.

The Big XII still has 12 teams, The Big 10 still has 11 teams, the Big East still exists, and the WAC is still around. Realignment isn't a thing yet. There is no money race, because the NCAA had only just created it with the basketball contract. The NCAA could have easily done the same thing with football, and held all the cards on how it would be done. There would be no conference jumping. Everyone would get paid out the same way basketball does (credits for being in the tournament). Hell, we may even see a more regional restructuring occur (i.e. TCU would still go to the Big XII, and Boise would still end up in the MWC) based on what was best for the sport and viewership, not by chasing money. We would have to chase money because it would no longer be an arms race.

I do realize that this is a devil-you-know vs. devil-you-don't argument, but I have a hard time believing that it wouldn't be a better place than what we're in now.
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cowboyz
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OrediggerPoke wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:47 pm
bladerunnr wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:26 pm
OrediggerPoke wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:08 pm
WYCowboy wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:06 am Alright you law people out there (and I know there are quite a few), is it time for legal action in the way of a class action lawsuit to put a stop or at least some rules on this NIL garbage that is destroying the ability of the "small universities" that can't compete with the "large universities"? Anybody can look down the road and see where this is going. Right now it's all about who offers the most NIL money for a college athlete and I can tell you Wyoming is way down in the bottom half of the list of this bidding war. There are only a couple of choices for us here in Wyoming. We aren't the only small university in the country facing this.
Haha it was an anti-trust suit which is the reason we have NIL money. The NCAA recently lost Alston v. NCAA where the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it violated federal anti-trust law for the NCAA to profit off players' likeness and performance (i.e. NCAA games and media deals) while at the same time restricting the players themselves from profiting off their own likeness. Any rules restricting NIL money likely puts the NCAA in square violation of the Sherman Act and the NCAA facing billions in fines...this cat isn't going back into the bag. Wyoming needs to adjust to the new reality.
Do you think this is the first step? Using the term "amateur" to refer to college athletes seems like it will be the next shoe to fall. I understand amateur rules as it used to pertain to the olympics. But I don't know of any sport where professionals are excluded any longer. Not paying a kid because it violates "amateur" rules may make some sense for some sports (tennis or golf), but there are very few amateur football leagues that I know about. Direct payment for players looks like the next step.

And, I think I'm agreement with many of you that this will ultimately kill college football.
I actually think it is the likely demise of the NCAA for certain revenue sports amongst money making programs. Why would a school like Ohio State or Alabama need to involve the NCAA from a regulatory standpoint and pay the NCAA (to basically share with the have nots) when the bigger schools can keep all of the money for themselves and pay the players directly? I personally believe we will ultimately see a 'super league' for football and basketball that does not have NCAA oversight. I don't believe Wyoming stands any chance of being a part of that super league and thus Wyoming and the majority of smaller programs will remain relatively 'amateur' status while the big boys ultimately create their own structure where players are either independent contractors or employees. For sports like swimming, tennis, etc...I think those sports are ultimately in the most trouble because it is football and basketball that mostly subsidize those sports.

From a player's perspective, this is probably good for football and basketball but terrible for the non revenue sports. Change will be coming.
If this turns out that the NCAA goes down I'm all for it. A small price to pay. I agree with Ragtime, this won't affect Wyo much. Sure, we'll lose our few better players to the NFL farm teams, but we've lost them in the past or we lost them to the actual NFL. Just as we lost players to other G5 schools, we should be able to gain players from other G5 schools, as well as gain players from P5 schools that might want to leave as they're not getting the money their teammates are. There's enough salary jealousy in pro sports, imagine playing on a team where your teammates are getting paid and you're not? Or you're getting pennies to their dollars. What's next, a minimum wage for these large programs?
flyfishwyo
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OrediggerPoke wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:15 pm
McPeachy wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:38 pm
flyfishwyo wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:42 am The first thing to do is take away non-profit status for college athletics. That'll do more toward leveling the playing field than anything else.

NIL isn't sustainable the way it's set up now. It'll end up causing a bunch of problems for the kids. They'll get in trouble for not paying taxes, or transfer and get sued by a "customer." Or a kid will get booted from the team for a rules violation (or get injured) and a customer will want their money back.

Another potential problem with NIL is that the players' ability to profit is due largely to their position as a player on a specific team. It won't be long until some school demands a cut (Jacksonville State?).
Good post. Agree, remove the non-profit status, and watch the IRS salivate. I wonder how the income tax situation will work with NIL money players, how many will report, how much is cash under the table, etc.
If a player fails to report their NIL money as gross income, then that is on them and they may be liable both civilly and criminally. Players are adults. These are the same rules that apply to business professionals and pizza delivery drivers too.
Yep, I understand that. My point is that giving young people relatively large sums of money isn't usually a recipe for promoting good behavior. Most people learn how to handle larger sums of money by making mistakes with smaller sums of money.

I think we all understand what the current law says about NIL. I thought this was a discussion about the ramifications and if anything should change. Laws can change, right?

Lawyers are the worst... :roll:
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