Players should be paid. They have unique talents that are valued in the market and should share in the value they create. College sports was an outlier in every market (athletics, entertainment, investing, business, etc.) where people were willing to pay for value. The NCAA was an illegal racket that robbed athletes of the value they created and this has finally come to an end. A scholarship and opportunity at an education is valuable, but only reflected part of the value those athletes were creating. (Compare what coaches are paid to what players are paid in the NCAA structure to other professional sports settings. The NCAA market is/was broken.)
The system of academic athletes is unique to the US college system and could be a system that both pays talent what they 'deserve' and sets them up for a life well beyond their athletic careers, but it needs to be deliberately shaped and fostered. Over the last few years, we are seeing the result of chaotic dismantling of the previous system with little deliberate integration and establishment of a new one.
The loyalty of fans to their college teams and willingness to invest their discretionary income to those teams will be resilient in the face of the pending change, but it can still be broken if the new system does not maintain aspects of competitiveness and alignment to the narrative of 'student athlete'. Aspects of this that come to mind for me:
- Salary cap for teams (maybe by university AD) that compete at the top level (top 70 of so schools) (Easy to administer, is it legal?)
- Likely require a collective bargaining entity on behalf of college athletes to represent the interest of athletes and allocate dollars to all the interested parties.
- Market competitive NIL/marketing payments (A FL car dealership can't pay a QB $1M a year if that is not a market competitive rate. (Hard to administer and is it legal? Can it be collectively bargained?)
- Athletes meet and are held to academic standards. (This topic seems to have disappeared in recent years compared to pre-NIL topics on eligibility.) To be in the system you need to be on a scholarship and that scholarship has clear, consistent academic expectations.
- Transfers need to be reset. Players moving schools every year is not consistent with a reasonable academic career and puts fan loyalty to the test. Maybe this is controlled with contracts with players under revenue sharing. (Legality??)
- The finances required to support the system is balanced by fan interest/ability to fund. In short, there needs to be a coherent market. Implications: existing money (like coaches salaries) may need to be redistributed to other areas (players/scholarships).
It's hard to imagine the top athletes in the NCAA (CFB or CBB) making more in some NFL jr league or NBA D-League than they can make playing for a top college. Tearing down the college structure and moving to a jr-professional league structure would likely be bad for fans and athletes. College ADs and Presidents will need to take control is they want to avoid a potential dismantling.
I'm glad players are getting paid and hope we don't lose all that was great about college sports now that they are getting what they deserved.
The system of academic athletes is unique to the US college system and could be a system that both pays talent what they 'deserve' and sets them up for a life well beyond their athletic careers, but it needs to be deliberately shaped and fostered. Over the last few years, we are seeing the result of chaotic dismantling of the previous system with little deliberate integration and establishment of a new one.
The loyalty of fans to their college teams and willingness to invest their discretionary income to those teams will be resilient in the face of the pending change, but it can still be broken if the new system does not maintain aspects of competitiveness and alignment to the narrative of 'student athlete'. Aspects of this that come to mind for me:
- Salary cap for teams (maybe by university AD) that compete at the top level (top 70 of so schools) (Easy to administer, is it legal?)
- Likely require a collective bargaining entity on behalf of college athletes to represent the interest of athletes and allocate dollars to all the interested parties.
- Market competitive NIL/marketing payments (A FL car dealership can't pay a QB $1M a year if that is not a market competitive rate. (Hard to administer and is it legal? Can it be collectively bargained?)
- Athletes meet and are held to academic standards. (This topic seems to have disappeared in recent years compared to pre-NIL topics on eligibility.) To be in the system you need to be on a scholarship and that scholarship has clear, consistent academic expectations.
- Transfers need to be reset. Players moving schools every year is not consistent with a reasonable academic career and puts fan loyalty to the test. Maybe this is controlled with contracts with players under revenue sharing. (Legality??)
- The finances required to support the system is balanced by fan interest/ability to fund. In short, there needs to be a coherent market. Implications: existing money (like coaches salaries) may need to be redistributed to other areas (players/scholarships).
It's hard to imagine the top athletes in the NCAA (CFB or CBB) making more in some NFL jr league or NBA D-League than they can make playing for a top college. Tearing down the college structure and moving to a jr-professional league structure would likely be bad for fans and athletes. College ADs and Presidents will need to take control is they want to avoid a potential dismantling.
I'm glad players are getting paid and hope we don't lose all that was great about college sports now that they are getting what they deserved.
