I think if you want to go to college…then abide by ncaa rules and don’t get paid.
If you don’t want to go to college…then go overseas and get paid.
totally agree. it could open the flood gates and have unintended consequences.
I always support that players are allowed to get loans from reputable banks based on their future earning potentials and insurance policies paid by the conferences in cases of career ending injuries.
Very true. Individual athletes always had right to not participating in NCAA while attending college, like Michael Phelps. Most baseball and Hockey prospects skips college altogether, just as Franz is weighing his options too. NCAA is not a monopoly, the athletes opt in. Certain college sports even operate outside of NCAA or in parallel with it, like rowing. Football might be the only sports that the choice is otherwise very limited.
Football is so much different. Where are the kids who don’t care about college supposed to go for three years? The CFL? Arena Football? Their draft stock would be destroyed by making that decision.
You could see the NFL evolve their approach and do an early entry draft where players can be drafted and put into a development program, play on the practice squad, exhibition games, etc. Not minor league but bring a player into their system and get to bring the player along at their pace. If they don’t move them to the active roster by X time they player goes back into the draft pool.
You could see me flying a Volvo to Mars. Just about as likely.
I figured they went to the SEC.
I wonder what the NCAA pays in legal fees to uphold its kingdom. This crash is pending…
I can’t see that. The current setup is nearly perfect for the NFL. College is their developmental league and it costs them nothing. No money, no responsibility.
The NFL draft is one of the biggest events on the calendar. The hype is provided by the exposure players get in college. It carries over to the season too. Fans pay more attention to games involving their favorite former college players.
If we’re looking for reform, one avenue would be for the NFL to draft underclassmen and let them stay in college. That could be a win-win.
But non athletes can do both–why the double standard? This logic doesn’t make much sense to me. I could be a scholarship student live streaming from a dorm on some college provided internet and still get paid. If a student’s likeness generates revenue, they should receive compensation. That’s presumably how free market enterprise works.
Well, this isn’t a free market system.
Yet that’s exactly the argument that people make (outside of court) to defend the status quo. “If athletes don’t like it, they have other choices they are free to make”.
Those people don’t understand free markets well enough to understand the collective constraint put on the market under the current rules.
Personally, I don’t understand what concerns people have with the Olympic model where athletes are free to earn income off their own NIL. So what if Billy Bob pays someone $1M to shoot a local car dealership ad. At least it’s above board, matches payment with the creation of value, probably helps a ton of struggling families, and oh by the way, DRAMATICALLY levels the playing field for Michigan.
well it is unless you’re 19 and under demographically likely African-American and low income, and playing a sport where lots of middle aged white guys can pull 7 figures by not paying you
BEFORE ANYONE POINTS IT OUT
Yes, there are black coaches and AD’s. They are demographically under-represented.
Yes there are white players, and wealthy kids. Again - a minority.
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was getting at…
Right
In a free market, Australia’s allure would have to compete with an income in college basketball
It doesn’t, so it’s lower.
Additionally, baseball offers kids million dollar bonuses to play baseball in the US, in a place somewhat culturally analaogous to where they are from.
That’s not remotely comparable to getting $200k to live in China, like Brandon Jennings did.
You’re on today!
The 1 and done rule gave the NBA the same type of thing but player/public revolt caused Silver to back down off of it even though the players association wasn’t screaming for it. I can see this putting pressure on the NFL to reconsider some of their stance as well.
No major pro sports leagues are free markets either. They all have drafts, limited free agency, salary caps and/or luxury taxes, revenue sharing, etc.
College football and basketball are different than other sports. They have huge amounts of money bet on their games. They have boosters spending six figures illicitly to recruits and getting no tangible benefits in exchange. Even if the NCAA allows their athletes to earn money, they will have some issues to address as to how it should be done.
Let’s just say someone offers a star player $100 K to sign autographs. He also happens to be a big sports bettor. The catch is the autograph session takes place during the player’s game. That’s not a problem with a pro player. They make most all of their money from playing contracts and shoe deals. For a college player it’s going to hard to turn down when it’s perfectly legal.
Maybe that’s not the greatest example. The point is that encouraging players to take money from outside sources as their main source of income poses potential problems. Another issue that would be certain to come up is players getting paid to transfer. Maybe you just say that’s okay. It’s not easy to address when the players are open to accepting that money.
I think we’ll end up seeing some sort of compromise arrangement. Players can accept payment each year for playing. Title IX may keep schools from paying the players, but they could allow booster groups to do it. They’ll probably put a cap on it as part of the compromise. Let them sign trading card deals, video game deals and anything similar available for all players. Let them sign shoe deals and hire certified agents. All these sources will be approved by the NCAA. No to everything else.
NFL has every incentive to stay status quo. Any farming system requires a large investment including a coach staff rivals the best in colleges. And football development is much more unpredictable from high school to pro. Right now NFL gets talent for free. If collegiate football goes full for profit, there is no way that NFL can get early entries without paying a steep price as those in the international soccer world.
Well, I would still think NFL teams could pay a lot more than college teams, so players would still have plenty of incentive to leave early.
I think the most you’ll see from the NCAA is perhaps giving a living wage to all players (maybe like 10k a semester) and maybe some extra bonus money for the players if the school makes money from a bowl game, or something similar.