Remember when I said “this will inevitably lead to the Harvard patriots” and really deep thinkers called me crazy?

Guess what? They’re wrong and I’m right. As usual.

...As you recall, my grad school alma mater is famous in college football circles for abandoning the varsity/scholarship model in 1939. One of my favorite SI articles is the one by Hutchins in 1951 where he laid all that was wrong with college football out for all to see.

Streams. This shit is already in UBIT territory (unrelated business income tax).

The second whatever you proposed happens it will behoove the ivys to say “hold my Cabernet” and start buying pro teams. There will also be litigation. This is the most dimwitted meat headed way to go and it’s sad there are intelligent posters on here who can’t see further than this step in the downfall of college football.

Call it, for instance, the NCAA. Let the revenue addicts and southern rednecks take their ball and play elsewhere.

it's just a matter of where the exit leads.

on what the bifurcation looks like.

Its not like Nd borrowed to build crossroads. They are in the middle of a $10B capital campaign. They'd be entirely fine without big money college football.

I don't know.

You're probably right in that it depends on the circumstances, but I can pretty much see ways to justify just about anything.

"When your values are clear, your decisions are easy." Roy Disney

Why would anybody associated with ND care about a team--consisting entirely of non-students (because that's what will happen)--that wears its logo via a licensing agreement with the school?

If ND licensed its logo to a minor-league baseball team (or even a major league team), I would have no more interest in that squad than a team like the South Bend Silverhawks or Chicago Cubs.

The "shared experience" we have with the student-athletes wearing ND uniforms is a hell of a lot more important to most fans than a "shared logo" will ever be.

presumably ND would still be able to recruit athletes that would find the benefit of pursuing a ND degree. Let's say 30-50% of the team still wants to work towards a degree.

For the others, wouldn't ND still continue to recruit high-character kids who value the school, its mission, and its values? Marcus Freeman has no connection to the school other than getting paid a hefty sum to coach it. Yet, it's obvious he completely embodies the spirit of the school and its mission. Would there not be a number of 18-22 year olds who may not wish (or cannot) pursue a degree, but would still be fine representatives of the University and you could cheer for?

I am not taking a position either way, but just throwing this out there.

College athletics is for college students, period.

When that connection is severed--even if by "just" 50% of the players on the roster--so is my interest in it.

There is a long list of things ND currently licenses its trademarks for that I have zero interest in: Citizen watches, Dooney & Bourke wallets, Tervis tumblers, Zipchair gaming chairs, Marble Canyon duffel bags, chrome pub tables, billiard lights, letter openers, paperweights, etc. A licensed "college football" team would immediately land on that list.

Schools will license these new entities the name and branding, and use of facilities. One huge licensing payment will be made to the university, which will fund all other sports.

no real interest in going to any of them. This would be an inferior product that I feel no connection to. Not going to and not going out of my way to watch it.

I doubt ND would compete at that level. If they did, they’d do it without this lifelong fan and third-generation alum.

Some long-ago programmed synapses will let me root for the guys in the gold helmets on Saturdays in the fall, but I likely won't follow much of what else is going on in college football.

work, but could they transition to models similar to baseball or hockey? At least for the sports where there could be a significant pro minor league option?

football, which historically hasn't flourished.

College football is not going away for many just because the payments are now over the table.