I think the Super League will end up with a reduced number of teams (48 instead of 80) as the financial incentive to purge non-value generating teams will be too great especially given the need to split revenue with players.
It makes sense to end up with 2 leagues. Unfortunately for ND, there's no incentive for the Super League to maintain any academic ties. Only the lower league will be "college" football.
This, to me, is the stumbling block. Realistically, there is no reason for college football players to be required to attend college classes for eligibility to play. I see a point where someone creates a team not associated with any university and demand to be included in the "league", which would attract some of the best players and pay more than any NIL deal. Many baseball players who have no interest in college annually opt for MiLB and turn down full-ride scholarships to top ranked universities. I imagine if that path existed for football and basketball, many players would choose that.
What if it is a simpler setup. Should ND pay players or drop out of big time football?
I think ND would join such a league.
Do I think that they should?
I tend to think probably not, but I defer to alumni and other stakeholders on that question.
We can participate in such a league and still maintain our values. Fact of the matter is that an extremely small % of college football players will make a professional career out of playing or coaching football.
There will be a ton of schools that will abandon any idea of the student athlete...and that's fine. Notre Dame can and will be different. You can get the best of all worlds at ND. You will get paid. You will get brand recognition. You will be prepared to play professional football. Most importantly, you'll be prepared for life after football...which could come when you're 20 or 40....but its guaranteed to come.
if they switch to this type of arrangement, recruiting as we know it might be a thing of the past. Instituting a draft for talent is something that can be negotiated with a union.
So while I agree with you that ND could thrive in an environment that you describe, it might not be that environment. I don't know how a draft, salary cap, free agency, etc. could fit in.
schools to obey it, though.
that's agreed upon, and there is a centralized governing body that's basically just for the individual "money" sport (football and men's basketball for now), there really isn't much of a need for rogue boosters and the like. They can donate their money for facilities.
Not too many NFL teams getting busted for cheating, and it's not because the NFL looks the other way.
Being independent was a good thing.
Pitt 11 1 0 .917 31.7 10.8 24.46 7.63 3 2 2
Florida State 10 2 0 .833 30.8 8.6 23.78 9.53 13 2 5
Penn State 10 2 0 .833 26.8 13.2 19.78 9.44 18 5 8
Notre Dame 9 2 1 .792 20.7 10.7 18.29 8.71 11 1 9
Miami (FL) 9 3 0 .750 23.2 14.3 14.27 7.27 13 18
Southern Mississippi 9 3 0 .750 24.2 15.3 9.86 0.94 20
Navy 8 4 0 .667 18.8 12.2 6.23 0.23
South Carolina 8 4 0 .667 29.0 16.7 12.49 5.99 14
Virginia Tech 8 4 0 .667 20.8 10.8 6.48 -1.69
Boston College 7 4 0 .636 18.1 16.9 4.80 1.62
Louisiana-Monroe 7 4 0 .636 26.9 24.3 -3.19 -7.64
Nevada-Las Vegas 7 4 0 .636 34.9 23.4 4.00 -1.73
Rutgers 7 4 0 .636 25.4 14.2 5.36 -3.46
Tulane 7 5 0 .583 23.3 20.3 6.88 3.38
Colgate 5 4 1 .550 24.3 20.7 -7.47 -10.07
North Texas 6 5 0 .545 24.1 22.9 2.05 0.96
Villanova 6 5 0 .545 18.7 12.5 -3.00 -7.64
West Virginia 6 6 0 .500 25.4 24.1 4.65 3.82
Louisville 5 6 0 .455 14.7 18.5 2.90 4.17
Richmond 5 6 0 .455 19.8 23.2 -4.88 -2.24
"everything else."
The NCAA is basically on it's deathbed at this point, and if you aren't in the top 80 teams I'm not sure what your options will be for forming a conference/paying players/etc. The top 80 teams will almost need to subsidize the lower leagues to keep them afloat.
And of course the questions remain about the non-revenue generating sports. My guess is that they can continue to exist on a club type of basis with the athletes free to make NIL money if they can get it.
If it was just big time football and men's basketball, this would have been done a long time ago; juggling all the rest of it and getting the public to go along with it have been what caused the delay.
president was part of this (along with Gee). Second thing is that revenue would not be evenly distributed. IMO, including haves with have-nots is how we got to where we are right now.
No doubt there are good ideas here, but it will end up being fewer teams than 70 and won't include a Syracuse, for example. That's why the B1G and SEC won't touch this.
I believe the answer is for the networks to directly pay players and take that money out of the money going to the conferences. Or I suppose you could have the conferences pay the players. But either way it needs to not be the individual schools.
what's the point? It wouldn't become a glorified farm league for the NFL, it would literally become minor league football. You take the schools out of it and it becomes the UFL.
paid either by the networks or perhaps by the conferences. But they would still have to be students to be on the school's team and therefore paid.
I'm operating under the assumption that getting media revenue to the athletes is both the goal and the way to eliminate (and prohibit) the phony "NIL" that's going on right now. And I think eliminating the schools as the payor would help eliminate Title IX objections to having all male football players receiving substantially more benefits than any female athletes receive.
But there's no way the B1G and SEC would allow it to interrupt their power play to take over college sports, so it's DOA in my opinion.
I like anything at this point that effectively neuters the current conference model.
First of all, it wouldn't neuter the conferences. Most likely it would reset them to their old alignments. Secondly, I don't think it's a positive, at least as it pertains to ND specifically. I base both thoughts on what I think is the most likely "division alignment." That would likely end up with ND in basically the old Big East football.
Boston Col.
Syracuse
Rutgers
Penn St.
Pittsburgh
W. Virginia
Va. Tech
Cincinnati
Louisville
Notre Dame
Clemson
Duke
Maryland
N. Carolina
NC St.
Wake Forest
Virginia
Ga. Tech
Florida St.
Miami
Illinois
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
Michigan
Indiana
Iowa
Ohio St.
Michigan St.
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Mississippi
Miss. St.
S. Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Nebraska
Missouri
Oklahoma
Colorado
Iowa St.
Kansas
Kansas St.
Okla. St.
BYU
Utah
Texas A&M
Texas
Baylor
Texas Tech
TCU
SMU
Houston
Arkansas
LSU
C. Florida
California
Washington
Oregon
Oregon St.
Wash. St.
Stanford
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Arizona St.
initially the thought was to have fewer teams, but they probably figured that they would need to get the necessary support from having more teams and schools.
It seems like a positive now given where the game is at because teams and schools have worked towards making this seem like a positive; the NCAA has basically done everything wrong and keeps doubling down on stupid plays. Some might think that they're purposefully tanking.
"We practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials for example, to create a vacuum. And then we fill that vacuum. As popular war advances, peace is closer."
I like just about everything about the article's proposal and agree that its practically the only way forward for sustainability for the remaining sports. Meaning it won't happen.
The only problem I have with the group's strategy is that they should've started with the TV networks. If they got them on board early on, the college administrators would've been powerless to do anything about it.
and the schools will be well compensated. The lower tier schools will be playing games Tues-Thurs just like they already are and will have an opportunity to move up and the weekend TV contracts will explode.
The NCAA is going to go BK.
Would there not be sufficient television money, in addition to in-house receipts, to fund a reasonable salary structure? Tha cash trough is deep enough as it is.