The Great Split - relaunching or recreating (or killing) the NCAA

Parrot · Nov 21, 2023

Interesting article from Ross Dellenger.

Is college athletics headed for The Great Split? 'We need to recreate or relaunch the NCAA'

With a looming reality due to several lawsuits, power conference schools may soon operate under a new governance structure. What would it look like?

sports.yahoo.com

JW Smoove · Nov 21, 2023

I don't know enough about it, but something has to give, the archaic rules, the players ruining their lives, losing a heisman so the family can eat (or whatever it was). Me, I'd burn it down and start over.

baylrballa · Nov 21, 2023

pumbaa · Nov 21, 2023

Not sure what happens in the future but current NCAA state is not sustainable.

That post · Nov 21, 2023

Kill it dead.

For college sports that have multi-billion dollar media rights, there should be no such thing as an "Amateur" player. Gotta pay the talent. Bill is long overdue.

baylrballa · Nov 21, 2023

That post said:
Kill it dead.

For college sports that have multi-billion dollar media rights, there should be no such thing as an "Amateur" player. Gotta pay the talent. Bill is long overdue.

They have always got paid

That post · Nov 21, 2023

baylrballa said:
They have always got paid

I know but I mean more of a direct profit share.

Parrot · Nov 21, 2023

JW Smoove said:
I'd burn it down and start over.

Yep. With all the patches and fixes and exceptions to exceptions, it's an arbitrary and capricious morass for schools to navigate. The whole thing is too wrapped around itself to try and unwind it.

pumbaa said:
Not sure what happens in the future but current NCAA state is not sustainable.

The membership in the league, for lack of a better term, and divisions within it, could come together fairly easily, I think. Any administration or oversight is where it could get funky. Collective negotiation of media rights could/should bring in a lot more money to make revenue-sharing less onerous.

Bernoulli · Nov 21, 2023

Parrot said:
Yep. With all the patches and fixes and exceptions to exceptions, it's an arbitrary and capricious morass for schools to navigate. The whole thing is too wrapped around itself to try and unwind it.

The membership in the league, for lack of a better term, and divisions within it, could come together fairly easily, I think. Any administration or oversight is where it could get funky. Collective negotiation of media rights could/should bring in a lot more money to make revenue-sharing less onerous.

A huge issue appears to be revenue sharing with the athletes. How can it be accomplished without making the athletes employees? That question is a big concern.

Parrot · Nov 21, 2023

Bernoulli said:
A huge issue appears to be revenue sharing with the athletes. How can it be accomplished without making the athletes employees? That question is a big concern.

That'll require Congressional action to create the exception. Seems like I recently read somewhere that that is already being discussed in some form or fashion.

MtlJeff · Nov 21, 2023

I have mixed feelings....the system is definitely broken. But i also believe that not everything that is "right" also leads to a better product. And that's what sports is at the end of the day.

NIL and the transfer portal just makes high level NCAA sports feel like AAU basketball. A lot of high level NCAA athletes don't attend class, they barely are members of the university. There is increased pressure on them to just play enough to get their draft status to a certain point and then sit out. We'll likely get to a point where players are sitting out championship games. I'm not sure all of this is good for the viewer.

I don't know if it's achievable but i think every Pro sport should have a developmental league where people get paid....and then keep NCAA sports for amateurs. But force the money the schools make off it to be invested back into education and not million dollar salaries of various staffers and boards of the NCAA.

Deebo76 · Nov 21, 2023

baylrballa said:
They have always got paid

Very true! I went to a D-1AA school and I got paid. It wasn't much but it covered a few expenses.

blugold · Nov 21, 2023

Split the sports from the colleges and let the universities just educate and minor leagues handle the athletes.

baylrballa · Nov 21, 2023

MtlJeff said:
I don't know if it's achievable but i think every Pro sport should have a developmental league where people get paid....and then keep NCAA sports for amateurs. But force the money the schools make off it to be invested back into education and not million dollar salaries of various staffers and boards of the NCAA.

This. The artificial age limits in the pro leagues are the issue. And the NFL using the college system as a defacto minor league. If the kids are good enough, let them go get paid, don’t force them into college.

Bernoulli · Nov 21, 2023

Parrot said:
That'll require Congressional action to create the exception. Seems like I recently read somewhere that that is already being discussed in some form or fashion.

Yes. That's my understanding.

TransplantHacker · Nov 21, 2023

Mega Conferences, NIL, Power 5, Transfer Portal............................all lead to the demise and dismantling of the NCAA and Colligate Athletics in general. Also, when coaches are making more that professors and university presidents, getting private jets, country club memberships, homes both vacation and living, and they're schools are sh*tty to begin with and going nowhere.......buy outs topping $145M for Staffs......................c'mon man it's over.

Joshnoble01 · Nov 21, 2023

Football and basketball are heading this way. We are 7-10 years from the 2 conferences of the SEC and Big 10 and cutting down to about 32-40 schools NFL style.

JB · Nov 21, 2023

That post said:
Kill it dead.

For college sports that have multi-billion dollar media rights, there should be no such thing as an "Amateur" player. Gotta pay the talent. Bill is long overdue.

then the talent should pay for school.
Getting a scholarship while also being a professional seems like a tough pill to swallow.
College athletics will reach its demise.

frontTsociety · Nov 21, 2023

Doesn’t some of this money go to the rowers and wrestlers scholarships? I of all people could care less, as I’m a self professed star chaser when it comes to sports, but would this have any affect on the lesser sports that dine of football and basketball?

Bernoulli · Nov 21, 2023

baylrballa said:
This. The artificial age limits in the pro leagues are the issue. And the NFL using the college system as a defacto minor league. If the kids are good enough, let them go get paid, don’t force them into college.

Correct. The NFL doesn't want to change its rules. It has developmental system (College FB) that it doesn't have to pay for. As far as changing the rules: Draft eligibility rules are collectively bargined. They can't be successfully challenged legally.

That post · Nov 21, 2023

JB said:
then the talent should pay for school.
Getting a scholarship while also being a professional seems like a tough pill to swallow.
College athletics will reach its demise.

I fully and completely agree. If they profit share then they need to pay for their schooling.

Or, we could separate the big college sports like basketball and football away from the 'colligate experience'.
For the extremely small percentage of those athletes who want the eduction, they could do so on their own.