Universities to Pay Players Directly
- Thread starter hookem777
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Collective bargaining for college athletes is the next shoe to drop. Why put a cap? And who decided $20 million was acceptable? What happens if a school goes over the cap?
It looks like it's separate from NIL or am I reading it wrong? The article I skimmed over said it was basically revenue sharing to be divided out and the Power 5 schools COULD use up to $20M to share with players on the football team. That can't end bad. Wonder how long before the Girls Quiddich team is wanting their piece of the pie?
Right now NIL is not part of the settlement for previous players. The smaller schools want NIL brought into the schools and a salary cap but that would not be legal, it will lose in court. The smaller schools want a league like the NFL where the big boys like Texas can be killed through negative recruiting and limits on spending. We want NIL out of the school.... I don't see how you bring a private organization into a public school. It won't be legal. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. I can see where Texas, Texas A&M, OU, Alabama, LSU would all be on the same team.... this is where you could see the SEC break away from the rest of college football if the salary cap is tried.
Everyone is confusion NIL with pay to play from the Universities. This says that a school can pay $20 million to athletes altogether, that is pay to play. If you come here we will pay you this amount.
It doesn't say that an athlete can't also earn more money from private corporations or collectives. If I own a business and want to pay Ewers $10 million to send out a few tweets promoting my product there is nothing the NCAA can do to stop me. It was decided in the courts that student athletes have the right to earn money from their name, image, likeness. NCAA can't do anything to stop that.
It doesn't say that an athlete can't also earn more money from private corporations or collectives. If I own a business and want to pay Ewers $10 million to send out a few tweets promoting my product there is nothing the NCAA can do to stop me. It was decided in the courts that student athletes have the right to earn money from their name, image, likeness. NCAA can't do anything to stop that.
Revenue sharing is going to change NIL and we will end up with a more market based approach. Everyone will get a little something from the revenue sharing. Big name players with large social media followings will get endorsement deals. Players from schools with large fan bases will get deals.
Collective bargaining will probably not happen. Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia don't allow public employees to collectively bargain. 33 states don't allow public employees to strike. You are dealing with multiple conferences, multiple institutions, multiple states. Some schools may unionize but I don't see conference or national CBAs as a possibility
Collective bargaining will probably not happen. Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia don't allow public employees to collectively bargain. 33 states don't allow public employees to strike. You are dealing with multiple conferences, multiple institutions, multiple states. Some schools may unionize but I don't see conference or national CBAs as a possibility
Student athletes will get a share of the revenue of up to $20 million from their school. Student athletes will be able to collectively bargain for their value and that’s where things will get very interesting. College football players will demand a much bigger piece of the pizza than the women’s archery athletes.
NIL is an entirely separate income stream for athletes. It’s basically endorsement deals. They can earn all they want. No cap.
This is similar to most major professional sports. The league and players collectively bargain for the share of revenue from network TV deals, licensing deals, tickets, jerseys, parking, concessions, etc. it’s fairly standard that leagues and players split up the revenue 50/50. This arbitrary number of up to $20 million per school to share with athletes is just a tiny fraction of the billions generated by college football programs and the NCAA.
This will get very interesting.
NIL is an entirely separate income stream for athletes. It’s basically endorsement deals. They can earn all they want. No cap.
This is similar to most major professional sports. The league and players collectively bargain for the share of revenue from network TV deals, licensing deals, tickets, jerseys, parking, concessions, etc. it’s fairly standard that leagues and players split up the revenue 50/50. This arbitrary number of up to $20 million per school to share with athletes is just a tiny fraction of the billions generated by college football programs and the NCAA.
This will get very interesting.
Completely ruined. All college of sports as we knew it.
There is about to be ZERO pride in or even connection to the universities these kids play “for”. Ask yourselves……. do you really want to be cheering for that?
I expect the word “university” or “college” to be removed from public sports media communication. Because it’s an affront to institutions of higher learning.
There is about to be ZERO pride in or even connection to the universities these kids play “for”. Ask yourselves……. do you really want to be cheering for that?
I expect the word “university” or “college” to be removed from public sports media communication. Because it’s an affront to institutions of higher learning.
This is word soup, and doesn’t mean anything.
As if athletes don’t want to compete, or be successful at all. As if athletes don’t still want to be professionals and play in the professional league. As if athletes don’t want to play for each other and be supported in turn because they’re people and not commodities.
We don’t hire coaches/donate to athletics/ pay for tickets because we want our players to be the most “pride-filled.” We want them to win. And they deserve the incentive they’ve been denied to play towards wins. The pride in our team and university is primarily our responsibility as fans. Not just the players. The players have pride when they (wait for it) WIN. Texas players had zero pride during Charlie and Tom Herman because they were losers, and they wouldn’t have won 3 or 4 more games if they had more “pride in their university”. Being mad that they’re getting pay is just so tired.
Mind bottling take.
While I agree with alot of your post, I do need to point out 1 thing.
And they deserve the incentive they’ve been denied to play towards wins.
I don’t know about you but I know how much it cost me and my kids to go to college. Let’s not act like the poor athletes haven’t been compensated before NIL and this decision. One of my sons played college baseball and there was a significant difference in how much his education cost versus the other one. I won’t speak for him but we do have someone that can speak directly to this topic down here in the Dungeon. I’d like to hear Clob’s take on this one.
And they deserve the incentive they’ve been denied to play towards wins.
I don’t know about you but I know how much it cost me and my kids to go to college. Let’s not act like the poor athletes haven’t been compensated before NIL and this decision. One of my sons played college baseball and there was a significant difference in how much his education cost versus the other one. I won’t speak for him but we do have someone that can speak directly to this topic down here in the Dungeon. I’d like to hear Clob’s take on this one.
I don't care about the athletes. I care about Texas winning. If we go to a salary cap, we go back to the period of Texas sports post scholarship limits to NIL. That period was not good for Texas. In the NIL era where we can pay responsibly for players = Texas wins. We aren't going back, ever. If there is a push to go salary cap, Texas and about 24 -30 teams will break away from the rest and go full pay.
There's an air of "I never played college sports at a high level" in this post. I understand what you're trying to say- or at least part of it. But paying the players (newsflash- they were already being paid) is going to end up being SO much more complicated than the arbiters that created this fiasco could have EVER imagined. This is a Title IX, DOL, CBA, union, IRS, state retirement pension, legal nightmare that will eventually be played out in the highest of state a federal courts. Billions upon billions of dollars will be litigated over in the coming decade(s).
You think the US women's national soccer contract bullsh!t drew some eyes? That's not even a mole hill compared to this galactic sized mountain of a meteor hurling toward the college sports world.
See I used to think this way when I was at UT.
“Isn’t it enough that they have amenities, room and board, free world class education, and the resources after they’re done with football?”
With the dawn of NIL, we’ve had transparency as to the sheer amount of money a program can bring in just with a successful football team. The players are responsible for this, so they should receive some compensation.
It doesn’t seem like the University of Texas is any worse for the wear in the last couple of years with the dawn of NIL and compensation.
Definitely not an athlete. I played tuba in the marching band lol. Don’t know what that has to do with a take on revenue sharing.
I completely agree with this, to the letter. I do acknowledge that the players were already being paid. They deserve to be compensated and not have to worry about keeping it secret like Reggie Bush just trying to keep a house for his mom. They get the security of knowing they don’t have to hide it, which benefits those guys.
If your argument is that the legal troubles make it not worth that trade, then that’s where I disagree. If it’s a nightmare, it likely wont affect anyone on this board in a significant way. By the way, what is the anxiety about RE: legal troubles concerning specifically? Theres this vague anxiety surrounding this hypothetical demise of college sports that nobody’s been able to draw a clear line to. “The players will be paid, so college sports is doomed” seems like a slippery slope argument.
Let's walk through this VERY complicated labyrinth.
1st- Reggie Bush was given a very large, very expensive house for his mother. It wasn't like she didn't already have a home. This was a MAJOR upgrade. So let's set the tone properly before we begin.
2nd- An athlete at UT will receive (easily) $500,000 over 4-5 years in the form of food, room, books, tutors and stipends paid to them by UT. How do I know this? Because my parents tracked it all for me out of fear I'd have to pay taxes on it one day. Add in inflation, and it's EASILY over $500k in today's dollars. .
This DOES NOT include the cost of health and medical care.
Fun fact- in the mid 90s, the cost of athletic tape and pre-wrap (just those two items) for the UT football team was a little over $100k a MONTH. Tape and pre-wrap. Over a million bucks a year. That's $15k per athlete, per year.
Damn near every football player will have surgery at some point. Knee, ankle, foot, hand, shoulder, etc. A run of the mill knee surgery costs $25k. Now let's toss in the cost for therapy and rehab. Not to mention, regular health care unrelated to athletics. Kids get sick. They are treated by team doctors and given free drugs.
Kids are given 4 free tickets to each game for their family. The seats are excellent at home and usually pretty good at away games. I can remember my parents being offered $1000 each for their tickets to OU games. What do you think those 4 tickets that kids got to the Rose Bowl in 2005 against USC would have sold for on the open market? 3, maybe 4 or 5k each?
How many college kids get to fly on a private jet every other weekend in the fall? We do. What's that run? A Boeing 757 costs $15,000 per hour of operation- and that's just for fuel.
Gear, swag- we get it all. I still have a closet full of shoes, high tops, low tops, flip flops, cleats, flat soles, you name it- all came from Texas and Reebok. I have sweat shirts, pants, t-shirts, shorts, socks, track suits, you name it. That stuff goes for over a hundred bucks a pop in the Co-Op for regular folks to buy. We even got dental care.
There's literally no way to put a dollar amount on what we are given as athletes.
Now- where's all this money come from? Girls basketball? Softball? Soccer? Quiddich?
Nope.
Football generates 90+ % of the revenue in college sports at Texas.
So let's have a CBA- oooops wait, we can't do that. That would violate Title IX because the men would be entitled to enjoy far more of the profits than the women.
Let's give equal NIL monies to men and women. Nope- can't do that because fair market rules and Labor laws.
Let's have the money flow through the University and have the school distribute it to the players. Nope- can't do that because then the players would be considered University employees and have to participate in the state retirement fund. Can't do a 3121 FICA alternative for that.
So where does that leave us?
In court. State and Federal. For years. Decades even. I remember being in college when the University of Texas law students sued the law school for allowing 3 students (that took their spots) because they were minority students who had worse grades and lower LSAT scores. It was called "affirmative action". Nearly 30 years later, the court case finally landed on the desk of the Supreme Court of the United States who ruled against Affirmative Action (as it should be). We either live in a merit based society, or we don't.
And that's what collegiate sports is SUPPOSED to be about. If you're good, you play. If you're not, you don't. That's what the NIL was supposed to be about to, but it's become political now and will no doubt be bastardized.
But putting a price tag on what an athlete (especially football) is compensated during their 4 years at Texas-- it's EASILY upwards of a million dollars--- BEFORE NIL kicked in.
Add to the fact that these players don't have to spend the next 25 years paying down interest on college debt, and that number grows exponentially.
Now where's this money coming from? That's easy. You seen tickets costs lately? Did you know you have to pay to tailgate? What's a Whataburger run in the stadium? Season tickets? Don't even bother unless you're scratching out a donation check that has 5 digits on it-- ANNUALLY. 50 yardline seats? It better be a 6 digital check. VIP or suite? You better have a million dollar foundation named after you or have written a check at some point that's so big your name is on a campus building.
TV contracts- nobody is paying a billion dollars for UT women's basketball TV rights. Are we going tk unionize and ask for the money from the TV rights? Do the women have the same claim as the men? Oh they don't? Well welcome to a Title IX lawsuit.
This is the Pandora's box that you think is a "good idea".
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Jesus I probably taught with LHB when you were there. Loved those kids, but there were definitely many that should never comment on athletics.
Pretty sure I never said CFB was “doomed”. Definitely ruined though, if you’re old enough to remember what it was like when it was right.
Damn....got me rethinking that trip out to Atlanta to take in a Ramblin' Wreck game and visit the boy later this year. I can get there but I might not be able to afford a beer at the game.....
Agree with 99% of your post. My only disagreement is with the time frame for the myriad reasons for this to be litigated. Remember that the NCAA and the Biden administration have declared that transgender women should have the same rights as biological women. That basically turns Title IX upside down.
A federal judge somewhere will make a common sense ruling on revenue sharing and Title IX. Another federal judge will make a common sense ruling about the school’s decision to share revenue equally or proportionally. Those rulings will happen pretty quickly after the labor lawyers representing the various parties are involved. Once those rulings are made, the schools can operate under that guidance. Those cases will eventually work their way through the appeals process and perhaps even the SCOTUS (if they even take the case)., which could take years.
In the meantime, politicians, universities, state elected officials, and the NCAA will be pushing hard for Congress to create rules for revenue sharing and NIL. This would be the worst idea ever.
