The hope is that the new model of governance [replacing NCAA] can be firmed up by spring.
This could be the last season of NCAA hoops and football. We may never play a single down of “FBS” level football.
Couple of more thoughts:
CUSA has affirmed that it is willing to play ball (will pay athlete stipends). We are willing to make the leap too. I could go into detail about why I think they’d want us. There are several legitimate reasons.
I do believe if this happens, either congress will get involved, and/or class action suit /injunction will be filed. Too much money and tradition at stake.
[font=Helvetica Neue][size=11px]If only our country was run like the NCAA! Then the number of votes you could cast would depend on how much money you contributed to the campaign. Sometimes what’s best for the whole is not dependent upon who brings in the most money.
This proposal is incredibly sexist and denies equal opportunity for female college athletes. If this is going to go down then let’s just call it what it is, semi-pro, and then tax the hell out of them just like any other big corporation.[/size][/font]
This would no doubt be devastating for us and have of Division 1 athletics, however, I think this would really hurt the major conferences as well. March Madness would be dead.
[quote=“TheGreenRanger, post:2, topic:28540”][font=Helvetica Neue][size=11px]If only our country was run like the NCAA! Then the number of votes you could cast would depend on how much money you contributed to the campaign. Sometimes what’s best for the whole is not dependent upon who brings in the most money.
This proposal is incredibly sexist and denies equal opportunity for female college athletes. If this is going to go down then let’s just call it what it is, semi-pro, and then tax the hell out of them just like any other big corporation.[/size][/font][/quote]
Title 9 is a law. Not a rule
Large BCS schools have double the female athletes smaller schools have. Duke just announced a new softball team for 2017
Harvard’s AD weighs in with some insights on the latest round of BCS power grabbing:
"We think people learn something by playing sports," Scalise said Thursday during the NCAA Convention governance dialogue. "What some of these kids are learning at other places are, 'How do I maximize my net worth?' They're not there to get an education. The system is not set up for them to be educated."
Well, duh. The surprise is not that some players use college as a minor-league springboard to the pros. It’s that the likes of Harvard still want to be considered a part of the 350-member Division I.
“Do they need us?” Scalise asked a small group of reporters. “Does Division I need us or do we need them? We need them because we want our kids to be able to go compete at the highest level. Some of us said they need us because we give them some academic legitimacy.”
That’s really what’s at stake here this week: The growing professional model in big-time college athletics vs. the amateur ideal. The similarities between an Ivy League school and BCS mother ships are dwindling as we speak.
“Now,” said Scalise, entering his 13th year on the job, “they’re acting like commercial enterprises.”
…
Let’s not forget there is a reason for those 42 sports, 1,200 athletes and no scholarships. Harvard has a proud legacy. It was essentially in the room when the NCAA was created more than a century ago.
“We were there when the NCAA was founded,” Scalise said. “We were there to address these similar issues in the early 1900s.”
How did that work out?
“We won a Rose Bowl,” he said referring to epic 1920 win over Oregon.
“With the current model we can’t win a Rose Bowl.”
Do the 800, Division I or the NCAA care?
Think of how hard it is to manage these 18 to 22 year old kids today. Now, imagine what they will be like when they are making a little money and have agents. I hope these schools get everything they are asking for.
I get your point in regards to hoping they get the headaches of managing paid athletes.
But I hope they do not get everything they ask for. Because as of right now that might mean the Charlotte 49ers would not be eligible for the “traditional” National Championship in college hoops.
Maybe fans will revolt, not watch the BCS March Madness, but watch the March Madness for what’s left of D1 & we can dominate the “legit amateur” competition.
[quote=“Run49er, post:11, topic:28540”]Seemed like the most appropriate thread without starting a new one.
ESPN.com: Northwestern players get union vote[/quote]This is quite the appropriate thread. Northwestern University’s argument appears to be that players can’t unionize because they aren’t paid employees, because their scholarship money can only be used for their education (i.e. they are students, not employees). Even if a judge agrees with this argument on appeal, giving stipends will completely undermine it. I wonder what the NCAA and universities will do, because if players unionize on a larger scale, they’ll likely end up with a bigger cut of the millions some of those universities and the NCAA are making off of them. If they win an appeal based on that argument, I bet they decide not to offer stipends.
If the “employees” are to start getting a cut of the NCAA “profits”, then they also have to start paying taxes on that income. Welcome to the real world gentleman. Your days of being exploited and forced into labor without pay are almost over.
I sometimes wonder how well the power conferences thought through the stipend concept. For instance, did they consider the possibility of players unionizing?
I mean currently, the Texas and Alabamas of the college football world get to keep the whole of the financial pie. Then they think they can better lock down talent by offering stipends, and maybe eventually larger stipends than their rivals. Then suddenly the entire Alabama football team decides to go on strike in the middle of a national championship kind of season for better “stipends”. The school ends up loosing a much larger piece of that pie. Fans loose interest. Consider what the NHL and MLB lockouts did to fan support. I fear that the Power 6 have just unlocked Pandora’s box for college athletics, and didn’t even realize they were turning the key. Oh, the power of greed.
Wanna be an employee of this university? Here is a drug test, good luck.[/quote]
They already pee in a cup for the NCAA, and as infrequent as those tests are, my guess is that the university’s testing will be one time only (if at all). Can’t risk having players missing for any games. Unfortunately, that problem is going to get worse, not better, if the NCAA is removed from the equation.