It's Time for College Intercollegiate Athletics to Disappear

Ncaa coach here. Hit the nail on the head. It’s over. Reset button.

Another coach here...

I agree that the current model is moving toward the unsustainable for most institutions, but I would not blame it on "entitled athletes" who are advocating for themselves.

In the FBS the low end salaries for for an AD is $175,000/year; for a head basketball coach $300,000/year, for a head football coach $500,000/year. High end salaries are much, much higher. Even if a school does not garner enough athletic revenue to sustain itself without supplementing with state/institutional funding, it is easy to see why college football and basketball players feel entitled to more.

I'd be very curious to see numbers on this if you have any?

I am not sure who is advising these student athletes. If their demands were to be met the only result will be no more athletics... I am not sure they are thinking this one through.

I totally understand if someone feels at risk and doesn't want to participate in a sport due to C19, it is certainly their right to not play. No issues there.... just opt out of playing.

But as I said, if these demands were to be met then sports as they are at D1 schools are soon to be gone.

Are the athletes black? I haven't seen photos. I am wondering if there is sort of a thought that white coaches are making money while black athletes are not.

All Lives are alive wrote:

Are the athletes black? I haven't seen photos. I am wondering if there is sort of a thought that white coaches are making money while black athletes are not.

Walk away from the university with a degree. I'm extremely sure that is a form of being paid.

The athletes need a good lawyer to take this up and eventually get the courts involved.

The only way to break the strangle hold the NCAA , schools, tv, coaches, media have on big dollar college athletics is for either A) a better product/opportunity to come around to replace it B) the courts to force the current system to change.

With the current situation nobody wins in changing things up except the athlete, and no way anybody really cares about them. Change things and coaches loose pay, tv has to pay more, ADs are out of a cush job, there's just too many people entrenched to want to change anything.

This will only be changed do to a STRONG outside force, and that is typically the courts or the market.

Here are the numbers asked for...at least for head football. As I said low end head FBS is $500,000, many make way more.

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

But everyone in a way is correct; schools can not afford to pay players and keep athletics afloat. Paying players, I believe, would end scholarship level athletics (I think a DIII model would still survive).

But the problem is how can you not pay players (many people no longer consider college credits a form of compensation) when coaches and administrators earn pay checks that put them among the 1% (I am aware that outside of basketball and football college coaching is not particularly lucrative)?

yeah I hope the OP is right, but I doubt it. The powers that be will find a way to keep the farcical "student athlete" alive for at least another decade.

...my personal soulution that no one has asked for would involve removing restrictions on athletes, as they are not employees, and eliminating excess spending through regulation (as discussed many schools are spending tax, student fees and general funds anyway)

1) lift NIL restrictions on athletes

2) set salary caps for coaches (most are state employees so maybe they should not earn more than 90% of the highest paid state employee not associated with higher education)

3) put checks on athletic department spending (lots of ways to do this, but admittedly, it would be complicated)

Sliding Scale... wrote:

...my personal soulution that no one has asked for would involve removing restrictions on athletes, as they are not employees, and eliminating excess spending through regulation (as discussed many schools are spending tax, student fees and general funds anyway)

1) lift NIL restrictions on athletes

2) set salary caps for coaches (most are state employees so maybe they should not earn more than 90% of the highest paid state employee not associated with higher education)

3) put checks on athletic department spending (lots of ways to do this, but admittedly, it would be complicated)

What's interesting is that for both my wife and I (ex-D1, different schools) whenever we had to fill out paperwork for the schools, sign for per diem checks etc, we were assigned an "employee" id number from our schools and entered as employees. Completely agree on the NIL as this F'd me and coaching while I was a student athlete. Re salary caps this really only effects revenue sports. Furthermore over 80% of their salary is usually funded by the booster association. Yes the school signs a contract for X million, but the booster club also signs a contract promising Y million to the school, part of which is to cover the salary that the state won't cover. Re checks on spending - see pt 2. Most of the discretionary spending comes from the booster club giving the green light. A lot of spending is done to keep up with the joneses

I.e. "Alabama just re did their weight room, so we have to make ours better, even though we re did ours two years ago" or "Colorado got a new academic center, so we need to remodel ours, even though our computers are all brand new"

Again, you are right about discretionary spending and boosters as well as the facilities race; but the point I am trying to make is the public finds it unjust to not pay players, when athletic departments have a multi million dollar pay roll of coaches and plans for multi million dollar facilities.

Something has to change...athletic departments can not chase advertisement dollars and TV revenue and generate money for athletic staff while not paying athletes. The sustainable model for educational level athletics would be to step back from professionalism and limit revenue and spending for all involved (but I am a realist and know this will never happen).

Sliding Scale... wrote:

Again, you are right about discretionary spending and boosters as well as the facilities race; but the point I am trying to make is the public finds it unjust to not pay players, when athletic departments have a multi million dollar pay roll of coaches and plans for multi million dollar facilities.

Something has to change...athletic departments can not chase advertisement dollars and TV revenue and generate money for athletic staff while not paying athletes. The sustainable model for educational level athletics would be to step back from professionalism and limit revenue and spending for all involved (but I am a realist and know this will never happen).

Fair enough. I think we are talking about the same points here.

What's crazy is even for home games, we have to go spend the night in a hotel to stop rival fans from messing with our houses. Heck, a teammate of mine had his friggin windows shot out by a "fan" because said teammate made a mistake that might or might not have lost us a game.

Beep Beep wrote:

All Lives are alive wrote:

Are the athletes black? I haven't seen photos. I am wondering if there is sort of a thought that white coaches are making money while black athletes are not.

Walk away from the university with a degree. I'm extremely sure that is a form of being paid.

If athletes are on scholly, they're paid. If a business or company wants to use their likeness out of a logo'd college uniform for endorsement, that should be okay.

Why are the colleges the minor leagues for pro teams? I agree students should be able to make money but not through the universities/education. Let academics be the focus and if a pro team poaches/gets a star athlete before their junior year they should pay the school 2 years tuition or something to that effect. Currently pro teams have no risk/expense and all reward. I don't believe scholarships at most schools cost institutions very much, just another seat in a classroom. The expense for schools/athletes are: facilities, insurance, travel, tutoring, medical, food and salaries for coaches and staff. At the larger schools, boosters and revenue generation pay the bills. I have to believe regular students pay an inflated tuition to fill the revenue gap at most other schools. I read somewhere years ago that the average college athlete at large schools (Texas, Stanford, UCLA..) over 4 years has nearly $500,000 value spent on them.

I wonder how much college athletics is used to collect donations to the school.

Alumni go to games and donate to the school out of tribal loyalty to the school. .

Athletes feel loyal to the school they competed for and donate to school after graduating.

Do the donations pay for the expenses of running athletic programs?

I wonder what allowing social messages on team uniforms will do to future donations to schools. Will potential donors decide not to donate to schools if players promote something they disagree with?

http://www.offtheblockblog.com/2020/08/ncaa-permits-volleyball-players-to-place-social-justice-messages-on-back-of-jerseys/

Sliding Scale... wrote:

...my personal soulution that no one has asked for would involve removing restrictions on athletes, as they are not employees, and eliminating excess spending through regulation (as discussed many schools are spending tax, student fees and general funds anyway)

1) lift NIL restrictions on athletes

2) set salary caps for coaches (most are state employees so maybe they should not earn more than 90% of the highest paid state employee not associated with higher education)

3) put checks on athletic department spending (lots of ways to do this, but admittedly, it would be complicated)

The only way to cap salaries legally is if the coaches formed a union and the universities negotiated as a group with that union. In fact the NCAA lost a case involving what was once called a "limited earnings" coach. The court ruled that it was illegal.

I'm familiar with the mid-major MAC conference. Students at most of the MAC-member schools pay at least $1575 EXTRA each semester as a fee to fund athletics programs. Absurd. At least $12,000 tacked onto the cost of a diploma to balance the books for something most of those students have zero interest in. Patently offensive.

Students at universities, to the extent they engage in sanctioned university sports, should only be participating in club or intramural sports programs, and/or should be paying to play (DIII model). That we have all gotten used to the US system does not make it any less absurd. Drain the corruption and money out of the system and make it right-sized. Who knows but that maybe it'll help burst the insane bubble of outrageous university systems and their tuition levels too.

prepare for luck wrote:

I wonder how much college athletics is used to collect donations to the school.

Alumni go to games and donate to the school out of tribal loyalty to the school. .

Athletes feel loyal to the school they competed for and donate to school after graduating.

Do the donations pay for the expenses of running athletic programs?

I wonder what allowing social messages on team uniforms will do to future donations to schools. Will potential donors decide not to donate to schools if players promote something they disagree with?

The schools receiving the most in donations/endowments are mostly not athletic powerhouses. And I doubt if people donating large sums will be deterred by a few protests or students speaking out.