NEWS: NCAA president Charlie Baker is proposing the creation of a new FBS subdivision that would allow the highest-resource schools to compensate athletes directly through a trust as well as NIL: pic.twitter.com/j7q4cjZ0oW— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 5, 2023
It appears the FSU screwjob might have just been the beginning. Not hard to see the writing on the wall here that this is a formal plan to split the SEC and Big Ten away from everyone else, effectively leaving schools like Virginia Tech behind.
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NCAA finally saying the quiet parts out loud, I see
So....we will be fighting for a conference championship and maybe an equivalent FBS Lite/G5 national championship?????
Charlie Baker talked about this a couple weeks back and proposed a $100m AD operating budget as threshold to determine who makes the cut. Tech is above that threshold.
Virginia Tech made 121.7 million in FY2022
What caused the decrease?
Up 8 million from last year
Bottom of the big leagues!
Pay to play in more ways than one!
If they want to put some fun back into the sport, do this and split revenues more evenly instead of paying the playoff and NY games.
Well college football used to be fun...
My big question though is does this do away with conferences. The 52 or 60 schools move up, doesn't that materially change the conference structure? ESPN forced to negotiate all new contracts. Is it by school? Can D1A schools only play other D1A schools? Or do they have to play at least 8 D1A and other four must be at least D1B to qualify?
Is this how the ACC GOR actually gets broken?
That's exactly where my question was going. Opens the door for FSU and Clemson especially if any ACC schools opt out...looking at you BC/Syracuse/Pitt/Wake...maybe even LOLUVA with how they prioritize the football program.
The Augusta Free Press is for sure distraught over this news.
That dude is a
tool...I mean tomato can.Tomato can tool.
Soon to be sold on the ACC Network, alongside spurtles.
Insert "ill.allow.it.gif"
That's a shame for them. They created this monster, fed it, kept it in the dark and when it gets out and eats all the townfolk, they act surprised. I'm not saying the ACC is a safe spot, but you can be that Duke, Wake, lol, GT aren't jumping at dumping billions into football while letting the library fall into decay.
(The library thing comes from CBS morning news, Nate was talking about seeing nap pods at Alabama while ceiling tiles were missing/falling down in the library. Yes, there's a bama library joke in there, but seriously...every sinlge one of us who went to tech went there to play school. While football/sports are great and all, and I bleed orange and maroon as much as most, I'm not willing to mortgage the schools future for finishing 6th in the Big Coastal Football Super Fun Time Conference Sponsored by Cheerwine.)
How the hell is Rutgers at 130 million when I'm reading article after article about their financial problems in the athletic department.
creative accounting?
Correct- much like Tennessee and Maryland- in debt big time.
Just because you have a budget doesn't mean you can manage it worth a shit.
easy. Bring in $130 million in revenue while spending $150 million
Scared money don't make money.
Money spends the same.
I believe the exact quote was "Moneys money the same"
sort of! exchange rates are a real thing and there is sure value to be had if your currency is strong
I forgot. Are we an ore, wool, grain, brick, or lumber school?
Logs and bricks in the early game, wheat and rocks in the end stages
And nobody wants your effing sheep.
I don't know but we are going to throw all our development cards on the table to try and win.
I got wood for sheep
Didn't know you were from West Virginia...
So in England the song goes "Hey you, get off of my cloud" but in Scotland it's "Hey McLeod, get off of my Ewe"
Someone had to say it.
In any case VT gets Largest Army
Is our civil engineering and building construction good enough to merit longest road?
Well we did build the smart road that goes to nowhere. I remember reviewing the plans for a transportation class. It was supposed to connected into 81 at Ironto by 2020 as partial justification for the cost. Ha.
They applied for the Covid Decade Waiver. NCAA said it should have a ruling by 2027.
We prob didn't hire the right lawyers, so I don't anticipate the waiver being approved.
Phillips didn't call a press conference to advocate for us.
Initial (no deeper research done) thoughts:
For a team like VT, this really screws you either way. Be near the bottom from a revenue standpoint of the new "SuperLeague" or be near the top of the second tier that nobody cares about. Either way, the opportunity to advance the program is limited. If this weekend's happenings didn't make it clear, the "Upper Eschelon" teams are going to manipulate the rules to their own advantage.
Second, for lower-tier G5 Conferences --MAC and definitely portions of C-USA, what sense does it make to field a Football Program anymore? The costs of maintaining a D-I program purely from a Scholarship standpoint are sunk...if you are getting moved even farther down the Revenue chain, I don't see how you stay in the black here. I would expect a significant number of teams to Drop to FBS or DII to lower their own costs (e.g. Akron, Kent St., Sam Houston St....)
Third...and (obviously last in anyone's mind at this point) the Fans. While there are alot of Fans of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State, there are A LOT MORE people who AREN'T fans of those teams. At some point, fan engagement is what drives revenue here. If the plan is to make all but a select few Fan Bases largely irrelevant, at some point isn't that going to affect the bottom line? College Football is different---a large portion of the fans aren't gonna just go "find another team." I cheer for VT because I literally grew up 40 min away, I went there, my family members went there---there is a connection. I'm not going to cheer for Ohio State or Texas---fuck them to the Moon and back.
Depends on how the revenue split of the super league happens. Presumably this means scrambling a lot of existing TV deals. I agree, we're not suddenly going to an even split with Bama in terms of TV revenue, but I don't think it's necessarily the worst thing for a program like Tech. If we can hitch our wagon to the P2/D1A/whatever the hell it ends up as, that's better than just being left out in the cold.
Football Affluent Subdivision
Alternative suggestion: Football Ultra Competitive Konference*
* - spelling won't matter since nobody will need to "play skool"
This part right here....is that only in sports they have both genders playing because no school could meet this based on football alone.
Women athletes are going to get PAID if that is a requirement.
They would never want to leave. It would have to be generational wealth to balance against football.
Also would mean the guys in anything but football and basketball get pocket change.
Edit: it helps if I read to the end before I comment.
Also, it would incentivize schools to do away with any sport besides basketball and football (and probably just men's basketball).
I wonder if they will make up that money by not offering scholarships anymore. (?)
Note: I haven't read anything official on this yet, just a random thought.
Title IX still applies so they would have to field equal men's and women's teams.
Okay, there's no women's football, so then do just men's and women's basketball. Again, the incentive would be to do away with every sport other than football and basketball (why pay $30 grand for half your athletes and have 300 athletes when you could pay $30 grand for half of 100 athletes).
You have to have equal number of athletes. That's why there a some women's teams without the men's teams. Volleyball is an example that come to mind. Other schools use gymnastics and there would have to be others.
To offset the 85 football scholarships, you need women's teams totaling 85 scholarships. The two basketball teams would be a wash.
I always wondered why you don't see many men's Volleyball or Field Hockey teams in the U.S., despite those both being Olympic sports for men. I guess this may be part of the reason.
Note: Definitely NOT making an argument against Title IX, just making an observation.
the SEC doesn't have men's soccer.
They still think of it as communist kickball
Women's flag is growing fast we already have some lower level schools offering it. I've got two girls playing in high school off my teams next year.
Maybe we can get Michael Vick's daughter in the transfer portal, she's QB for her collegiate flag football team.
Flag football will also be an Olympic sport in the LA Games.
Yep we just had a winter camp day with 5 women who should all make the Olympic roster and one guy on the current US team but with NFL players trying out not so sure.
So this is their method of creating a salary cap? I could see some schools will have just football, basketball, and like 5 other well compensated sports and that is it.
Yeah might not be even able to have 5 men's teams. To balance football and basketball you might need seven women's teams to equal out with them getting paid way more than they generate in revenue.
The NCAA Sucks!
December 5, 2023
-Everybody
Well played.
[DiCaprio golf clap.gif]
I believe that it's just a matter of time before the NCAA's (or the super-conferences') own version of a salary cap is proposed and implemented in college football. It might be the only way to achieve some level of parity and above-board compensation in the sport. Like it or not, it has pretty much worked in the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. There will probably be different caps applied to different tiers of schools. For instance, perhaps the top 50 schools get to spend a maximum of, say, $25MM per year, the next 50 maybe at $15MM, etc. Schools will have to spend their $ wisely, and the elite football schools could not just 'hire' the best available athletes at every position.
I am not suggesting any specific tiers or thresholds here, but I think this all will head in this direction one way or another.
Considering the NIL organizations aren't directly affiliated with the university, it would be difficult to actually implement a salary cap. Plus, I imagine they would find ways around it ("we won't pay you DURING the season, but here's a contractual agreement to pay you X if you play at least 10 games this season, or Y if you're injured, payable at the beginning of next season"). If you force the companies to report, you'll just find your way back to the problem we used to have - paying the players in cash under the table.
McDonalds bags of cash are back on the table boys!
or
Hardee's Coupons
- George Orwell, Animal Farm
They shouldn't peel off the whole SEC and Big 10, they should just peel off the top few (10?) teams, and let them join the NFL if they want.
Let everyone else go back to playing non-professional-money college football, with some strict financial limits.
bound to happen eventually. next thing should be not making these kids actually attend school. 0 chance a school is going to invest a couple million in a kid and have him kicked out for not doing his hw.
Every "student" gets individual professors to "teach" their "classes"....
UNC sets the early standard that all now follow
If this was the eventual end game, why do the big conferences need the NCAA at all? Cut them out and pocket more money.
Because they actually make MORE money if everyone thinks their college team has even a miniscule chance.
I mean, technically the NCAA does some useful things, like creating rules to protect player safety (for example: spearing rule, when properly enforced). They'd probably still need to create a rules body (maybe reps from each school?).
So I'm going to be the guy looking at the minor details, but how will the athletes not be professionals? And if minor league, I dont care, but professional football cannot be shown on Saturdays from September to December per US law. So this might take an act of congress.
Also how do they not become employees and then that opens the door on unions. They will need to cut out the NCAA to be able to account for all those additional costs.
Do they get a 401K too?
"compensate through a trust or NIL" - They are smart enough to not make the athlete's employees!
Kind of goes against the premise of NIL - you are paid what you are worth for your likeness - when you mandate a salary......
Salaries make sense. This was always the problem with NIL. The fact that it would contribute to the rigging.
But salaries mean no Saturday football, it's against the law
I think the distinction is that they are not technically paid to play football. They are being paid for advertising rights (their Name, Image, and Likeness) that is valuable BECAUSE they play and are widely known. Kind of like an actor could be very popular, stop making movies, but still be desirable to advertisers because of how well known they are - they aren't paid to act any more, but they are making money for advertising.
The part the school would pay into - the enhanced educational trust, may be to pay for scholarships for more of the current athletes than they currently play. If a scholarship was considered payment, making them professionals, they would have broken the law already for decades, so clearly not considered a salary. The other money comes from NIL or advertisers, and my above statements apply.
Eventually, we're gonna come full circle and wind up back where we were before all this shit started, which is having multiple schools crowning themselves national champions for a given season (ironic that the BCS and all that came after it sprang out of a desire to find the One True Champion, and instead we've gotten so lost in the sauce that that has become a secondary concern).
And I fully support it. If FSU beats Georgia, they should award themselves the MNC. It's the only recourse undefeated schools who get passed over for the playoff have.
I think we're already there. We already have two super conferences like the old SoCon and if FSU wins their bowl game I wouldn't put it past them or fault them at all for hanging a banner.
It's the Scott Frost Central Florida Maneuver.
And.....I support this ad.
I have a great idea for what to call this new group of high end schools:
Affluent
Southern
Schools
Hobbling
Other
Leagues with
Expensive
"Student"-Athletes
Not sure what the acronym will be yet, but I'm open to suggestions.
Financially
Ulterior
Colleges
Knifing
With
Intercollegiate
Team
Sports
still no good acronym though
Financially
Unlimited
Colleges
Knifing
With
Athletic
Department
Scholarships
WellThatEscalatedQuickly.gif
My immediate thoughts:
Overall, I can think of a way this turns out well. I don't see that happening though.
I've been saying promotion-relegation for the better part of twenty years now.
Four, geographically based regions of 18 teams, each divided into two divisions of 9 teams.
A team plays all 8 division opponents , 1 team from the opposite division, and 1 team from each of the other regions.
Top teams in each division play each other for the regional title.
Regional Champions all play for the National Title.
All remaining teams are awarded bowl games. 37 Tier 1 Bowl Games
Bottom team from each division is relegated to Tier 2 - Tier 2 Division champions all promoted to Tier 1
Repeat for Tier 2 (Current bottom 61 FBS and top 11 FCS teams) , Tier 3 (Current FCS teams 12-83), Tier 4 (Current FCS bottom 42, Top Div II top 30), Tier 5 (Current Div II teams 31-102), Tier 6 (Current Div II bottom 61 and Div III top 11), Tier 7 (Div III 12-83), Tier 8 (Div III 84-155), Tier 9 (Div III 156-228)
Tier 10 (Div III Bottom 12) top 4 promoted, round robin of 11 games.
Not sure if/where to add NAIA schools though, but it would fill out Tier 10 and half of a Tier 11
This is 100% the move.
Matt Brown (I'd argue the most informed journalist in the world when it comes to NCAA legal matters) dropped an incredibly well thought out piece about this - highly recommend reading.
High level summary:
I'm really fascinated by the idea that coaching salaries will decrease when schools can pay players directly. Makes sense why Dabo doesn't want Clemson paying his players.
We paid more to Justin Fuente than cowboys or brown pay there coaches this year. Belickick and Payton are out of everyone's range Carroll and McVay are a bit higher than Saban, but the rest of the pro coaches are paid like college coaches. How does any one think that college salaries are out of wack when looking at how much they make compared to a professional for profit league. It's like CEOs of charities, not saying they should not get paid but if they are talking home 30mil then something isn't right with thay charity.
I read an article a while back on The Athletic on how being an agent for college football coaches is the dream career right now. Universities, for the most part, are at an extreme disadvantage during hiring negotiations. These agents are pros and know exactly how to throw their leverage around against AD's, presidents, BOV's, etc. and will always come out on top...schools hire football coaches based on potential, emotion, and irrationality (probably a few other aspects I'm missing but you get the gist), all qualities that undercut production and value. Therefore the agents hold them to the fire and get everything they want, hence the unreal salaries and buyout structures, stuff that's rarely ever seen in other industries/enterprises. Pretty interesting.
Our athletic department is basically $100 million dollar business. The CEO, Whit, makes less than $1 mil. But he does have a 7.5 mil buyout, which makes some sense since he is in charge but at the same time doesn't align with industry as his buyout is way higher than most execs when compared to salaries. Now his salary is fairly in line with companies in the 100 mil revenue range.
But when you look at our coaches , Fuente and Pry both make 4x more than Babcock, but Pry's buy out is just under twice of Whit's.
For the size of the "company" the coaching salaries don't really make sense, they are like a sector president, but make way more than the CEO. Very few industries that I am familiar with would have anything like that going on.
Can't link due to CGs, but do you remember the author's name? I could find it that way.
I want to say it was Mandel but I could be wrong, just tried to search myself for 15 minutes and couldn't find it :/