NFL players going back to college

[Sibster]

College football as we know it is dead and gone.   I'm seeing a trend of UDFA's and lower round draftees who get cut attempting to go back to school and play college football so they can make NIL money.   Apparently with this new 5 years of eligibility ruling by the courts, it's being taken advantage of by these guys.   All the Power 4 conferences have put out statements saying they will not accept players who have signed NFL contracts.   IMO, that's how it should be.   If you sign an NFL contract, you're in the NFL.   You forfeit whatever remaining eligibility you may have.

[Phishfan]

Good for the conferences. I'm glad to see them standing up to this nonsense.

[Sibster]

Good for the conferences. I'm glad to see them standing up to this nonsense.

The SEC has gone far enough to implement sanctions to schools who do this.   Any school that brings college players back after they've signed contracts with NFL, NBA, WNBA or MLB will be subject to the following:

-Half season long suspension of the program's head coach

-Fines of up to 50% of the operating budget for the program for that academic year

-Loss of voting rights at SEC business meetings for that academic year

[Spider-Dan]

I say "good" for a different reason: I hope this is just one more leak in the dam.

NIL and the transfer portal were the first few flakes in what is hopefully a blizzard.  The sooner the NCAA abandons its pretense of "amateur student athletes" and accepts its role as the minor league farm system that it is, the better for all involved parties.

[Sibster]

I say "good" for a different reason: I hope this is just one more leak in the dam.

NIL and the transfer portal were the first few flakes in what is hopefully a blizzard.  The sooner the NCAA abandons its pretense of "amateur student athletes" and accepts its role as the minor league farm system that it is, the better for all involved parties.

It was never meant to be a "minor league system"   It was meant to give kids with athletic talent the opportunity to get an expensive education for free and pick up their living expenses while doing it.   It only got that way because of the billions in TV exposure and eight figure coaching salaries.   IMO, they should put the clamp on that right now.   Reduce coaching salaries and give each player a generous yearly stipend so they can buy a car and rent a decent apartment for a year.   Then it would be amateur athletics all over again but the players would have money in their pockets and stop whining.

[CF DolFan]

It was never meant to be a "minor league system"   It was meant to give kids with athletic talent the opportunity to get an expensive education for free and pick up their living expenses while doing it.   It only got that way because of the billions in TV exposure and eight figure coaching salaries.   IMO, they should put the clamp on that right now.   Reduce coaching salaries and give each player a generous yearly stipend so they can buy a car and rent a decent apartment for a year.   Then it would be amateur athletics all over again but the players would have money in their pockets and stop whining.

They could, but they still have no control of the NIL money. The NIL is what is killing everything. I kind of agree with Spider .... the only way to actually control the structure of the league is to recognize it is a paid, professional minor league and set up the infrastructure to manage it.

[Sibster]

They could, but they still have no control of the NIL money. The NIL is what is killing everything. I kind of agree with Spider .... the only way to actually control the structure of the league is to recognize it is a paid, professional minor league and set up the infrastructure to manage it.

Here's the thing.  NIL was supposed to be what it stands for... NAME, IMAGE, & LIKENESS.   In other words, it was supposed to be endorsement opportunities that the player could get from local businesses who previously were not allowed to do that or use a player's NIL for marketing purposes.  It was never supposed to be a "pay for play" system directly from the schools where now an 18 year old high school quarterback phenom can demand an $8 million dollar contract but then go play elsewhere after one year because he isn't starting.   

[CF DolFan]

Here's the thing.  NIL was supposed to be what it stands for... NAME, IMAGE, & LIKENESS.   In other words, it was supposed to be endorsement opportunities that the player could get from local businesses who previously were not allowed to do that or use a player's NIL for marketing purposes.  It was never supposed to be a "pay for play" system directly from the schools where now an 18 year old high school quarterback phenom can demand an $8 million dollar contract but then go play elsewhere after one year because he isn't starting.   

It doesn't matter what the intent is. The issue is it is not illegal to pay a player for his NIL to play at College X. Unless it is set up as a business, there isn't anything college football can do to stop or control it legally.

[Spider-Dan]

It was never meant to be a "minor league system"   It was meant to give kids with athletic talent the opportunity to get an expensive education for free and pick up their living expenses while doing it.

It wasn't "meant" to generate billions of dollars every year in TV rights and sponsorship deals.
And yet it does.

Reducing coach salaries is not the solution to the problem; the players are still getting vastly underpaid for the value of the product they are providing.  (Saying that a 4-year degree - which costs 5- to 6-figures in tuition - is "appropriate compensation" is like saying NFL players should be happy to play for the free hotel rooms, plane tickets, personal trainers and team cafeteria food.)

For football and basketball, the NCAA is a minor-league farm system that is all but mandatory, and we should stop trying to pretend otherwise.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

For football and basketball, the NCAA is a minor-league farm system that is all but mandatory, and we should stop trying to pretend otherwise.

Is it your opinion that a college scholarship for football or basketball is less of a benefit than what an MiLB player receives?  

[Spider-Dan]

Baseball players can choose to play in the NCAA if they prefer the value of a scholarship, without the professional penalties that a football player would suffer going straight to the UFL, or a basketball player would suffer going straight to the G League.  And hockey players get the same options that baseball players do.

I don't think it's a coincidence that (American) baseball and hockey players are allowed (and even encouraged) to go pro straight out of high school, while football and basketball players are effectively required to donate their skills to the NCAA for 1-3 years before they have the same opportunities.

I imagine this is for the same reasons that neither baseball nor hockey have the severe penalties for player fighting that football and basketball do.  It's bizarre to me that hockey needs fighting to protect The Talent like Connor McDavid or Nate MacKinnon, and baseball needs to allow bench-clearing brawls for [unspecified reasons], but Tua can get shoved to the ground by a dirty late hit (that causes a career-altering concussion) and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty is All That Can Be Done.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

At the majority of colleges the athletic department costs the college money.  And the overwhelming majority of these supposedly minor league players are not professional prospects.  If we are going to pay college students to play sports and pretend it is a minor league.  Then we should take it the logical conclusion and require all athletic departments to be self sufficient. 

There was a line item on my college tuition bill that paid went to pay for the so other students could play sports.  Let's end that.  In schools that can't fund the athletic department with tickets and tv deals. then charge the athletes like we do kids who play youth sports.

[Spider-Dan]

At the majority of colleges the athletic department costs the college money.

"Athletic department" is doing a hell of a lot of lifting in that sentence.

"Requiring all athletic departments to be self sufficient" simply means everything except the big 4 (and maaaaybe soccer) will go away at the college level.  Which I have no particular objection to, but let's be clear about what we're proposing.

P.S. Do not, for a moment, think that making college athletes pay for themselves will save the students any money.  It will simply increase profitability for the university, who is already charging students whatever they can get away with.  And they will continue to do so, whether that money is going to fund sports or not.

[Phishfan]

As a D2 college athlete in a non revenue generator sport (at that level no sport generates revenue so let's not lump the  Ohio States in with my college experience) I say fuck you to the generalized idea of doing away with college athletics.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

As a D2 college athlete in a non revenue generator sport (at that level no sport generates revenue so let's not lump the  Ohio States in with my college experience) I say fuck you to the generalized idea of doing away with college athletics.

I don't actually want to get rid of all sports other than the few college basketball and football programs that are actually profitable.  My comment was sarcastic.  

What is the purpose of education department of a college?  To prepare students to be future teachers.  Each of those students spend 12% of their college career providing free labor in the form of student teaching.  A semester they pay tuition for.   Nobody is talking about paying them for that semester.

It certainly is a component of college sports to prepare athletic students for a future career in sports.  Be that NFL, NBA, WNBA, Olympic track and field, etc.  And for almost every athlete that is in college they are not ready to compete professionally, and the college is preparing them.  If the NFL changed its rules next year that anyone over 18 with a high school diploma or GED is draft eligible few if any graduating high school seniors would be drafted.  I think a better argument could be made to allow that than to pay college players.  

While you may think it is unfair that that at some colleges football team is partially subsiding the water polo team. I think that is a better system than raising the fees and/or tuition on non-athletic students who are not on scholarship and whom are already accumulating a large debt.   And spending more money on football and basketball players means either cutting other sports or raising fees on students.  Unless you are naive enough to think that the money to pay the student athletes is going to come by reducing the salaries of administration.