"College Football Is On EBay" is NIL a bad thing?

[Azrael]

crooked money in college football has been around a long time

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If you're peachy with this version of college sports, then you're going to be happy for quite a while. It's not as if they're going to pull the plug now.

Not quite sure how you don't see something has been lost in the offing, but ...

What's been lost in the offing is an antiquated idea that athletes are competing for school pride instead of tangible benefits. Which everyone else already was receiving.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Something has been lost for the fans. And it is a LOT better for the actual players. So I am good with it.

It always felt icky to me, seeing a packed dome for the Final Four.. Knowing that CBS paid hundreds of millions for the rights; that Jim Nantz gets paid millions to broadcast; that the Izzos and Coach Ks were paid 10s of millions; that I had to watch smarmy Coach K American Express commercials... and the players playing in the actual game got bupkis. It never made sense to me, and reduced my enjoyment of college sports, knowing these players were used and thrown out, and everyone around them were making millions.

So yes, this whole movement makes me feel way better than I used to.

And on a Monday night too, when the "students" should be studying and getting a good night's sleep before class the next day.

 

[Twirling Time]

And on a Monday night too, when the "students" should be studying and getting a good night's sleep before class the next day.

Most of my classes were M-W-F with maybe a lab on Tuesday, but I get your point.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Penn State has a backup forward playing for his fifth college team. Not stopping in for a few classes -- he played for all five. Tell me where that is the way it should be, and tell me how the new reality has made his college experience better. I don't think he's doing commercials for Nittany Pizza.

If a kid is on his fifth team and still playing in a Power Five conference I think it demonstrates that he had little interest in a "college experience". I think his only interest is basketball. When I was in college a long time ago many members of the team stopped going to class their senior year, even if they realized they were not NFL bound. I also think he is getting some NIL money from somewhere.

I have a question. How many college athletes are actually physically attending class? Or are they taking classes on-line?

At Colorado the school just changed the transfer eligibility requirements. Now the School of Arts and Sciences, which enrolls 70% of the student body, will accept transfer credits from any accredited college. This was announced at the press conference where Deion Sanders was hired and done to get more portal players into the University.

Are we looking at a future where kids will move from school to school looking for more money and or playing time while just taking on-line courses? Will the kids actually take the classes or will some grad student? Who knows? If you believe in the concept of a student athlete you will think this is a bad thing. If you think college athletics is a business and academics are optional then you will not care.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

If a kid is on his fifth team and still playing in a Power Five conference I think it demonstrates that he had little interest in a "college experience". I think his only interest is basketball. When I was in college a long time ago many members of the team stopped going to class their senior year, even if they realized they were not NFL bound. I knew I also think he is getting some NIL money from somewhere.

I have a question. How many college athletes are actually physically attending class? Or are they taking classes on-line?

At Colorado the school just changed the transfer eligibility requirements. Now the School of Arts and Sciences, which enrolls 70% of the student body, will accept transfer credits from any accredited college. This was announced at the press conference where Deion Sanders was hired and done to get more portal players into the University.

Are we looking at a future where kids will move from school to school looking for more money and or playing time while just taking on-line courses? Will the kids actually take the classes or will some grad student? Who knows? If you believe in the concept of a student athlete you will think this is a bad thing. If you think college athletics is a business and academics have been optional then you will not care.

I'm pretty far removed from it now but I get the impression it's been like that for years. Didn't Joe Burrow acknowledge that he barely set foot on the LSU campus?

 

[outofplace]

If a kid is on his fifth team and still playing in a Power Five conference I think it demonstrates that he had little interest in a "college experience". I think his only interest is basketball. When I was in college a long time ago many members of the team stopped going to class their senior year, even if they realized they were not NFL bound. I knew I also think he is getting some NIL money from somewhere.

I have a question. How many college athletes are actually physically attending class? Or are they taking classes on-line?

At Colorado the school just changed the transfer eligibility requirements. Now the School of Arts and Sciences, which enrolls 70% of the student body, will accept transfer credits from any accredited college. This was announced at the press conference where Deion Sanders was hired and done to get more portal players into the University.

Are we looking at a future where kids will move from school to school looking for more money and or playing time while just taking on-line courses? Will the kids actually take the classes or will some grad student? Who knows? If you believe in the concept of a student athlete you will think this is a bad thing. If you think college athletics is a business and academics have been optional then you will not care.

Athletes finding ways around going to class isn't new, but yeah, it's worse. In my freshman year of college, I remember showing up for the final exam and sitting next to a buddy of mine. On the other side of him was our football team's star tailback, a guy who went on to play in the NFL. He hadn't shown up for class once the entire semester. That same semester, the starting quarterback, also a future NFL guy, only showed up on the days of tests. This surprised absolutely no one and neither guy ever had any eligibility issues. In some ways, NIL and the portal are just making it all less hypocritical. They aren't really even trying to hide the bullshirt anymore.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Pardon me if this conversation is going on in some college football discussion.

I heard there are over 1,900 players in the transfer right now. It isn't just NIL. It is the combination of that with the transfer portal. Is it a bad thing? Is the tampering out of hand?

I think E-Bay made the process of buying and selling more transparent and hence efficient. But the markets served by E-Bay have e long exisited. I think the portal has made a market that has long existed more transparent and hence efficient. Division 1-A institutions have historically been limited to historically limited to 25 scholarships a year and 85 total (Changes have recently been made due to COVID.)

Rules for athletes to gain an extra year of eligibility have been eased. Now a football player has to paly in five games before he loses a year. Coaches hold out all but the most talented freshman in order to gain an extra year. So let's say 20 players in the freshman class redshirt. That means there would potentially be 120 players on scholarship. 20 from the redshirt class and 100 four from the four other signing classes. That is 105 players on scholarship. One way of another about nine kids a year must leave the program with eligibility remaining. If nine players leave from each of the 131 Division 1-A schools that is 1,200 kids in the portal. Division1 1-A schools operate with different limits but the same principals apply. There are 134 schools that play Division 1-AA.

So it is easy to get to 1,900 players in the portal. Just as there were 1,900 players trying to transfer before the portal was created. Now their names are in a central data base.

The big difference is that now talented players can easily transfer and are more likely to be included in the population.

 

[DanOregon]

Many college players seek out on-line courses and the better programs do have structures in place to give athletes access to class notes, study halls, tutors - giving them a regular academic program that allows them to progress academically without necessarily attending classes which may interfere with their sports schedules. In a way, it makes perfect sense than hitting a class when you can, and using the academic support programs only when there is a conflict with a practice, lifting session, travel day or whatnot.

 

[Driftwood]

A grip needs to be gotten on the transfers. If it's a move up, say from DII to FCS or FCS to FBS or even small FBS to Power 5, OK. Lateral moves, you get one. After that, you sit a year.
I broadcast a game this year pretty far down the pecking order where opposing team's starting QB was starting for his fourth school in four years.
This is true:
Midweek game prep looking at the two-deep.
Me: "Why does their starting QB's name sound familiar?"
Partner: "He started for us two years ago."

 

[DanOregon]

It's pretty much the AAU-ization of college football. The NCAA should just wipe their hands of the sport - they look feckless and only seem to be used like one of those "boxing organizations" that approve/sanction matches (as long as they get a piece of the action). Call it college football if you want, but leave the NCAA out of it.

 

[Batman]

I'm pretty far removed from it now but I get the impression it's been like that for years. Didn't Joe Burrow acknowledge that he barely set foot on the LSU campus?

IIRC, Burrow graduated early from Ohio State and was at LSU as a grad student. Or he already had a degree and was taking sone token elective classes. He was there just for football, sure, but it wasn't the worst example of it.

I seem to remember a USC quarterback doing the same thing, but can't recall which one. Might have been Matt Leinart or Mark Sanchez.