Universities Set To Pay Athletes?

[jflores]

This effectively reduces the revenue that the university will receive from athletics. Universities will want donor funds shifted away from NIL and towards University priorities, since they will no doubt feel like they are now paying for what NIL was supposed to take of for them. But this brings up some interesting dynamics.

The competition for top players will still revolve around NIL offers, but now negotiations are starting from a much higher floor. This floor is higher than what most institutions were doing voluntarily with scholarships + NIL. This will prove to be another way to separate teams according to who is willing to just ante up, who is will to put even more in, and who can’t/wont compete.

If this cost is a function of your TV revenue, then this will separate the P2 from the rest even further. And G5 even more so. There will be a tiered system where top players are funneled to the P2. And the rest will be a development league for players hoping to promote up. Kind of like youth soccer, but with big $ available.

And there will be fewer opportunities for non revenue sports at the college level. That money they just took away was planned for funding those sports. Many cant replace it.

I wonder if in the long run this will hurt NU nil efforts.

If Nebraskans shift donations from private collectives into direct university coffers, will they necessarily feel the need to keep the collective operating at high level.

We have shown resistance to being on the leading edge of pay in the past with coaching searches and for a state where a significant percentage of fans don’t believe student athletes should receive pay, having to fund two separate streams of athlete income seems a bit of a stretch.

This might be where the coastal cities and Texas with more advertising opportunities and larger alumni bases might flex a bit.the LeBron and shaq of the world don’t play for mid market teams.

 

[jflores]

cant we just forgive their student loans and call it good

He ain’t paying for two income streams.

 

[Husker Todd]

Is that $11-14 mil AFTER B1G revenue? Or before?

Before from what I understand. If so, $71-74 mil is plenty for a program like Nebraska football to hold an advantage over most other programs currently.

Well if you follow the link and you look at the total revenue, it has a pie chart that breaks it all down. The chart shows $48 million in media rights. I don’t know what the payout is going forward, but it hasn’t currently been $71-74 million. It has been near $50 million.

 

[BleedRed78]

Well if you follow the link and you look at the total revenue, it has a pie chart that breaks it all down. The chart shows $48 million in media rights. I don’t know what the payout is going forward, but it hasn’t currently been $71-74 million. It has been near $50 million.

I was factoring in Nebraska's $11-14 mil plus a $60 mil number I saw recently that B1G has achieved for payout

 

[LandoHusker]

I agree that it's dumb if athletes in non-revenue sports get paid also. But I have no problem with football players getting paid. They are bringing in tens of millions of dollars to these universities. Especially when coaches and ADs are making millions. The players deserve a big cut. The fans buy tickets to watch the players.

Lots of students are also employees for the university. I worked for the university when I was in college and they gave me a paycheck. Why shouldn't athletes be employees?

Again. Fans aren't buying tickets to watch players. They are buying because of the University. If Adrian Martinez was playing for Nebraska today, would he be getting paid more at the University or in the United football League? Talent is the same. When you worked for the University did you get a free schollie, free room and board, free medical care and a stipend. Again if they want to make them employees, that is fine. But don't call it college football and don't make them go to class. Tear down the whole charade.

 

[huskerfan66]

i don't see N here but these charts often fail accounting. it's just one that popped up. anyway, there are relatively few "profitable" programs, maybe 20-30. so money is going to have to come from reduced operating expenses or increased revenue. i don't see how many majors are going to survive this additional hit like uconn and uofa without major infusions of cash from outside.

These don't mean squat because you don't know what numbers they used and not apples to apples

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

Former athletes should sue the schools if they do

 

[Husker Todd]

I was factoring in Nebraska's $11-14 mil plus a $60 mil number I saw recently that B1G has achieved for payout

Nebraska’s total revenue in 22’-23’ included $48 million for media rights. What sources do you think they got $48 million from other than the B1G? They aren’t getting $70 million from the B1G on top of $48 million from other sources.

 

[AVeritas]

i believe there are many lawsuits contemplated by barristers today looking for a piece, not peace. these will involve title 9 issues for sure, as universities try to sort out how they distribute $20 million annually between sports going forward.

i also wonder if lower tier conferences are going to just accept paying for past performances mostly by p5 athletes as determined by house v ncaa? this whole area seems ripe for court tests.

so there are a boatload of legally difficult issues that athletic directors will have to sort through over the next several days, months, years. finally, they have to do something difficult and meaningful for their bloated compensation.

 

[huskerfan66]

i believe there are many lawsuits contemplated by barristers today looking for a piece, not peace. these will involve title 9 issues for sure, as universities try to sort out how they distribute $20 million annually between sports going forward.

i also wonder if lower tier conferences are going to just accept paying for past performances mostly by p5 athletes as determined by house v ncaa? this whole area seems ripe for court tests.

so there are a boatload of legally difficult issues that athletic directors will have to sort through over the next several days, months, years. finally, they have to do something difficult and meaningful for their bloated compensation.

Definitely murky

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

If they say this compensation is a work related compensation.

Im absolutely suing.

 

[AVeritas]

If they say this compensation is a work related compensation.

Im absolutely suing.

i don't believe you can sue the government/courts.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

i don't believe you can sue the government/courts.

If the schools declare them as employees im suing the school and NCAA for conspiracy.

 

[AVeritas]

If the schools declare them as employees im suing the school and NCAA for conspiracy.

an employee is generally someone below the executive level who performs a service/work for pay. the definition is pretty broad. i'm not sure if one takes compensation that automatically means an employee by definition. i assume that's your point, that they are something different in status.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

an employee is generally someone below the executive level who performs a service/work for pay. the definition is pretty broad. i'm not sure if one takes compensation that automatically means an employee by definition. i assume that's your point, that they are something different in status.

True

Thats all Im saying. If they are deeming this as employment work.

That means they have been cheating the system by not paying players while maximizing their work for a profit Thats slavery.

If its just a stipend then cool.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

I agree that it's dumb if athletes in non-revenue sports get paid also. But I have no problem with football players getting paid. They are bringing in tens of millions of dollars to these universities. Especially when coaches and ADs are making millions. The players deserve a big cut. The fans buy tickets to watch the players.

Lots of students are also employees for the university. I worked for the university when I was in college and they gave me a paycheck. Why shouldn't athletes be employees?

Cool..then pay all the athletes before as well. Because apparently they worked for free.

 

[AVeritas]

title 9 is an all-encompassing law that prohibits discrimination based on the sex of students. well, are these highly paid ballers students or something else when this becomes pay-2-play? i mean what's your frosh quarterback making starting this fall, a couple million per year? title 9 is certain to be a core issue litigated down the road as $20 million is divvied up by power conference athletic departments across the land.

 

[beaglehusker]

Former athletes should sue the schools if they do

I want my backpay.

 

[leodisflowers]

title 9 is an all-encompassing law that prohibits discrimination based on the sex of students. well, are these highly paid ballers students or something else when this becomes pay-2-play? i mean what's your frosh quarterback making starting this fall, a couple million per year? title 9 is certain to be a core issue litigated down the road as $20 million is divvied up by power conference athletic departments across the land.

For one side this should be a non issue as sex is a moving target. You can identify as a cell phone according to them.

 

[huskerj12]

It's hard to wrap my head around, I kinda hold multiple opposite opinions on the entire thing because of how uniquely weird college athletics always were...

Unfortunately I think pretty much the entire model of college sports was based on the hypothesis that players didn't get paid, they were academic students playing the sport on the side, and the education was the reward. Now that money has fully taken over the sport and official player payment has come into play, a lot of that old structure of college sports won't even be legal anymore.

On one hand, athletes obviously deserve a piece of the pie, especially in the modern era when everyone BUT the players has gone all in with just letting uninhibited capitalism make every decision and the sport just becomes more and more of a cash cow. But now that players are being paid it's probably going to take down the entire infrastructure of the sport that they were being paid to participate in... haha.

The slippery slope is clearly real with this stuff. Who is to say athletes have to "retire" after four years? That can't be legal, right? Workers have a right to find work in their field if someone is willing to hire them, so why wouldn't a guy who is good enough to play but not good enough for the NFL keep signing contracts with various schools and "work" as a college football player for 12 years?

So I have to wonder if somewhere way down the line, when all the dust settles and these sports are just lesser leagues of professional athletes, will people still feel as attached to the universities/teams/athletes? Or will it just start seeming like the Omaha Beef?

 

[ivan brunetti]

College athletes have always been able to pack up and leave school and the team any time they wanted.

So, it wasn't quite the same as slavery, Mrs J.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

College athletes have always been able to pack up and leave school and the team any time they wanted.

So, it wasn't quite the same as slavery, Mrs J.

Well since you want to be hyperbolic


Slaves didnt have to be slaves either.

 

[AVeritas]

On one hand, athletes obviously deserve a piece of the pie, especially in the modern era when everyone BUT the players has gone all in with just letting uninhibited capitalism make every decision and the sport just becomes more and more of a cash cow.

for almost all universities, athletics is the antithesis of a "cash cow." the term means an investment or enterprise that provides a steady profit. a relative small number of schools actually operate their athletic programs in the black. we've discussed this before. p4 football on the other hand is a cash generator and thus the crux of the issue before us. but p4 football is the exception. here's where two of the better fcs schools stand with athletics.

• SDSU, with an athletic budget of $20 million, draws about 45% of its revenue from allocated funds, according to the most recent data.

• USD’s athletic department is more subsidized, with 66% of its $18.5 million budget coming from government and institutional money and student fees.

SDSU, USD rely heavily on state money and student fees to subsidize Division I athletics

SDSU, USD rely heavily on state money and student fees to subsidize Division I athletics.

www.dakotanewsnow.com

 

[andrewjones21]

It's hard to wrap my head around, I kinda hold multiple opposite opinions on the entire thing because of how uniquely weird college athletics always were...

Unfortunately I think pretty much the entire model of college sports was based on the hypothesis that players didn't get paid, they were academic students playing the sport on the side, and the education was the reward. Now that money has fully taken over the sport and official player payment has come into play, a lot of that old structure of college sports won't even be legal anymore.

On one hand, athletes obviously deserve a piece of the pie, especially in the modern era when everyone BUT the players has gone all in with just letting uninhibited capitalism make every decision and the sport just becomes more and more of a cash cow. But now that players are being paid it's probably going to take down the entire infrastructure of the sport that they were being paid to participate in... haha.

The slippery slope is clearly real with this stuff. Who is to say athletes have to "retire" after four years? That can't be legal, right? Workers have a right to find work in their field if someone is willing to hire them, so why wouldn't a guy who is good enough to play but not good enough for the NFL keep signing contracts with various schools and "work" as a college football player for 12 years? It's not that hard to be a student, and if you're an athlete too, then it's harder. I don't play sports, but I still face problems with my studies. I like it in general, but I think that there are too many tasks, and not each is that useful. For example, this page https://papersowl.com/blog/difference-between-essay-and-research-paper has a lot of useful information and helped me to understand the difference between essays and research papers better. So now I have fewer problems with such tasks, but still, I spend a lot of time on writing and don't have a chance to relax from time to time.

So I have to wonder if somewhere way down the line, when all the dust settles and these sports are just lesser leagues of professional athletes, will people still feel as attached to the universities/teams/athletes? Or will it just start seeming like the Omaha Beef?

I agree with you.
From one hand I also think that student athletes for sure deserve that money because they dedicate a lot of time and efforts to it.
But on the other hand, they already get a lot of benefits from being an athlete.
But anyway, money for sure has changed everything.

 

[RBigredMax]

I agree with you.
From one hand I also think that student athletes for sure deserve that money because they dedicate a lot of time and efforts to it.
But on the other hand, they already get a lot of benefits from being an athlete.
But anyway, money for sure has changed everything.

 

[dinglefritz]

It always was big business, now it is bigger and the recipients of the raise in salary are the players. I liken it to an intern who goes to work for free but gains valuable experience in hope of landing that big gig someday. Only now, the players are employees of the state. Hence, a limit to how many "employees" you can have as that will be regulated. They have roster limits in the pros and it sounds like they will for the minor leagues - colleges. What will be interesting in all of this is the transfer portion. I could see it going either way - more transfers to gain the upper hand in getting a starting job or guys staying put as the money will be the same everywhere. Who knows, it certainly won't be the same game it once was. Shoot, I imagine, right now if a kid played things right he could play 4-5 years of college FB and end up being set for life. Amazing

There is little doubt that the best players have been getting side benefits at many schools for decades. 45 years ago I sat on the 45 yard line of a CU game in Lincoln in seats from a wingback compliments of a large area bank. I’m guessing they didn’t pay face value. Now it’s out in the open

 

[AVeritas]

i was calling on a wealthy oSu alum back in the 80s. he told me the pokes offered billy sims $250,000 and a new car. sims laughed at them and signed with oklahoma the next day.

yes, they've been paid forever. even rockne's legendary george "the gipper" gipp played pro ball on sundays to pick up some extra cash. wilt the stilt said he was paid to play at ku.

Wilt Chamberlain Says Boosters Paid Him to Play Basketball for Kansas in the 1950s. Wilt Chamberlain says he was paid to play basketball at the University of Kansas in the 1950s, but the amount “would make it look like I was not worth very much” compared with the illicit payments to today's college athletes. LATimes Oct '85

 

[redwine65]

And amazingly Saban up and retires as soon as other teams have a level playing field in paying players.

AAAAmen

 

[redwine65]

They need to throw title IX in the garbage where it belongs, along with putan, xi and kimberly jong

 

[AVeritas]

They need to throw title IX in the garbage where it belongs, along with putan, xi and kimberly jong

title 9 will be the backdrop for a lot of lawsuits once schools start allocating their $20 million pay-to-play funds.

 

[redwine65]

title 9 will be the backdrop for a lot of lawsuits once schools start allocating their $20 million pay-to-play funds.

so the football team will start geting money back that was robbed?

 

[AVeritas]

so the football team will start geting money back that was robbed?

there will be arguments made that funds should be allocated based on revenue generation. but i don't believe the courts will accept that rationale.

 

[RedCap]

I wonder if this is why the AD announced they were slowing down on the stadium renovation. Never want to be short of the $20 million.

The stadium renovation was slowed because Trev Alberts plan was rejected and he left. It's that simple.