FWST: TCU athletic director ‘really nervous’ about California’s new Fair Pay to Play Act

[Wexahu]

What happens if 5-star QB gets $100k for signing with Blue Blood School X and then he flunks a couple classes and can't play. Does he have to pay the money back? What about the professor who is slipped an extra $50k by big Donor for making sure his investment "pays off"?

The possibilities are endless.

 

[Wexahu]

I would also be done with cfb. These kids have this "high value" tied to their name because they play for a school that people love and are passionate about. The school and its team's success are brining in the value, not the athletes' abilities. Remove 'TCU' from our team and nobody here would watch them play

Exactly. Literally noone except their parents maybe, and that's probably only if it was convenient for them.

 

[FinanceFrog]

these kids have worked hard on their skills and are talented - why are they not able to profit from that?

why can universities rake in millions a year off of their hard work and then restrict athletes ability to market themselves and be paid for who they are?

 

[Moose Stuff]

What they don't seem to understand is that the money is there BECAUSE of the system in place. Donor money is going to dry up like crazy if it goes to pay for play. And if they lose fans like me and you, god dang they are screwed because I'd go from watching football from 11:00 - midnight to literally not caring at all anymore. I would imagine ratings would absolutely tank.

Nobody cares about minor league sports and that is what it would become.

Could not agree more.

 

[Wexahu]

these kids have worked hard on their skills and are talented - why are they not able to profit from that?

They can. Just don't play NCAA sports. And if there are no avenues out there for 19 year old football players to make money as a professional, get some attorneys together, start a pro league, and see how much money people would be willing to pay to watch you play. Hint....it would be little more than $0 without affiliation with a NCAA school.

Players MASSIVELY overestimate their value of being a talented athlete in and of itself.

 

[Moose Stuff]

What happens if 5-star QB gets $100k for signing with Blue Blood School X and then he flunks a couple classes and can't play. Does he have to pay the money back? What about the professor who is slipped an extra $50k by big Donor for making sure his investment "pays off"?

The possibilities are endless.

What happens when he takes $100,000 from Alabama and then hits the transfer portal a month later and takes another $100,000 from LSU?

 

[Dogfrog]

i think college sports is at a tipping point without the law.

the money being spent by some of these programs is out of control and tcu is not the only school that is struggling with attendance etc...

any body see the crowd that did or did not show up for the fsu - louisville game last weekend?

the noles have been drawing a little over 50K which isn't going to pay the bills in the long run for that program

Don’t really know this for certain but I’m guessing FSU sells out their season tickets. At that point attendance is secondary with the exception of concession sales. Until recently that’s where we have been since our stadium was rebuilt.

 

[Eight]

What happens when he takes $100,000 from Alabama and then hits the transfer portal a month later and takes another $100,000 from LSU?

he changes tax brackets

 

[Moose Stuff]

he changes tax brackets

Taxes..... good god can you imagine what a disaster it’s gonna be getting these kids to pay taxes??? And that almost certainly brings agents/advisors into the picture.

 

[Big Frog II]

Thanks California.

 

[Eight]

Taxes..... good god can you imagine what a disaster it’s gonna be getting these kids to pay taxes??? And that almost certainly brings agents/advisors into the picture.

that's what uncles are for.....right vince young

 

[MAcFroggy]

Another thing people are not talking about is Nike had their lobbyist insert a rider into the CA bill. It pretty much says players can not utilize their NIL in ways that competes against the universities. For instance, if a school is sponsored by Nike, a player can not get a sponsorship from Adidas.

I assume this would qualify across the board. If a school has an official car dealership then the student could not endorse a car dealership. If they have an official restaurant then they could not endorse a restaurant. Most universities have "official" movers/car dealership/bar/etc, so I am not exactly sure what all the students will be able to utilize.

Text from the bill:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB206

(e) (1) A student athlete shall not enter into a contract providing compensation to the athlete for use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness if a provision of the contract is in conflict with a provision of the athlete’s team contract.

 

[Zubaz]

What they don't seem to understand is that the money is there BECAUSE of the system in place. Donor money is going to dry up like crazy if it goes to pay for play. And if they lose fans like me and you, god dang they are screwed because I'd go from watching football from 11:00 - midnight to literally not caring at all anymore. I would imagine ratings would absolutely tank.

Nobody cares about minor league sports and that is what it would become.

I guess I don't see where this conclusion is coming from. We aren't talking about divorcing U-21 / "minor league" football from the university model, or the creation of a professional league for younger players, which I agree would basically relegate minor league football to the popularity of the AHL or AAA Baseball. We aren't even talking about schools paying their players. We are talking about athletes being allowed to earn money off their likeness. How would that cause the popularity to drop off? I suppose you could argue that a long term competitive imbalance might hurt interest but...we've basically had that for a long time and college football remains incredibly popular, only difference is the bigger share would now go to the players instead of the schools taking that share. You really wouldn't watch TCU football anymore just because Darius Anderson can make $X in a year off his likeness on his own? Really?

 

[Moose Stuff]

I guess I don't see where this conclusion is coming from. We aren't talking about divorcing U-21 / "minor league" football from the university model, or the creation of a professional league for younger players, which I agree would basically relegate minor league football to the popularity of the AHL or AAA Baseball. We aren't even talking about schools paying their players. We are talking about athletes being allowed to earn money off their likeness. How would that cause the popularity to drop off? I suppose you could argue that a long term competitive imbalance might hurt interest but...we've basically had that for a long time and college football remains incredibly popular, only difference is the bigger share would now go to the players instead of the schools taking that share. You really wouldn't watch TCU football anymore just because Darius Anderson can make $X in a year off his likeness on his own? Really?

I think his point is that it’s not even remotely as simple as your last sentence makes it out to be.

 

[Wog68]

What happens when he takes $100,000 from Alabama and then hits the transfer portal a month later and takes another $100,000 from LSU?

He wouldn't make it out of Alabama alive.

 

[Zubaz]

I think his point is that it’s not even remotely as simple as your last sentence makes it out to be.

Maybe...but I don't see why? Every hypothetical just seems to be really grasping at straws and relatively easy to accommodate in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Wexahu]

I guess I don't see where this conclusion is coming from. We aren't talking about divorcing U-21 / "minor league" football from the university model, or the creation of a professional league for younger players, which I agree would basically relegate minor league football to the popularity of the AHL or AAA Baseball. We aren't even talking about schools paying their players. We are talking about athletes being allowed to earn money off their likeness. How would that cause the popularity to drop off? I suppose you could argue that a long term competitive imbalance might hurt interest but...we've basically had that for a long time and college football remains incredibly popular, only difference is the bigger share would now go to the players instead of the schools taking that share. You really wouldn't watch TCU football anymore just because Darius Anderson can make $X in a year off his likeness on his own? Really?

Because it would be impossible to regulate, impossible to implement fairly, and competitive balance would soon become a fairy tale. The have's would have 10x the advantage they already do over the have nots. Sorry, just wouldn't be interested. If you think everything would be virtually the same about college sports except that the Darius Anderson's of the world would be making extra cash I think you're being deliberately ignorant.

To me it's very simple. If players are tired of the NCAA making money off them, then don't play. Period. Pay for college on your own, don't go to college, play minor league sports, start up a new league, do whatever the hell you want. But if you want to play NCAA sanctioned sports, play by NCAA rules.

 

[netty2424]

I think the $100,000 numbers are well below market value. The rumors of what a former 5 star WR at LSU now got paid are well beyond that.

 

[Zubaz]

Because it would be impossible to regulate, impossible to implement fairly, and competitive balance would soon become a fairy tale. The have's would have 10x the advantage they already do over the have nots.

My question is how is that any different than what we see now, save for the recipient of the the money? Where is the 10x advantage? The rich boosters of the richest schools already drop huge money to the Universities, the richest universities almost always correlate to the best recruiting classes, highest paid coaches, and best facilities (which in turn correlates strongly to on-field success). So they direct some of that to the players directly instead of the athletic departments taking out a chunk for themselves?

If your primary concern appears is "competitive balance", I'd argue we're a ways away from that as it stands. So long as the best players are free to choose where they want to go to school (and surely nobody is suggesting we draft high school kids to attend specific universities), the competitive balance will always be skewed towards the richest universities that have the most resources. All we're doing now is just quibbling over whether some of that finance can be directed to the players directly rather than using the university as an intermediary and distributing what is essentially crumbs relative to overall revenue. I'm just not sure how that competitive balance can be accomplished short of some form of CBA with players implementing a salary cap, but as you said that would essentially make college football a professional minor league....which we both agree would kill the game.

To me it's very simple. If players are tired of the NCAA making money off them, then don't play. Period. Pay for college on your own, don't go to college, play minor league sports, start up a new league, do whatever the hell you want. But if you want to play NCAA sanctioned sports, play by NCAA rules.

It appears to me that this legislation's endgame appears to be to press the issue and influence the NCAA rules changing so that payers can get paid and "play by the NCAA rules".

 

[gohornedfrogs]

This would consolidate power into a handful of schools. People are only going to pay for winners, and the reality is that only a few win. It will be a self-perpetuating system.

Case in point...how do you think Tennessee boosters would feel about giving money to their players? Or UCLA? Or Nebraska after the last 6 or so years? The money would keep rolling in at Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and OU. It would dry up everywhere else after a few mediocre seasons.

Of course, aTm would keep paying after infinite 7-5 seasons just because those fools are too stupid to want a return on their investment.