06-22-2021, 11:48 AM
The irony of this whole situation is that the NCAA was originally created specifically to address injuries and deaths in College Football. College Football is by far and away the biggest revenue producer of all college sports. Yet, the NCAA somehow doesn't have any control over the top division in College Football's post-season. How the hell did this happen?
I honestly have no clue how this situation gets resolved. But what I do know is any time this dynamic is created, it will not be pretty. Someone - like college coaches in particular - will have to give up a lot of what they have so athletes who are the labor that creates the entertainment can get a larger piece of the revenue pie. The NCAA and member schools will have to figure out among other things:
- What piece of the revenue pie goes to the athletes, from NCAA post-season revenue and individual school revenue
- A mechanism for deciding if/how different sport athletes get compensated by level (perhaps based on revenue generated)
- A bonus structure for post-season participation
- How to get athletes organized to approve of whatever the plan is
I personally don't think college athletes want to get paid more by schools based on their ability, like a major league athletes does. They would be totally fine being compensated like Graduate Assistants are; get a monthly stipend that everyone else gets and maybe insurance coverage everyone else gets. Any individual compensation over and beyond this can be based on NIL compensation.
Speaking of that, the really interesting question would be if the NCAA came up with an agreeable compensation structure, would athletes agree to give up personal NIL revenue if it all goes into one pot for things like video games and jersey sales. Like, if we give you a bit more guaranteed compensation and benefits, can we reign in the NIL stuff a bit? I think most athletes would say yes because they are OK supporting a baseline level of compensation for as many athletes as possible.
Of course, the big problem not solved by any of this is recruiting and the artificial controls placed on it that leads to what we call cheating.
I honestly have no clue how this situation gets resolved. But what I do know is any time this dynamic is created, it will not be pretty. Someone - like college coaches in particular - will have to give up a lot of what they have so athletes who are the labor that creates the entertainment can get a larger piece of the revenue pie. The NCAA and member schools will have to figure out among other things:
- What piece of the revenue pie goes to the athletes, from NCAA post-season revenue and individual school revenue
- A mechanism for deciding if/how different sport athletes get compensated by level (perhaps based on revenue generated)
- A bonus structure for post-season participation
- How to get athletes organized to approve of whatever the plan is
I personally don't think college athletes want to get paid more by schools based on their ability, like a major league athletes does. They would be totally fine being compensated like Graduate Assistants are; get a monthly stipend that everyone else gets and maybe insurance coverage everyone else gets. Any individual compensation over and beyond this can be based on NIL compensation.
Speaking of that, the really interesting question would be if the NCAA came up with an agreeable compensation structure, would athletes agree to give up personal NIL revenue if it all goes into one pot for things like video games and jersey sales. Like, if we give you a bit more guaranteed compensation and benefits, can we reign in the NIL stuff a bit? I think most athletes would say yes because they are OK supporting a baseline level of compensation for as many athletes as possible.
Of course, the big problem not solved by any of this is recruiting and the artificial controls placed on it that leads to what we call cheating.