[Softball Fan]

The schools have way, way more to lose than the athletes in terms of money, but the athletes have more to lose in terms of how many losers there will be.

As I have said here before, all the schools had to do was do something reasonable to throw the revenue sport athletes a bone, and the system would have generally stayed intact.  Instead, by operating with a plantation mentality, the schools created a situation where the only outcome is they must start sharing significantly more money with the labor, which sort of defeats the purpose of having resisted paying them more in the first place.

But, for some reason I don't understand, unlike the pro leagues, there are donors who line up to subsidize the operating costs of the sports, making the amount spent on sports greater than they generate. This has been in the form of coaching salaries, facilities, and staff to recruit. Now, it's laundering money through NIL deals. Given all this, it would be a whole heckuva lot more straightforward if that money went to the athletes as compensation in a free labor market. Like, everyone cuts their own deal to play for whatever they will take. Of course, when you open this Pandora's box, now you are dealing with working conditions. The NCAA may have its rules, but individual players may have their own demands that have to be individually negotiated, absent a union and CBA.

I'd like each school to be capped as to how much it can pay players, but the endemic booster system that created bag men will find ways around a salary cap.  I want to see more money going to players and less to coaches, staff and facilities, but...

Even if players get paid more and get classified as labor, the the whole situation is a total mess in terms of Title IX issues and broad based sports offerings. Again, the schools just had to give a little to avoid it, so some part of me is glad the NCAA did this to itself. It's just well deserved karma.

I’m not going to put college sports in a traditional labor category.  Nor use catchy but irrelevant terms like “plantation mentality “. There will be major legal issues. If I’m Stanford and it goes this route, I end the programs.  And because these sports essentially fund  the non revenue sports, I’d end those too.  Just go the club sport route.

Stanford’s reputation won’t be hurt one bit by dropping sports.  Applications will not drop.  And money isn’t an issue. I suspect that is true at most schools.  So just end college sports.  Then let’s see where all the HS football and basketball players go to get their paycheck….

Why bother with the headache.

I agree.   Accusations or inferences of racism toward colleges administrators is unfair.  Students voluntarily playing football, attending classes, and getting college expenses paid does not constitute a plantation.

If college football players become paid union employees, I favor eliminating varsity sports.  I'm old school and think first and foremost colleges should be primarily for academics.  The NFL can create farm teams or minor leagues if they want to develop professional football players.

FWIW I saw on some message boards the opinion the NLRB under this administration will pro-actively extend the employee model to all sports.

If athletes become employees will they have state and federal taxes along with all the other typical deductions taken out of their "paychecks"? When I was 19 the last thing I cared about was saving for retirement.  Will athletic scholarships be deemed to be payment to employees with the government taking out their share?  Football players might come to regret this.

[Softball Fan]

The schools have way, way more to lose than the athletes in terms of money, but the athletes have more to lose in terms of how many losers there will be.

As I have said here before, all the schools had to do was do something reasonable to throw the revenue sport athletes a bone, and the system would have generally stayed intact.  Instead, by operating with a plantation mentality, the schools created a situation where the only outcome is they must start sharing significantly more money with the labor, which sort of defeats the purpose of having resisted paying them more in the first place.

But, for some reason I don't understand, unlike the pro leagues, there are donors who line up to subsidize the operating costs of the sports, making the amount spent on sports greater than they generate. This has been in the form of coaching salaries, facilities, and staff to recruit. Now, it's laundering money through NIL deals. Given all this, it would be a whole heckuva lot more straightforward if that money went to the athletes as compensation in a free labor market. Like, everyone cuts their own deal to play for whatever they will take. Of course, when you open this Pandora's box, now you are dealing with working conditions. The NCAA may have its rules, but individual players may have their own demands that have to be individually negotiated, absent a union and CBA.

I'd like each school to be capped as to how much it can pay players, but the endemic booster system that created bag men will find ways around a salary cap.  I want to see more money going to players and less to coaches, staff and facilities, but...

Even if players get paid more and get classified as labor, the the whole situation is a total mess in terms of Title IX issues and broad based sports offerings. Again, the schools just had to give a little to avoid it, so some part of me is glad the NCAA did this to itself. It's just well deserved karma.

I’m not going to put college sports in a traditional labor category.  Nor use catchy but irrelevant terms like “plantation mentality “. There will be major legal issues. If I’m Stanford and it goes this route, I end the programs.  And because these sports essentially fund  the non revenue sports, I’d end those too.  Just go the club sport route.

Stanford’s reputation won’t be hurt one bit by dropping sports.  Applications will not drop.  And money isn’t an issue. I suspect that is true at most schools.  So just end college sports.  Then let’s see where all the HS football and basketball players go to get their paycheck….

Why bother with the headache.

I agree.   Accusations or inferences of racism toward colleges administrators is unfair.  Students voluntarily playing football, attending classes, and getting college expenses paid does not constitute a plantation.

If college football players become paid union employees, I favor eliminating varsity sports.  I'm old school and think first and foremost colleges should be primarily for academics.  The NFL can create farm teams or minor leagues if they want to develop professional football players.

FWIW I saw on some message boards the opinion the NLRB under this administration will pro-actively extend the employee model to all sports.

If athletes become employees will they have state and federal taxes along with all the other typical deductions taken out of their "paychecks"? When I was 19 the last thing I cared about was saving for retirement.  Will athletic scholarships be deemed to be payment to employees with the government taking out their share?  Football players might come to regret this.