[LuckE2Bhere]

The great irony here is that college students (many of whom enthusiastically endorse socialist policies, including forced "equity") and other advocates of NIL and "fairly compensating student athletes" became free market evangelists with regard to the very small percentage of NCAA student-athletes who were actually getting underpaid under the effective Salary Cap that previously existed - i.e., standardized compensation in the form of admissions preferences, scholarships, SWAG and over-flowing training tables (which made it comical to hear a Duke Basketball player claim he was "starving"!).  

Of course, the marginal revenue that accrues to these schools from all but a relatively short list of true "difference makers" an a very short list of profitable sports was already well below the value of those admissions preferences (for those who took advantage of their educational opportunity) and even those scholarships, in most cases.  Now, we'll see those (expected) difference makers reap market-based rewards, and sadly/eventually, the resources available to the mere amateur student-athletes erode over time.  Even in DI Football, will a LB who is "only" good enough to play third or fourth-string for a mediocre program continue to receive a $200+K scholarship, when his coach may find that money better spent locking down the starting QB in a bidding war?

The simple reality is that truly free markets cannot exist in autocratically controlled, socialist environments (though autocrats in countries like China have used controlled access to capitalism to build the state's wealth/power), whereas socialists are free to establish such communes within the parameters of environments that recognize individual liberties.  I would argue that "amateur athletics" are/were one of the most successful examples of that, with individuals choosing to sacrifice individual economic rewards to pursue collective success.  That's what makes alums and other fans so proud to root for their school (or even their national) teams, while very few people actually care about NBA D-League games (where the caliber of play is much higher than even the top college programs), for example.

I'm not saying that these kids should be forced to provide their services in exchange for artificially constrained forms of compensation... I'm just (selfishly) sad to see "playing for your school (or country)" fall to the wayside.  At least for a while, we'll have amateur DIII and high school sports, but we've already seen a shocking amount of economic self interest permeate high school and club sports, so I worry about how far adults will go in exploiting kids, so they can profit at the periphery.

[LuckE2Bhere]

The great irony here is that college students (many of whom enthusiastically endorse socialist policies, including forced "equity") and other advocates of NIL and "fairly compensating student athletes" became free market evangelists with regard to the very small percentage of NCAA student-athletes who were actually getting underpaid under the effective Salary Cap that previously existed - i.e., standardized compensation in the form of admissions preferences, scholarships, SWAG and over-flowing training tables (which made it comical to hear a Duke Basketball player claim he was "starving"!).  

Of course, the marginal revenue that accrues to these schools from all but a relatively short list of true "difference makers" an a very short list of profitable sports was already well below the value of those admissions preferences (for those who took advantage of their educational opportunity) and even those scholarships, in most cases.  Now, we'll see those (expected) difference makers reap market-based rewards, and sadly/eventually, the resources available to the mere amateur student-athletes erode over time.  Even in DI Football, will a LB who is "only" good enough to play third or fourth-string for a mediocre program continue to receive a $200+K scholarship, when his coach may find that money better spent locking down the starting QB in a bidding war?

The simple reality is that truly free markets cannot exist in autocratically controlled, socialist environments (though autocrats in countries like China have used controlled access to capitalism to build the state's wealth/power), whereas socialists are free to establish such communes within the parameters of environments that recognize individual liberties.  I would argue that "amateur athletics" are/were one of the most successful examples of that, with individuals choosing to sacrifice individual economic rewards to pursue collective success.  That's what makes alums and other fans so proud to root for their school (or even their national) teams, while very few people actually care about NBA D-League games (where the caliber of play is much higher than even the top college programs), for example.

I'm not saying that these kids should be forced to provide their services in exchange for artificially constrained forms of compensation... I'm just (selfishly) sad to see "playing for your school (or country)" fall to the wayside.  At least for a while, we'll have amateur DIII and high school sports, but we've already seen a shocking amount of economic self interest permeate high school and club sports, so I worry about how far adults will go in exploiting kids, so they can profit at the periphery.