Saban, Swinney: CFB "not sustainable...a train wreck" with transfer portal, NIL

[Jerry]

I'll start by saying there have been too many bowl games for a long time and number should be reduced. Who wants to watch a post season game between 7-5 non Power 5 conference teams?

Yes I understand why players are opting out of bowl games. They don't want to risk injury and hurt their potential careers. Still it amazes me to see players from teams like Clemson opting out of championship playoff games. Wouldn't they want to play? If you don't enjoy playing football in that environment when would you? Maybe they are all too cool to get excited about something like a post season college football game. All I know is when I was that age I would have walked to New Orleans or Miami to play in a New Year's Day bowl game. It would be the thrill of a lifetime and I would remember it and talk about it forever. Guess it is not like that anymore.

So what I find myself asking is if the players aren't excited about playing the game why should I get excited about watching it? The decision to not play may be good for the individual but it reduces the whole college football experience. I don't know. Maybe I'm the dumb one and have been for years. Maybe the current players are smart and I am the fool for spending time and energy all these years caring about who wins or loses a football game.

Well said.

Yeah, at least half the bowl match-ups are snoozers...unless you're a fan of the team in question. Still, I get totally into it whenever Penn State is on the field. Take the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl for example. On paper, it was a throw-away game -- we went in 6-6 -- but turned into an exciting win and a springboard of sorts for Franklin.

This opt-out thing is now a feature of the landscape and sign of the times. Jaylon Smith was its poster boy. He went in to ND's bowl a few years ago a projected top-5 pick but sustained a terrible knee injury and was lucky to be picked in the 2nd round. He beat the odds and had a couple really good years for the Cowboys, but I don't think he was ever quite the same.

If my kid were projected to be a first-round pick and looking at a non-playoff game, I'd want him to sit out. In the world we live in, money rules...with coaches and schools...so why not the kids too. I mean, honestly, you saw how Franklin played things last year with regard to his own contract. It was a big-time distraction for his team. So if you played for him and watched all that go down, why would you risk your own future in a bowl game?

Or how about Brian Kelly who ditched Notre Dame out of the blue right before their bowl game? Didn't think twice about leaving his players in the lurch. Yes, I think the "old days" were better, and I remember them fondly, but we live in the reality of 2022...not 1972. 1972 left the building and ain't coming back.

 

[LandoComando]

By that logic as soon as PSU loses their second regular season game and is out of the playoff picture might as well stop watching as they cannot play for championship

Why do people say this? A regular season game is far different. First off, they can still win a division title. A bowl game doesn't have meaning. In any world. It's why the system is antiquated. The kids get SWAG and a warm weather trip to play a scrimmage. If they don't want to go skip it. Who cares.

 

[LandoComando]

That's an interesting take, but as Cletus suggested, it's not the view of the vast majority of fans and hopefully any players.

For the program, increased exposure and visibility. For the school and conference, big bucks. For the coaches, a valuable round of extra practice. For the players, a reward and some fun. For fans and players, a chance to end the season on an upbeat note with a win in a hopefully interesting intersectional match-up. For me as a fan, it's always a bummer when the season comes to an end, so a bowl extends it all for several weeks.

These are just a few factors that come to mind. Granted, some years some of them apply more than in other years, but still.

That said, the opt-outs, which are now a standard part of the landscape, have definitely taken some of the shine off the bowl scene. I do understand the reasoning and find it hard to begrudge a kid's decision to opt out in order to protect his future, but I think it's still a bad look for a team and a program when its players don't want to play...for whatever reason.

People keep talking about increased exposure and visibility. Bowls are no longer needed for those things. Every single game is televised. Penn State is a brand. Playing in the Alamo Bowl or whatever isn't going to make a recruit consider Penn State. Penn State playing well against Ohio State, Michigan, etc or playing real non-conference opponents is far more useful. Kids are watching "the playoff" if anything.

I'm essentially addicted to football (seriously) but the bowl games are as interesting as the NFL preseason for me. It's cool to see some of the rookies/young kids but other than that it's pointless and boring.

I think it's a great thing when the kids are opting out and preparing for the NFL. At the end of the day, don't recruits want to see players reach the NFL of a school they're considering.

FBS is dying and the bowls are one of the major reasons why. Change is needed and has been for decades.

 

[LandoComando]

Still it amazes me to see players from teams like Clemson opting out of championship playoff games. Wouldn't they want to play? If you don't enjoy playing football in that environment when would you? Maybe they are all too cool to get excited about something like a post season college football game.

Who opted out of a playoff game? I don't believe a single player has done that.
Are you talking about NY6 game? That's not the same s a "championship playoff game"
Last year the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl and the title game were the only meaningful post-seasons games.

 

[LandoComando]

Also, for the record, Micah Parson sitting out a season and then dominating last year for the Cowboys is only going to encourage kids to skip bowl game and possible opt out earlier

 

[MacNit07]

Well said.

Yeah, at least half the bowl match-ups are snoozers...unless you're a fan of the team in question. Still, I get totally into it whenever Penn State is on the field. Take the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl for example. On paper, it was a throw-away game -- we went in 6-6 -- but turned into an exciting win and a springboard of sorts for Franklin.

This opt-out thing is now a feature of the landscape and sign of the times. Jaylon Smith was its poster boy. He went in to ND's bowl a few years ago a projected top-5 pick but sustained a terrible knee injury and was lucky to be picked in the 2nd round. He beat the odds and had a couple really good years for the Cowboys, but I don't think he was ever quite the same.

If my kid were projected to be a first-round pick and looking at a non-playoff game, I'd want him to sit out. In the world we live in, money rules...with coaches and schools...so why not the kids too. I mean, honestly, you saw how Franklin played things last year with regard to his own contract. It was a big-time distraction for his team. So if you played for him and watched all that go down, why would you risk your own future in a bowl game?

Or how about Brian Kelly who ditched Notre Dame out of the blue right before their bowl game? Didn't think twice about leaving his players in the lurch. Yes, I think the "old days" were better, and I remember them fondly, but we live in the reality of 2022...not 1972. 1972 left the building and ain't coming back.

Springboard to more 6-6 records?

 

[Mile High Lion]

Who opted out of a playoff game? I don't believe a single player has done that.
Are you talking about NY6 game? That's not the same s a "championship playoff game"
Last year the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl and the title game were the only meaningful post-seasons games.

I was thinking Clemson but I could be wrong about that and it was Ohio State and the Rose Bowl.

 

[Jerry]

Springboard to more 6-6 records?

Springboard to what once looked like an exciting new era...a conference championship, three 11-win seasons, a couple big-time bowl wins...rudely interrupted by the train wreck of a Covid year and then a season of mediocrity.

God knows which Franklin to expect going forward, the 2016-19 version or the 2020-21 edition.

 

[Jerry]

People keep talking about increased exposure and visibility. Bowls are no longer needed for those things. Every single game is televised. Penn State is a brand. Playing in the Alamo Bowl or whatever isn't going to make a recruit consider Penn State. Penn State playing well against Ohio State, Michigan, etc or playing real non-conference opponents is far more useful. Kids are watching "the playoff" if anything.

I'm essentially addicted to football (seriously) but the bowl games are as interesting as the NFL preseason for me. It's cool to see some of the rookies/young kids but other than that it's pointless and boring.

I think it's a great thing when the kids are opting out and preparing for the NFL. At the end of the day, don't recruits want to see players reach the NFL of a school they're considering.

FBS is dying and the bowls are one of the major reasons why. Change is needed and has been for decades.

Valid point about exposure and visibility with regard to Penn State, but for the majority of schools that factor is still a big plus when it comes to bowls. Plus my other points still stand.

Speaking only as a fan of the game, I just have a different perspective from yours. I like bowl games. For example, I thought the match-up with the SEC's Arkansas was a great opportunity to end a disappointing season on an upbeat note but then...well let's not even go there.

Granted, no question, the opt-outs have changed the equation and detracted from the aura of the bowl scene and the significance of the games. We badly need an expanded playoff that would incorporate some of these bowls.

That aside, however, I think the logic you're applying to the bowls would just as easily argue for tuning out the regular season once a divisional or conference title is off the table.

 

[NoBareFeet]

Last year the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl and the title game were the only meaningful post-seasons games.

By your standard, what makes those games "meaningful"? Kids aren't getting paid, and can hurt in them just as easily as any other bowl game . Why not sit out of those?

Sitting out of bowl games is a disgrace, and the kids should deemed in violation of their scholarships if they do it.

 

[SR108]

By your standard, what makes those games "meaningful"? Kids aren't getting paid, and can hurt in them just as easily as any other bowl game . Why not sit out of those?

Sitting out of bowl games is a disgrace, and the kids should deemed in violation of their scholarships if they do it.

They were playoff bowls no? Which made them meaningful.

 

[NoBareFeet]

They were playoff bowls no?

Yes. But why should that matter, if you are worried about injury affecting draft stock? Can you not get injured in those games? Where does this sitting out nonsense end?

 

[SR108]

Yes. But why should that matter, if you are worried about injury affecting draft stock? Can you not get injured in those games? Where does this sitting out nonsense end?

I would think that players who have a shot at a National Championship would be less likely to opt out. Therefore, IMO, expand the playoffs if you want more meaningful bowl games. I can't blame kids who opt out of the Blue Chimpanzee Bowl held in Wampum PA on December 11th.

 

[NoBareFeet]

I can't blame kids who opt out of the Blue Chimpanzee Bowl held in Wampum PA on December 11th.

What about an early season game against Kent St? Ok to sit that out? Where does it end?

Do kids just not like playing football anymore?

 

[SR108]

What about an early season game against Kent St? Ok to sit that out? Where does it end?

Do kids just not like playing football anymore?

I think they still like playing football, they just want the millions of dollars they can get if drafted healthy.

I get your point, and certainly yearn for the old days myself, but it is what we currently have. High school football is still relatively the same, for now. Support your local high school team.

 

[christoph]

This is only year two!!! Just wait!!

 

[christoph]

By your standard, what makes those games "meaningful"? Kids aren't getting paid, and can hurt in them just as easily as any other bowl game . Why not sit out of those?

Sitting out of bowl games is a disgrace, and the kids should deemed in violation of their scholarships if they do it.

Scholarships? That’s chump change for a big time player. They will dump that money out of their duffle bags.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Every major thing that has happened since the early 90s has had a net negative result on the quality of the game.

1. Penn State joining the Big Ten triggered realignment, conference championship games and with them, the importance of the out of conference schedule. Shame on Penn State. Shame on the Big Ten. The writing was on the wall before Penn State committed to the Big Ten that there was a path to remain independent.
2. The Bowl Alliance. A solution to a problem that didn't exist.
3. The Bowl Coalition. See above.
4. The BCS. The culmination of college football's attempt to satisfy the idiot masses by creating a fictional title game creating more chaos in the first five years than existed in the previous fifty.
5. The playoffs. Another attempt to solve a problem that didn't exist while placating the idiot masses. Not only did it render the out of conference portion of the schedule moot, but also killed the ability of the next Boise State to rise while further empowering the cheater's league of southern junior colleges (SEC) to keep doing what they do. Play nobody. Win two tough games a year and let ESPN do their thing, rinse repeat.
6. The transfer portal. It has empowered kids that have no place in the college game to call their own shots.
7. NIL. NIL is an abomination. College football in its present form was built by the Greatest Generation. NIL has enabled the Worse Generation to destroy it.

Every major issue has further eroded the game. And I haven't even touched on overpaid, overrated coaches like James Franklin who we are stuck with. They should have let him leave (assuming he could but I doubt that was actually true) because we could do better for half the price.

 

[NoBareFeet]

Every major thing that has happened since the early 90s has had a net negative result on the quality of the game.

1. Penn State joining the Big Ten triggered realignment, conference championship games and with them, the importance of the out of conference schedule. Shame on Penn State. Shame on the Big Ten. The writing was on the wall before Penn State committed to the Big Ten that there was a path to remain independent.
2. The Bowl Alliance. A solution to a problem that didn't exist.
3. The Bowl Coalition. See above.
4. The BCS. The culmination of college football's attempt to satisfy the idiot masses by creating a fictional title game creating more chaos in the first five years than existed in the previous fifty.
5. The playoffs. Another attempt to solve a problem that didn't exist while placating the idiot masses. Not only did it render the out of conference portion of the schedule moot, but also killed the ability of the next Boise State to rise while further empowering the cheater's league of southern junior colleges (SEC) to keep doing what they do. Play nobody. Win two tough games a year and let ESPN do their thing, rinse repeat.
6. The transfer portal. It has empowered kids that have no place in the college game to call their own shots.
7. NIL. NIL is an abomination. College football in its present form was built by the Greatest Generation. NIL has enabled the Worse Generation to destroy it.

Every major issue has further eroded the game. And I haven't even touched on overpaid, overrated coaches like James Franklin who we are stuck with. They should have let him leave (assuming he could but I doubt that was actually true) because we could do better for half the price.

 

[Jerry]

Every major thing that has happened since the early 90s has had a net negative result on the quality of the game.

1. Penn State joining the Big Ten triggered realignment, conference championship games and with them, the importance of the out of conference schedule. Shame on Penn State. Shame on the Big Ten. The writing was on the wall before Penn State committed to the Big Ten that there was a path to remain independent.
2. The Bowl Alliance. A solution to a problem that didn't exist.
3. The Bowl Coalition. See above.
4. The BCS. The culmination of college football's attempt to satisfy the idiot masses by creating a fictional title game creating more chaos in the first five years than existed in the previous fifty.
5. The playoffs. Another attempt to solve a problem that didn't exist while placating the idiot masses. Not only did it render the out of conference portion of the schedule moot, but also killed the ability of the next Boise State to rise while further empowering the cheater's league of southern junior colleges (SEC) to keep doing what they do. Play nobody. Win two tough games a year and let ESPN do their thing, rinse repeat.
6. The transfer portal. It has empowered kids that have no place in the college game to call their own shots.
7. NIL. NIL is an abomination. College football in its present form was built by the Greatest Generation. NIL has enabled the Worse Generation to destroy it.

Every major issue has further eroded the game. And I haven't even touched on overpaid, overrated coaches like James Franklin who we are stuck with. They should have let him leave (assuming he could but I doubt that was actually true) because we could do better for half the price.

Your list has a lot to agree with. Joe himself came to believe, too late, that joining the Big-10 was a Big Mistake. Though I hated the conference from the beginning, in fairness to Joe, it must be acknowledged that he had earlier tried to form an Eastern league, which for a number of reasons, none of them Joe's fault, did not fly.

The problem now is not the idea of a playoff but rather its constriction to 4 teams, which creates as many problems as existed in the older systems.

As for the portal and NIL, yes, they entirely change the contours of college football, but in a world where money rules everything, it's hard to argue against them. The schools and coaches are happily feeding away at the trough and getting rich. Why not players too?

In the words of Thomas Wolfe: You Can't Go Home Again. Or if you prefer, David Maraniss's great biography of the greatest coach ever: When Pride Still Mattered. "Home" doesn't exist anymore...and pride has left the building. So we're stuck with college football as it now is.

 

[LandoComando]

By your standard, what makes those games "meaningful"? Kids aren't getting paid, and can hurt in them just as easily as any other bowl game . Why not sit out of those?

Sitting out of bowl games is a disgrace, and the kids should deemed in violation of their scholarships if they do it.

Not by "my standard". By "any standard" as winning or losing the other games is irrelevant as you can't advance. When the regular season ends they've completed the terms of the scholarship. No one sitting out is going back to school. And kids won't sit out those 3 games because there's a title on the line as opposed to nothing.

 

[LandoComando]

I was thinking Clemson but I could be wrong about that and it was Ohio State and the Rose Bowl.

I'm sure kids sat out for Clemson and Ohio State last year as neither made the playoffs. No one sat from Georgia, Alabama, Michigan or Cincinnati. Those were the only 4 teams that if someone sat I believe they'd receive real criticism.

 

[LandoComando]

Valid point about exposure and visibility with regard to Penn State, but for the majority of schools that factor is still a big plus when it comes to bowls. Plus my other points still stand.

Speaking only as a fan of the game, I just have a different perspective from yours. I like bowl games. For example, I thought the match-up with the SEC's Arkansas was a great opportunity to end a disappointing season on an upbeat note but then...well let's not even go there.

Granted, no question, the opt-outs have changed the equation and detracted from the aura of the bowl scene and the significance of the games. We badly need an expanded playoff that would incorporate some of these bowls.

That aside, however, I think the logic you're applying to the bowls would just as easily argue for tuning out the regular season once a divisional or conference title is off the table.

I used to enjoy bowl games. I really did. But things have changed. There's way too many bowl games. I don't think a team that lost 5 of their last 7 games should be playing on New Year's Day as we were last year.

I think we need an expanded playoff but I don't believe it should include the bowls. They should be at the higher seed like FCS.

I don't believe it's the same at all for the regular season. The regular season is a committed. The bowl game is a reward. If you don't want the reward I'm fine with you sitting out and letting someone else get a shot. For example, I can't stand Pitt and I pray the Steelers don't draft Pickett but Pickett was absolutely right to sit out the bowl game.

It's also fine that we don't agree. I'm just not willing to blame the players. I think they're doing what's best and college football needs to fix a ton of things. Starting with a 16 or 24 team playoff is FBS doesn't split into 2 or more levels first.

 

[lions1995]

College football is quickly going down the drain: the speed of the game has become unbearably slow, the transfer portal (I agree with Saban), the lack of an expanded play-off system, and NIL. Additionally, kids are not interested in CFB, which will decimate attendance and viewership in the coming decade. Mark Emmert has been a horrifyingly bad leader.

I have gotten to the point that for the most part the only sports I watch are my kids, one is 17 so nearing the end, the other is going to be 13, so there is a little time left. After that, I am not sure what I will watch.

 

[Ski]

Nick Saban accuses Texas A&M of buying players…​

 

[GreggK]

Nick Saban accuses Texas A&M of buying players…​

View embedded media

I saw that and the first thing I was thinking was, is guy having a laugh?
Bama has been doing this for years, but I guess in his opinion, he is "doing it the right way"
give me a break, they are mad that it is legal to do what they have always done.

BTW, this isn't to say I don't think Jimbo is a total POS. Because he is.

 

[PSUSignore]

I saw that and the first thing I was thinking was, is guy having a laugh?
Bama has been doing this for years, but I guess in his opinion, he is "doing it the right way"
give me a break, they are mad that it is legal to do what they have always done.

BTW, this isn't to say I don't think Jimbo is a total POS. Because he is.

Probably Saban's way of signaling his boosters to step up and bring more money to the table.

 

[Cowbell Man]

I saw that and the first thing I was thinking was, is guy having a laugh?
Bama has been doing this for years, but I guess in his opinion, he is "doing it the right way"
give me a break, they are mad that it is legal to do what they have always done.

BTW, this isn't to say I don't think Jimbo is a total POS. Because he is.

This is getting rather entertaining, and ridiculous at the same time.

 

[Obliviax]

I saw that and the first thing I was thinking was, is guy having a laugh?
Bama has been doing this for years, but I guess in his opinion, he is "doing it the right way"
give me a break, they are mad that it is legal to do what they have always done.

BTW, this isn't to say I don't think Jimbo is a total POS. Because he is.

I don't disagree but do you have any evidence of "Bama paying their players?

 

[Obliviax]

 

[McCloudersportLion]

Can’t unring the bell. The NCAA and the schools could have gotten ahead of it and really shaped what happened but that ship has sailed.

it’s going to have to get waaaaay worse and impact everyone’s bottom line before it can get better.

Things can also be improved upon, though it is tending in a terrible way. There was a time when a season of cfb killed 5 or 6 guys a year- room for improvement.

 

[Tri-Power65]

After nearly 40 years as an avid fan, my interest in cfb...

 

[SheldonJoe2215]

Every major thing that has happened since the early 90s has had a net negative result on the quality of the game.

1. Penn State joining the Big Ten triggered realignment, conference championship games and with them, the importance of the out of conference schedule. Shame on Penn State. Shame on the Big Ten. The writing was on the wall before Penn State committed to the Big Ten that there was a path to remain independent.
2. The Bowl Alliance. A solution to a problem that didn't exist.
3. The Bowl Coalition. See above.
4. The BCS. The culmination of college football's attempt to satisfy the idiot masses by creating a fictional title game creating more chaos in the first five years than existed in the previous fifty.
5. The playoffs. Another attempt to solve a problem that didn't exist while placating the idiot masses. Not only did it render the out of conference portion of the schedule moot, but also killed the ability of the next Boise State to rise while further empowering the cheater's league of southern junior colleges (SEC) to keep doing what they do. Play nobody. Win two tough games a year and let ESPN do their thing, rinse repeat.
6. The transfer portal. It has empowered kids that have no place in the college game to call their own shots.
7. NIL. NIL is an abomination. College football in its present form was built by the Greatest Generation. NIL has enabled the Worse Generation to destroy it.

Every major issue has further eroded the game. And I haven't even touched on overpaid, overrated coaches like James Franklin who we are stuck with. They should have let him leave (assuming he could but I doubt that was actually true) because we could do better for half the price.

Despite all the money being poured into facilities, coach's salaries, etc., the actuall game experience isn't any better. The '82 PSU-Neb game would still be just as great today.

 

[The Spin Meister]

I don't disagree but do you have any evidence of "Bama paying their players?

Well a few years ago there were a lot of pictures of bama players at a practice session with all sorts of sports cars, dressed out SUVs, a big pick up trucks. Supposedly poor players from poor families.

 

[Cowbell Man]

Well a few years ago there were a lot of pictures of bama players at a practice session with all sorts of sports cars, dressed out SUVs, a big pick up trucks. Supposedly poor players from poor families.

And they were at the forefront of the NIL with advertising to kids that included pics of cars just like you describe.

Saban may be right, but this comical argument is comical because it’s him who is arguing.

then again Lou Holtz quit on ND because he couldn’t cheat, claiming it was the right time and he didn’t want to beat Knute Rockne’s wins record.

getting beat at your own game or being put in a CFB corner produces some very funny narrative.

 

[Obliviax]

And they were at the forefront of the NIL with advertising to kids that included pics of cars just like you describe.

Saban may be right, but this comical argument is comical because it’s him who is arguing.

then again Lou Holtz quit on ND because he couldn’t cheat, claiming it was the right time and he didn’t want to beat Knute Rockne’s wins record.

getting beat at your own game or being put in a CFB corner produces some very funny narrative.

A lot of these kids sell game worn gear and borrow money against future earnings. Remember kids selling their gold pants charm bracelets at OSU.

 

[LafayetteBear]

I watched the whole videotape of Saban's speech, which appeared to be to 'Bama boosters. I think he has a point concerning the establishment of what he calls "collectives," to which a school's boosters are directed to contribute money. Saban said that some of these "collectives" have "millions of dollars" to parcel out, with the head football coach of the school for which the collective was established "knowing just how much is in the collective and, therefore, knowing just how much he can offer individual recruits." If Saban's comments concerning the establishment and operation of "collectives" is accurate, THAT is definitely problematic.

All of that being said, it was vastly entertaining to watch Saban solemnly declaim that paying players will "ruin college football," when he himself is collecting somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million per year to be a college football coach.

 

[BUFFALO LION]

I am not seeing a link.

Regardless, I am curious as to how they want remediation. The NCAA has lost in the courts. There is really only one remediation and that is to help the players unionize then negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. Of course, unionization comes with its own set of major challenges. Any other attempted remediation (minimum stays, xfer portal windows, NIL payouts) can be challenged in court and probably defeated.

Let’s face it. The Golden age of College Football ended in 2011. The word “student athlete” as it relates to Division One “college” football and basketball players is now a complete joke.

If they “unionize”, as you propose, and get paid a salary, then they should be eligible to be annually drafted out of high school by the P-5 Union teams to retain some form of competitive balance.

They then sign a four year contract. If they leave to go pro after a bowl game, they get to keep what they earned up to that point. If they sit out the Bowl Game, they lose a year’s worth of salary and all future college eligibility.

No more scholarships. Keep those for the other Sports to retain Title IX compliance. The football and basketball teams would become completely separately declared UBI (Unrelated Business Income) taxable entities of the Universities sheltering the other sports from Title IX compliance.

 

[Obliviax]

Let’s face it. The Golden age of College Football ended in 2011. The word “student athlete” as it relates to Division One “college” football and basketball players is now a complete joke.

If they “unionize”, as you propose, and get paid a salary, then they should be eligible to be annually drafted out of high school by the P-5 Union teams to retain some form of competitive balance.

They then sign a four year contract. If they leave to go pro after a bowl game, they get to keep what they earned up to that point. If they sit out the Bowl Game, they lose a year’s worth of salary and all future college eligibility.

No more scholarships. Keep those for the other Sports to retain Title IX compliance. The football and basketball teams would become completely separately declared UBI (Unrelated Business Income) taxable entities of the Universities sheltering the other sports from Title IX compliance.

The restriction to going pro out of high school or in your first two years is between the NFLPA and NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. Also college kids may not want to get paid a celery last be classified as a professional which may hurt other potential opportunities. The idea, from the colleges perspective, is to get a deal for the non-stars (majority) versus the high price QBs and WRs

 

[Parkland Fan]

Let’s face it. The Golden age of College Football ended in 2011. The word “student athlete” as it relates to Division One “college” football and basketball players is now a complete joke.

If they “unionize”, as you propose, and get paid a salary, then they should be eligible to be annually drafted out of high school by the P-5 Union teams to retain some form of competitive balance.

They then sign a four year contract. If they leave to go pro after a bowl game, they get to keep what they earned up to that point. If they sit out the Bowl Game, they lose a year’s worth of salary and all future college eligibility.

No more scholarships. Keep those for the other Sports to retain Title IX compliance. The football and basketball teams would become completely separately declared UBI (Unrelated Business Income) taxable entities of the Universities sheltering the other sports from Title IX compliance.

Or somebody starts a football minor league. (this must be my fifth post suggesting this)

There should be a way for athletes with NFL dreams, but no academic goals, to prepare without going through the college path. Players would be free agents, sign a one year contract and be paid according to the market for their ability. And the pay would have to exceed the under the table money offered by the schools.

College football would continue with less headaches from the portal and early opt outs. NIL money would decrease since many top prospects would be in the minors.

Recruiting would be different since athletes would have options of college or minors.

Certainly not a perfect solution, but it should be an improvement.