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Mike's avatar

I'm disgusted by the hypocrisy of the colleges and NCAA begging Congress to help them clamp down on NIL because they think athletes trying to make money is ruining college sports, and yet look at what these schools/conferences are doing chasing the almighty dollar for themselves.

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JoeDelaney's avatar

At this point, unless an intrepid state attorney general steps forward to protect the interests of his/her taxpayers, I fear the chase is over.

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Mike's avatar

That may be the only hope some of these lower-brand Power 5 schools have. So many of them are heavily leveraged paying for facilities and coaches, all reliant on them getting that equal share of the big money. If conference realignment cuts schools like OSU/WSU off at the knees, they're in trouble.

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Jason Snell's avatar

As a Cal fan I have wondered ever since the UCLA-USC announcement if it might be better for Cal to just drop out of big-time football (hold the jokes, we are hanging on to memories of the Tedford era for dear life over here) and move on.

But the truth is, that stadium renovation debt isn't gonna pay itself off. You bought it, you own it. That's where we are.

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Mike's avatar

Cal has a couple things going for it (elite academics, large TV market) that may save it from being left out. But yeah, you can't very well pay off that stadium, not to mention fund all those other sports, if you're only getting paychecks from the Ivy League.

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Jim T's avatar

Elite academics does not equate to touchdowns or baskets made. IтАЩm sick

Of getting academics thrown around as some sort of elitist benchmark. The laws of thermodynamics are the same at Stanford as they are at OSU. So spare me that red herring argument.

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Mike's avatar

Take it up with the college presidents, not me. They make these decisions, and all indications are it's something many of them care about when deciding what conference to affiliate with, and who they invite into their own conference.

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Jim T's avatar

Weak

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chris's avatar

These are schools and not the professional ranks. So academics is goimg to be part of it all.

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Jason Snell's avatar

Does the Ivy League issue paychecks or is it like a country club where you have to pay an initiation fee? ЁЯШВ

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JoeDelaney's avatar

If you inquire about membership rather than waiting for the tap, you are automatically disqualified. Ditto asking about fees prior to your interview.

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JoeDelaney's avatar

I learned a long time ago, the hard way, not to underestimate an AG with an axe to grind. They have an enormous amount of power, and a robust set of tools they can use to gum up the works well beyond state borders. Hopefully someone steps up before it's too late.

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Mike's avatar

Would not be surprised if the presidents of OSU and WSU have already had conversations with their respective AGs. Maybe that's why neither appears to be panicking (yet).

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Geoff's avatar

A bandaid on a severed limb won't work. What gets lost in this discussion is that the B10 and soon SEC schools will have >$60M/year more than the B12/ACC schools and will effectively price those schools out of the market.

Have a great coach? Good luck keeping them. Want a key recruit? Better hope they are open to a discounted NIL deal to play for you. Want to match the scouting and recruiting muscle of the big 2 schools? Good luck with that.

An aggressive stance will be to force a payout to the peer university (think UCLA/Cal situation). Anything beyond that is simply a death blow to both.

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chris's avatar

Yep, there is a huge cause of action here against Fox and ESPN....all these back door deals are going to cause havoc when you have schools (and creditors) of those schools waiting.

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JoeDelaney's avatar

If I were an OR or WA resident, I'd be making a few calls / writing a few letters today, that's for sure.

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chris's avatar

No kidding. Sounds like an instant bankruptcy and foreclosure coming. There's no way whatsoever for OSU, WSU this is sustainable.

I don't know if it is for anyone....traveling the country to play every major amd minor sport? Time zones, late games for TV. This is nonsense

Traditional TV is collapsing as well, and at some point it does, and we are left with this haphazard mess.

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Michael Morrow's avatar

Soon to be Power FOUR. Wow, who coulda predicted?

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John Canzano's avatar

Really good piece by Dan Wetzel on that today.

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Paul's avatar

"The Oregon Ducks are the glue"?!?!?!? If they're the glue, they're that cheap Walmart shit that dissolves if it gets wet. Three teams have already left! Three more are about to pull the trigger. What glue?!?!

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Michael's avatar

Beautifully said. ItтАЩs easy to blame the TV networks for sprinkling money around, but the truth is the institutions that have absolutely raped athletes for decades and made money hand-over-fist for themselves have an insatiable appetite for cash and will leave history/tradition in the rear view for more money.

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Scott G's avatar

I think it's a sick ecosystem at this point. Both play a part. Both are currently unhinged entities that are only self fulfilling and not looking at the long term effects.

I don't know how this will play out, but I know this may be the last year I'm fully invested with college football. My money will just go to the Pro game and bypass what is becoming a professional minor league.

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