Paying College Players and Unionization

TierbsHsotBoobs said:

Instead of reading Tequilla's TL, DR bullshit, I propose this:

Eliminate all restrictions on outside income for college employee-athletes.

MikeDamone said:

TierbsHsotBoobs said:

Instead of reading Tequilla's TL, DR bullshit, I propose this:

Eliminate all restrictions on outside income for college employee-athletes.

Remove all sports from college and have the pro leagues start and fund their own farm leagues. Pay everyone what they are worth and stop all this "student " athlete charade bullish it. If you want to go to college,work to become college material. If you want to go pro in a sport,,work on that and get busy trying to get a spot on a roster.

FYFMFE

Swaye said:

TierbsHsotBoobs said:

Tequilla said:

I don't hate the free market. Opening up college sports to the free market isn't an example of the free market working. If you can't see that, then I can't help you there.

I'm all for kids earning what they are worth.

If you are good enough to be a professional, you are good enough to make the money consistent with your skill and what the market demands. No problem with that. Few quality for this though.

Football is different than any of the other sports given that physical maturity is as important as skill set, etc.

You clearly can't help me, because you haven't said one fucking word yet in this thread to explain the bolded statement.

You do realize you just called out Tequilla right? We are about to get pummeled with a wall of text the size of a jagged flint and napalm mudslide.

We're fucked.

Tequilla said:

Let me paint a couple of scenarios that WILL happen if you just opened everything up so that the "outside forces" of a school can pay players whatever they want in a "free market"

Case #1 is a 5-star WR/CB prospect out of the LA area that all schools up and down the West Coast want. The pro's for signing this kid is that he has elite speed (he's more fast than quick) and is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. The downside is that the kid is a bit on the small side and as such finding a true position for him is a problem. The kid has always wanted to go to USC, so much so that he already has a USC tattoo. However, the week before signing day, he takes a trip to Oregon where he receives the following offer from Nike: $1M per year for each year that he stays in college, a $1M endorsement contract for every year of his professional career, and a $150k per year job working at Nike in "Athlete Relations" after retiring as a player. In contrast, USC is offering just a $1M signing bonus and $250k per year while every other school in the conference is offering $500k-$1M with comparable per year commitments. This kid ends up committing to Oregon, has a nice career there, but really doesn't have much of a NFL future because he lacks size and a position to play.

Case #2 is a 5-star QB out of the Houston area that all schools in the State of Texas, Oklahoma, and the SEC are after. The battle ends up coming down to Texas, Oklahoma St., LSU, Alabama, and Florida. Alabama puts their offer out on the table of $2M signing bonus and $750k per year because while they know that they can't compete with the $$$ that the other schools will offer, they are banking on the fact that they have superior coaching to help them out. LSU offers a $2.5M signing bonus and $750k per year and while offering similar incentives as Alabama, offers a close to home option. LSU also happened to be this kid's favorite school growing up. Florida, with perhaps the deepest AD money pool in the country sees their alumni offer a $4M package at $1M per year to help solve what has been a very piss poor QB position for years. They are tired of losing to Alabama and LSU. Texas is in a position where they are taking a lot of internal heat for the possibility that this kid may leave the state. They decide to up the ante and offer $5M up front and $1.5M per year, offer the kids parents $150k per year jobs in Austin, buy a house for the family an hour outside of Austin located on a lake with a new boat, and the promise of a job within the Texas AD after his career ends as an "Alumni Liaison" at $200k per year and a membership in the most exclusive golf club in Austin. Boone Pickens is sick and tired of losing to those assholes in Oklahoma and Texas. He decides that this QB is the difference in his program. So he decides to offer $10M to the family up front, the kid $2M per year because living in Stillwater requires that, his parents jobs with his wind energy company at $200k per year and a small ownership stake in his company, and 100k options in the company for the QB that vest after 5 years. The kid ends up choosing Oklahoma St because regardless of what happens to him on the field, he's set up financially for life with this arrangement.

These kids haven't done shit before they get to college. But what you'll end up seeing is that college football just comes down to which school has alumni that have the most money, the best connections, and winning/losing is tied to how much you are willing to pay.

Tequilla said:

On the positive side, the payments will be out in the open.

On the negative side, the payments will go up as not only will the known competition be more accurate, but you'll see higher payments for players from alumni desperate to win and who now have no fear about being restrained about their actions.

You'll go back to the world once upon a time where kids had to take a pay cut to go play professionally. Is that really the solution that you want?