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College sports are dead.

You are correct. FedEx just donated 25 million to the Memphis NIL. College athletics will be unrecognizable in a few years. It will be unwatchable. If I was guessing there are 100 -200 hundred in the transfer portal going after bigger money. This definitely takes away from playing for honor or for the school. The glory days of college athletics is over.
 
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I don’t know about four year contracts, but the NBA just needs to further develop the D league and college ball go to something like the baseball model. Even if it’s reduced from a three year minimum to two, but let kids go pro right out of High school if they choose. That will eliminate many of the primadonna athletes who demand millions from schools, then you’ll have more programs with great college players who aren’t necessarily great for the NBA.

There’s no easy answer. Every solution still has its flaws or drawbacks, but this free for all is ridiculous.
The NBA tried this with the G-League and it failed because the TV draw is stronger for college. There is very little enthusiasm for minor league basketball. Colleges have alumni, lifelong fans and boosters that make it hard to generate a following for a competitor. That’s why the big TV contracts will stay with college basketball. Then when you factor in the popularity of the NCAA Tournament, it’s nearly impossible for minor league basketball to take hold.

College basketball and to a bigger extent football, have a chokehold on the buying public!! So these schools are NOT going to give that up without a fight. They may publicly complain about what it is now but they are NEVER going to give it up!!
 
I’ll go even further and say allow the players to get a cut of the TV revenue!!

These AD’s have built elaborate sports complexes for ALL university sports(even the non-revenue) with the money these players in basketball and football generated. So it’s not just the coaches(but they are the biggest hypocrites) that are using these players, it’s the athletic departments too.
Again, I ask why are these athletes going to college? It’s certainly not to get an education. So, why not just continue AAU ball and pay them there? We’re just pretending that we’re watching college students play basketball at Rupp Arena. I could care less whether they get paid or not. I’d rather the universities and colleges funnel sports profits to all the students to help with their outrageous tuition costs, not to just to basketball mercenaries. .
 
I agree, we need to get back to limiting individuals freedoms for the sake of our entertainment.
What you fail to realize is that it is "our entertainment" that allows them to get a free college education to play a sport, and to get paid for it. No one is forcing anyone to play sports. And if watching sports ever becomes "not entertaining" then there won't be any money to give them.
 
If college sports are dead, I guess I was watching ghosts last night dressed in UK baseball uniforms beat ghosts dressed in Tennessee uniforms. That'd make for an interesting spooky cartoon short from 1939.

SCOTUS ruled 9-0 against the NCAA on the basis of NIL so besides a minor tweak here and there (which likely won't be made because the NCAA has chosen to stand on the side of the road like they're waiting for a bus) NIL isn't going to change. Money rules the world and it's already bought championship teams in every sport for decades. Let's not pretend this has ever been Hoosiers with it's midwestern charm.

As far as scholarships go, they've always been a one year contract. Locking an athlete into a four year contract is so out of touch with reality that it's hilarious.

Some are now doing to college basketball what they do with life. "Life was so much better and wholesome and this and that when I was young." Really? Was it? Was every town Pleasantville and did no one ever lock their doors at night? That's a nostalgic fantasy. It's Mayberry.

What's happening isn't perfect by a longshot but when you begin the topic with "College sports are dead." then I'm going to laugh because they're certainly not and those who believe that will likely be here a decade from now saying the same damn thing.
 
Again, I ask why are these athletes going to college? It’s certainly not to get an education. So, why not just continue AAU ball and pay them there? We’re just pretending that we’re watching college students play basketball at Rupp Arena. I could care less whether they get paid or not. I’d rather the universities and colleges funnel sports profits to all the students to help with their outrageous tuition costs, not to just to basketball mercenaries. .
Because the way it is now, the schools get most of the benefit and very little of the drawbacks. And let’s face it, fans feed into it by ALLOWING the schools to dictate all of the terms. My season tickets cost WAAAY more now than they did 30 years ago when I first bought them, yet when I try to upgrade them, there are NO better seats than what I have now available in football OR basketball.

As long as the market is the way it is, the schools are NOT going to give up what they have to any other entity. And the following these schools have is stronger and has been around so long, AAU or a minor league can’t compete. Heck, like I stated in another post above, the G-League tried and failed to compete with college basketball.
 
Contracts, salary cap and buyouts are inevitable IMO. NCAA isn't the first league that pays athletes. Universities do take federal funding so this might complicate things.
 
The thing that will kill college sports will be fan apathy. I know it's already starting to creep in on me. It will take a while, maybe a generation, but slowly the fans will care less and less and the money will dry up. Right now, Saturday football tailgates and UK Basketball are too ingrained in our culture to disappear overnight. But I don't care as much who actually wins the games as I once did, and that apathy will only grow from here.
 
The thing that will kill college sports will be fan apathy. I know it's already starting to creep in on me. It will take a while, maybe a generation, but slowly the fans will care less and less and the money will dry up. Right now, Saturday football tailgates and UK Basketball are too ingrained in our culture to disappear overnight. But I don't care as much who actually wins the games as I once did, and that apathy will only grow from here.
Yet you're here, on a UK basketball board, on a spring Saturday afternoon. This is like someone calling into a UK postgame show at midnight saying they don't really care anymore. If you felt your love for this slipping, you wouldn't be calling in, or in this case, logging in to talk to other UK fans on a Saturday. Cal drained this fanbase of excitement. That's likely what you've been feeling. IMO the money isn't going to dry up. People just say that about anything now. If we were UConn right now posing with back-to-back titles, would you still feel this way? Why are Louisville fans excited right now? Might it be because they just went through sports hell and now have optimism? Why are those fanbases excited but we're not? I haven't been wearing too much UK gear the last few years and I haven't been really upset by most losses. That's not because of NIL or the portal, it's Cal that killed our excitement. UConn fans are excited. Louisville fans are excited. Purdue fans, KU fans, Duke fans, UNC fans, Tenn fans, Auburn fans, Bama fans...they are seem fairly excited. This is more of a Cal thing than an OMG changes to sports thing. Again, just my opinion though.
 
Right now I'm on here because it's interesting to watch Pope rebuild the roster. But the fact is, the younger people I know (my nephews for instance) don't care as much about college sports as my generation and the ones before me did. I don't care as much about who wins as I once did, because I don't care as much about the players. I'm damn sure not going to contribute to a "collective" when there are so many other people in the world that could be helped with what small amount I'm able to give to charity.
 
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Yet you're here, on a UK basketball board, on a spring Saturday afternoon. This is like someone calling into a UK postgame show at midnight saying they don't really care anymore. If you felt your love for this slipping, you wouldn't be calling in, or in this case, logging in to talk to other UK fans on a Saturday. Cal drained this fanbase of excitement. That's likely what you've been feeling. IMO the money isn't going to dry up. People just say that about anything now. If we were UConn right now posing with back-to-back titles, would you still feel this way? Why are Louisville fans excited right now? Might it be because they just went through sports hell and now have optimism? Why are those fanbases excited but we're not? I haven't been wearing too much UK gear the last few years and I haven't been really upset by most losses. That's not because of NIL or the portal, it's Cal that killed our excitement. UConn fans are excited. Louisville fans are excited. Purdue fans, KU fans, Duke fans, UNC fans, Tenn fans, Auburn fans, Bama fans...they are seem fairly excited. This is more of a Cal thing than an OMG changes to sports thing. Again, just my opinion though.
Not true. I come here out of a habit. I have not watched any college sports in more than 2 years. A lot of the reason was because of the kneeling cow turd. But NIL and transfers have soured my taste for college sports. It’s really ridiculous
 
Selfishly I want there to be more regulations because I think it benefits UK for typically lesser programs to not just be able to fork over millions of dollars in NIL and be at our level.

But… players have a right to make money and if someone’s gonna offer them a shit ton of money, don’t see a legitimate reason why we can say “no you can’t have that”. Tough to find a balance.
 
Not ONE of the kids made video games, sold jerseys with THEIR name on it, charged outrageous ticket prices to watch them play, create numerous tournaments both in the US and other countries to make even more money while taking the kids away from school work, create March Madness, sign huge TV deals. They did all of this and then the schools took it a step further and built state of the art stadiums, practice facilities, so on and so on, then increased coaches salaries (who to make even more money signed shoe deals), the players wear the shoes (coaches don't), but coaches / schools get all the money. Then, there is more,, In order to pay for some of the upgrades (can't cut into the profits too much), raised tuition for NORMAL students to help pay for all of these state of the art things. So you tell me, WHO invented all of this we know today ? Players (hell no) , or the greedy adults ? THEY turned an education first agreement into a cash grab, not the kids.
Hit the nail on the head
 
I do want to say in regards to the video games that not a single real player needs to exist on that game and never has needed to in order to enjoy it. College Basketball on Super Nintendo all had fictional players and it was awesome. With NCAA Football, you're done using real players after four seasons in dynasty mode. Then it's 60 years of fictional players.

Why they ever got involved with the real players is bizarre to me. Those guys don't move the needle for why people enjoyed that game. It does in the NFL but not for college.
 
You can't take away players freedom of movement and freedom to make a living just because its better for your fandom.

Should you have to sit out a year if you want to change jobs? See how absurd that concept is?
But this isn’t a job. It’s amateur sports. Most are earning more NIL money than they will the first 10 years of their profession after college. The current model is in no way sustainable with the amount of annual transfers or the money involved. It’s only a matter of time before the whole thing implodes as there is zero oversight.
 
I would allow one transfer without sitting out for an athletes times in college. Otherwise college athletes are just hired mercenaries basically that can transfer after each season for more NIL money.
Would players get full NIL$$$ when they are sitting out the transfer year, under your scenario ?? Paid to play and/ or paid not to play ??
 
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Yup

He is a fan that wants the players to sign 4 year contracts.

An observer that wants to dictate the lives of the workers the he likes to observe.

Selfish

Let the workers get as many benefits as possible.

They are the ones making all the sacrifices. They are the ones that get injured. They are the ones who may suffer from chronic pain and disabilities later in life cause of all the wear and tear they put on their bodies, so that you as a fan can have an enjoyable product to watch.



You should try having sympathy for others. Read this article and see how much college sports can negatively effect people. They deserve every transfer, every sponsorship, every dollar they can get. You don't realize how much college athletes sacrifice.


And if you want to restrict their freedoms to increase your viewing enjoyment, you are selfish
Did someone force them to participate in collegiate athletics?
 
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Just go back to the old standard of transferring and sitting out a year before playing. Most would rather stay and play, but if a player finds that they had made the wrong choice or the situation is toxic, they would be willing to sit out a year. That would weed out most of this crap we see now.
It won't ever go back to that. It can't. It's unfair to the players .
 
I agree, we need to get back to limiting individuals freedoms for the sake of our entertainment.

A couple friends are big (mountain) bikers and wanted to open their own shop. One worked at a prominent bike shop in Louisville and had to wait a year before they could open one

There are all kinds of business relationships where you can go directly to a competitor and have to wait (x) amount of time

Is that “limiting freedoms” (and I hate so socialism/communism)? It is, but yes, there are technicalities to everything.
 
You can't take away players freedom of movement and freedom to make a living just because its better for your fandom.

Should you have to sit out a year if you want to change jobs? See how absurd that concept is?
Draymond punched his teammate in the face during practice. If I punched you in the face, I'd be arrested for assault.

It's absurd to pretend that they live and work by the same rules that we do - thus, why your real world comparison makes zero sense.
 
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You can't take away players freedom of movement and freedom to make a living just because its better for your fandom.

Should you have to sit out a year if you want to change jobs? See how absurd that concept is?
Guess I didn't realize that college basketball was a job for the players.
 
Yup

He is a fan that wants the players to sign 4 year contracts.

An observer that wants to dictate the lives of the workers the he likes to observe.

Selfish

Let the workers get as many benefits as possible.

They are the ones making all the sacrifices. They are the ones that get injured. They are the ones who may suffer from chronic pain and disabilities later in life cause of all the wear and tear they put on their bodies, so that you as a fan can have an enjoyable product to watch.

Yeah? How much did they contribute to the stadium they play in? The marketing that's done? The benefits they're given? The transportation? How much did they contribute to that? Do they pay the stadium staff?

Lololol they make all the sacrifices?

Get real. A guy can get drafted #1 overall and not play a single minute and still make $20M. What sacrifice was made there? Other than the owner paying them to not do anything?

Which is what Wall had done two years in a row. Literally got paid $45M a year to not play.

What a sacrifice. Sign me up.
 
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Lock them up????
That is exactly the selfish restrictions I'm talking about.


They have 4 years!! That's it.

They should have as much freedom as possible,. They should only be on 1 year contracts.
That's not as much freedom as possible - so now you're a hypocrite.

If we can't tell them they have to stay in school for a year, why do they need to stay for a semester? Why not just go team to team every game?

That's a ton of freedom. Power to the players, or something?
 
I agree with you 100%.
As someone who has been around sports most of my life having coached for over 25 years in AAU ball and high school, this what we have now goes against most of what we taught.

Goal setting...long term, short term. How do you teach this in this environment? There is no way you can use the tools we used when players jump around like this.
Legacy...no way you can get players to buy into being part of a teams legacy; it is now all about how much you paying me, where's my check.
Sacrifice...what player is sacrificing something these days. Only one I can think of is Dilly and Shep. Those two sacrificed for the good of the team only due to their coach being an idiot.

I would take my new kids to a cemetery and have them walk around to find what everyone one of those buried there have in common (besides being dead of course) .
What they have in common is the "dash" between the day they were born and passed away. It is that dash what we live for and what others speak about our time here.
I would have them write their softball obituary thinking about what they wanted others say about them when they graduate.
Who graduates these days?

My point in all this; how do coaches tie sports into life experiences?
Lastly, I would always tell my kids this; Get you head and heart in the right place, your feet will follow.
Where is these players heart? Their heads? We all know their feet are one foot out the door when they get here.
Sad to an old man like me who loved coaching kids how to play the game through fundamentals, loyalty, team work, heart and sacrifice.
POST OF THE YEAR so far
 
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as long as our players play hard for Pope..... we're not going to think during a game they make this much or that much and oh they've transferred twice before coming here.

if you take care of the players , they'll love the university and the fans. You can get paid and fall in love with the community and college over time.. its not mutually exclusive.
 
Being able to transfer to the highest bidder every year is just pure lunacy. There should be 4 year contracts with the only out being the NBA or quitting sports. No jumping from team to team. Thoughts?
Agreed. The current state is cringe. No wonder guys like Jay Wright wanted nothing to do with this.
 
There is an article on yahoo that tells what is going on in college sports. I had been laying most of the blame on NCAA but now I see it really has to do with student athletes lawsuits in court.
 
Being able to transfer to the highest bidder every year is just pure lunacy. There should be 4 year contracts with the only out being the NBA or quitting sports. No jumping from team to team. Thoughts?
You expect money when you work don't you and if you can get someone to pay higher wages for your work you would leave too right
 
You expect money when you work don't you and if you can get someone to pay higher wages for your work you would leave too right
The difference is that college BB players are part of the entertainment industry to an extent.
You can't completely alienate your fanbase.
We've seen countless musicians and actors cut their own throat.
I think most fans can deal with OAD and NIL but almost everyone hates the portal with no restrictions.
Pro athletes can't move without restrictions and college players shouldn't be able to either.
 
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You can't take away players freedom of movement and freedom to make a living just because its better for your fandom.

Should you have to sit out a year if you want to change jobs? See how absurd that concept is?
In some cases this DOES happen in business. That's what non-competes are.

The thing the Yahoo! article glosses over is that when schools start making direct payments that's going to kick in with Title IX. So it won't settle any lawsuits, it will just generate new ones. The headaches that come from this are just beginning.

The other thing that gets lost in the portal is that there are a good number of players every year that jump in and find they have nowhere to go. No one wants them and their old team doesn't have any obligation to take them back. What we're going to find is that players are now given all this responsibility and some aren't going to exercise it well to their detriment. We're already seeing that with guys who have played for 5-6 schools and won't get a degree, thereby wasting their entire college experience.
 
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