Who can print money? The fed. They can print as much money and debase our currency as much as they want. They have proved it! It is a good deal if you can get it. And we do. We buy real products from other countries and pay with dollars that we create out of nothing. For example- we have a strategic oil reserve. We buy that oil, which is a real commodity that has to be pumped from the ground, processed, and shipped. It is a lot of work. We pay for it with dollars that we create out of thin air almost like a wizard with a wand.
The University of Utah can not create or print money. If they are going to pay employees they have to acquire U.S. dollars in order to make payroll.
But the University of Utah can print scholarships almost as easily as the fed prints U.S. dollars. It costs them almost nothing to give a scholarship. So you add another student to the classes. So what? What is the real cost? Obviously the athletic programs have real costs such as equipment, food, coaching salaries etc. But the scholarships themselves- they cost the universities bupkis because the infrastructure for having a University has already been paid by other means.
That is why the Universities are not going to do away with athletic scholarships. They are worth real money to students and families and cost the universities nothing. Everybody wins.
What year do you think this is? Is the library really a thing students use?
Do you guys really think athletic tutors are available but not for the general pop? Most schools have centers where students can get help. Does the U not offer what even my small private college offered to everyone? The plight of the average student is not a hard cross to carry compared to a student who is constantly in the public eye of students and fans. Not to mention the constant demands from their coaches and family.
In fact yes. The library at the U has many study areas and tables where people study all the time. Mostly for quiet group work it seems.
As for services for most students vs athletes it’s all about the ratio. Most services are available for everyone but not as convenient as those for athletes. For example the Writing Center serves a much larger group than the tutors for athletes. In my job I work fairly closely with the NCAA eligibility folks and understand how things work in Athletics.
Again, nothing about the library or access to tutors is really less for gen pop. It is available to all. Sure, the athletes may have “better access” because they have a limited schedule to access. The amount of free time and downtime for students gives them a better college experience with less stress and more time to squeeze into places with their open schedule.
I’m having a hard time where anyone thinks it’s easier as an athlete competing in competitive P5 sports than some average Cody who at best has a part-time job in school. All parts of your life are pulled in so many directions as a college athlete. There is a reason many athletes don’t really leave the athletic dorms/apartments. The life is not easy at all.
EDIT: This all comes off dickish in tone but it’s meant in love. I just think there is something special about being able to graduate after going through the pull from every direction by a college community.
I’m not in the current know, but my neohew is graduating from the U this semester and didn’t have easy access to tutors (at least free ones). Not denying that athletes don’t have it hard from a time management perspective (20 hours practice, extra lifting, nutrition, etc. on top of classes). The athletic dept. has hired tutors at a built facility. Gen pop does not. Straight up. State school. Big school. You can go to office hours and talk to TAs. Athletes also have people helping set up their schedule. They go to the bookstore and pick up their already consolidated books (again, don’t know how that has changed with digitization). Gen pop could go to student services and sit down with a counselor, but it’s not done for them. They have to go find each book on the shelf.
It is definitely not the same experience. Everything is made easier for athletes to save time and keep them on track to stay eligible and peak performance. Super hard - I feel for the time balance. Some athletes have a hard time doing a major they want because of class schedule vs practice (but the best of the best do it - I remember a bball player getting a civil enginerring degree).
At a D1 school, there are funds and means that does create additional perks for athletes just not available to gen pop. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. But it should’t be denied.
I’ve always said in college, you can spend your time on school, a (part to full time) job, social life, dating, or activities. But you can only really pick 3.
I made $20 an hour as a tutor for athletes when I was at the U. I signed up because one of my friends was on the tennis team and we were both studying engineering. basically got paid to study more…
Yeah the number of dedicated resources available to each athlete is far greater than those available to regular students. And any tasks that touch my office come directly from Athletics so the student doesn’t even have to come in to the office or even wait in the regular email queue. Athletics brings in money to the University so a lot of resources get thrown at athletes to keep them happy.
In the end I keep coming back to these conclusions
The old system was broken but it did sustain a game and experience most of us loved for 100 years (okay only 50 for me because I’m not that old).
The system became semi-professionalized and money focused and exploitive and the game began deteriorating.
Changes did need to be made.
But…
NIL + Portal in its current form is out of control and even more exploitive, it’s creating a circuit of greed and disparity that’s even more corrosive to the college game than before. And it damages the whole concept and mission of University education above and beyond what the old system was doing.
If you disagree fine. You are wrong, but still entitled to your opinions .
My gauge is this…does any new system treat players fairly, does it stabilize or improve the game, does it maintain and promote a university experience and avoid damaging academic integrity, and is it sustainable.
For so many reasons mentioned above in the thread, I find todays mess to be unsustainable and contributing directly to a diminished sense of college sports as a contributing aspect of the College mission. It’s now a poorly controlled NFL league getting university real estate space.
Move it away from campus or create some sensible guardrails and distinctions that make it a coherent part of a University experience and not just for a couple dozen of the top programs.
It won’t ever be perfect but man should it be a lot better than this absurdist, mercenary cash grab. The maxim of “Do what thou will” really isn’t a sustainable model for much and certainly not this.
Athletics brings in money to the University so a lot of resources get thrown at athletes to keep them happy.
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I was going to point out all the times in my teaching I caught cheating and:or was pressured to provide accommodations…because it happens a lot…and not just for football (actually had more issues with tennis and swimming )….but
Then I remembered ChatGPT was going to make it all meaningless anyway so…why bother.
How is a system that compensates players and gives them more power more exploitative? I was following you until then. Also, a system of greed occurred before it was just greed by Universities and Coaches to keep the money and power in their possession. As for a university’s mission I am all for all schools disbanding the Athletics program and just focusing on academics and letting intramurals be the school’s source of athletics. I personally went to a smaller private school so I know what that looks like and it’s not a bad way to run a campus. Something tells me alumni donations would go down but I could be wrong.
I don’t disagree with the spirit of your argument but I think there may be some weird nostalgia of the old days being great but it really wasn’t for the exploited.
“How is a system that compensates players and gives them more power more exploitative“
Well…. while the guy who has the face, or 5* isn’t necessarily suffering for $, what are the protections in place to keep them from being used (by boosters or parents) like any child star?
Moreover the “they are making bank so all is good” argument only applies to the ones getting rich. In most schools most players still don’t see squat and in most schools students who don’t play football still have to take out student loans to pay student fees that subsidize the ■■■■ out of programs that don’t pay for themselves.
Moreover the booster money comes without any meaningful guarantees so basic protections that a child or an employee (pick your fav) don’t apply to most of those young athletes. By letting random guys hand bundles of cash to some athletes it propagates the problem of colleges using the athletes as money making widgets with little responsibility or compensation in return. NIL creates a giant loophole for schools to avoid responsibility not just for those who get paid but for all their athletes because they “could” get paid.
So that would be the exploitation that continues or increases in this system.
As for waxing nostalgic about the way it was…sports has always been a flawed, over prioritized and subject to abuse…just take the jab son….
You apparently missed the NIL list above where more female athletes were making more than football players. I get that is counterintuitive but the market definitely will decide. Also, do you really believe the old system wasn’t exploitive and leaving players and their family broke? The same system that penalized Majerus for giving a player some food?
Do you also think there are zero contracts with NIL deals? Just a bunch of hand shakes? I’m concerned were discussing two different realities because I’m next to a G5 school where multie sport athletes have contracts with businesses to do ads and are being paid for it.
I get it though. There is always a nostalgia for the pretend appearance of amateurism. It’s not been amateurism since probably 1915. But, if you think players were less taken advantage of when they weren’t legally compensated I will respect that view but I find absolutely void of the reality.
This I agree with - it was oppressive how the Universities and Coaches had all the power and athletes were getting screwed. Coaches were being paid very, very well, would recruit players, then jump, leaving them ‘stuck’ or at the very least ‘bait-and-switch’. Transfer portal helped overcome that, but has morphed. Adding the NIL to induce transfers even without a coaching change has made it more complicated. I always liked the grad transfer rule too - you got a degree, see if you have a chance somewhere else (e.g. Russel Wilson NC State to Wisconsin). I just think with all of this, the pendulum has swung the other way (typical - solve one problem and make another).
Intramurals are great for the student experience. I’ve wondered if the intercollegiate sports could be their own entity, license the university logo (or someway still be linked/affiliated), but that leads to all the other issues of employment, liability, etc. I do know sports are a way to rally alumni (but just to donate to athletics and feed the ‘monster’?) and as advertising to attract students, etc. No good way out or into another construct…
I know places like Alabama post-Nick Saban hiring had their out-of-state applications increase significantly. I also am ok with the constant transferring. Alabama lost an OT to Miami because he wanted them to get his girlfriend into Law School or something. I think this is a one-off. Most kids aren’t running to transfer over nefarious reasoning. They just want to play ball and it’s sometimes easier to transfer.
True - most that transfer are looking for playing time (or good reasons like family issues). There are just a few that are being bought or looking for more exposure + some spending money . Sadly, most of the transfers don’t end up playing much more, but it does kind of weed out those that either don’t have the work ethic to match their rating or they need some humbling. Maybe they go to a ‘lesser’ school and get more playing time, but don’t have the same development or exposure opportunities. But that’s their journey to choose.
Completely agree. I love when Grad Transfers do it. Jalen Hurts winning Conference and National Titles at Alabama, getting his degree and then leaving for Oklahoma is the dream scenario. He’s claimed by Alabama as one of our own and as well by OU. It would be easy for him to have business interests in both Norman and Tuscaloosa because he did it the most optimal way.
So you didn’t say the new system was more exploitive and the old system made you love the sport more and imying the new one made your love lessen?
Also, I agreed with most of your concerns but took issue with it being “more exploitive.” Still not seeing the exploitation you are speaking of when student athletes can freely choose where they play instead of being locked into a contract.
Nick Saban is on more of y’all’s side than what I’m more in favor of but that’s fine. I think it’s naturally going to get better. This is good though. Some kids are taking less cash to go to better schools:
.
)….but