Dodd: Player compensation lawsuit vs. NCAA could usher in new round of conference realignment

[billybud]

I say nothing that is not common sense...

I do believe that the P5 break away is not yet completed...when 2025 comes around...there may be a further consolidation.

And...I, like some commentators, think that there may be a retreat by some programs who are unwilling to expend a billion bucks a decade on the athletic department.

It ain't fair...never was nor will be fair...Not when you have programs that have $25 million annually for sports like some CUSA and MAC teams, others having $50 million like USF & Memphis...and 31 teams having $100 million to $200 million.

 

[dayooper]

I say nothing that is not common sense...
.

I’m going to leave this one alone.

 

[billybud]

Sure....But you can't resist a tossed softball....LOL

 

[ZooCougar]

If you are paying players...why bother with the fiction that they are students?

Draft out of high school like baseball and then college just becomes the minor league for development.

Heck, let an NFL club "sponsor" a program as their development arm...we already have the model in baseball and european soccer.

Alabama of the New England Patriot family.

That model already exists in American soccer. Football and Basketball are probably the only sports left where somehow people think that you have to go to college before turning pro.

I would love to see sports uncoupled from education and watch the whole thing burn to the ground. There is no joy left in college sports.

 

[Hoophound]

Here is the deal....

The 31 programs that have $100 million plus in annual AD revenue will have $50 million more a year to spend on athletes then will programs like Memphis, USF, and Boise State.

And can UConn, currently with one of the highest supplementations of athletic budgets, dip even more into the the public and student coffers?

There may well be a split off....where schools choosing not to spend $100 million to $180 million on athletics will play in a different division.

Considering we are at $72,000,000 without P5 money, which is 25-35 million and we'd sell way more tickets in a P5, sell more merchandise in a P5 and benefit academically from a P5, I'd say we already know why UConn is one of the few ready to play at the highest level. Part of the reason we are having a hard time is we've been down on the field just as our conference revenue went down. We'll be back strong with P5 money.

 

[noeynox]

Great article.

 

[billybud]

Considering we are at $72,000,000 without P5 money, which is 25-35 million and we'd sell way more tickets in a P5, sell more merchandise in a P5 and benefit academically from a P5, I'd say we already know why UConn is one of the few ready to play at the highest level. Part of the reason we are having a hard time is we've been down on the field just as our conference revenue went down. We'll be back strong with P5 money.

Yes...UConn needs P5 money....

The problem, right now, is that about 50% of UConn's AD money (that you mention) is coming from public money and student fees. Is that sustainable?

Six years from now, will UConn be a more attractive product than the competitors for a P5 slot if one comes open?

That, essentially, is what the investment is about.

They say Houston is gambling, putting $26 million annually, of public and student money, into athletics. UConn's gamble is larger still.

And it is a tough situation. Nobody seems to know what factors will play in for P5 selection, if there ever is a P5 expansion, so no one knows exactly what to target.

My guess is the best strategy is to look like a P5 in G5 clothing. That seems to be Aresco's P6 campaign in a nutshell.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Once schools officially can pay players the whole model will blowup. There will be a "get paid to play conference" and a "no pay conference". Hopefully UConn come to it's senses and goes with the "no pay to play" conference with ND, the B10 schools, BC, Syracuse, Pitt and others.