Non-Key Tweets

[Kolumbo]

“That’s a problem,” Oats said, his eyes widening at the thought. “As long as it’s equitable across all the high-major schools, you’re fine. But if one’s got $22 million and one’s got $5 million, that’s a problem. We’re not going to be able to compete. They haven’t thought everything through.”

Ohhh, poor baby, Bama's worried that their BBall program might get left behind...no #*&^%$( way he'll get sympathy considering what the $EC and BIG have done to football programs like ours. In the long run they'll be fine, but it's ludicrous to read them complain. We've been dealing with that disparity in football for ages, let them wallow in despair for a change.

This guy is an idiot. Throw in the fact that your Alabamas, Texases, Michigans, Ohio States bring in obscene amounts of athletic revenue and they have advantages far beyond everyone else. Is he saying he only has $5 million to work with?! No shame. Shameless.

I really do think of all the things to have happened, the revenue sharing will be the final nail in the coffin for UConn football. We're probably going to hold on for another couple years looking for the invite but if it's not here by say, 2027, I'm not sure how we keep trying to compete.

I would think if UConn can't compete, the same fate would eventually befall the other GX conference members too.

 

[UConnJim]

The colleges that will have a real problem with revenue sharing are the privates like BC, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Duke, Baylor, TCU, ... They can't afford a big cut in their current revenues that fund their athletic departments to pay players. They do not have a state government to help them if they run into financial problems so they have to be careful how they spend money on anything. Sure, donors may step up for a short time, but it's pretty hard to bring large sums of money in year in and year out to pay players.

 

[billybud]

Crocodile tears maybe. Duke just offered the 2025 top ranked BB player. They'll put NIL to BB ahead of football

 

[billybud]

I can see smaller schools moving some varsity sports to club sports. They will be forced to tighten their focus.

I like club sports, but you can’t really follow them remotely. Have to be there.

 

[ScottVib]

So now the big money schools are crying because they wouldn't be able to compete with the new rules?

Oh, the irony

This is the first salvo to breaking away into a new division that requires football, so everyone is on a “level playing field”

 

[billybud]

Already that way. No football, watch from the back rows.

 

[CJasmer]

I really do think of all the things to have happened, the revenue sharing will be the final nail in the coffin for UConn football. We're probably going to hold on for another couple years looking for the invite but if it's not here by say, 2027, I'm not sure how we keep trying to compete.

I would say UConn has never competed in FBS so not sure it is relevant. I do not see this impacting UConn basketball where they will stay elite.

 

[billybud]

 

[Chin Diesel]

They're starting to say the quiet part out loud.

 

[uconndogs]

".....and you better be on the right side of that line...."

I think a lot of universities better think that one through. This is a professional franchise sports model competing with the NFL and NBA with no salary cap structure. At that point you have completely upended the traditional college athletics model, so the assumption is that this is all going just fine. I see a lot of risk!

 

[KryHavok]

".....and you better be on the right side of that line...."

I think a lot of universities better think that one through. This is a professional franchise sports model competing with the NFL and NBA with no salary cap structure. At that point you have completely upended the traditional college athletics model, so the assumption is that this is all going just fine. I see a lot of risk!

Part of me wants this to escalate to the point that if schools are making megabucks on TV/media deals for athletics, then stop treating universities as non-profit organizations and begin to tax the bejesus out of them. Want the tax breaks again, okay, reduce the insanely high tuitions that are disproportionate to inflation and general cost of living and return sports programs to what they were (ca. 90's to 00's), not this oligarchy bull%(@$. Of course this will never happen, but a person can dream.

 

[Exit 4]

They're starting to say the quiet part out loud.

Seems to me it all hinges on what ESPN offers the ACC on their next leg of their contract.

If ESPN gives them $ on par with the B12 contract (which might not be that much of a lift thanks to inflation), then things ought to stabilize through mid the 2030s.

My guess is that we should have some word on the ESPN ACC renewal numbers this winter.

And on the other hand, if the ACC gets the P12 treatment, then yes we are set for a meltdown. But I think ESPN opts to give the ACC B12 type money to bridge this all to the mid 2030s. I've been told by people in media that ESPN still values the ACC as a property.

 

[uconndogs]

Part of me wants this to escalate to the point that if schools are making megabucks on TV/media deals for athletics, then stop treating universities as non-profit organizations and begin to tax the bejesus out of them. Want the tax breaks again, okay, reduce the insanely high tuitions that are disproportionate to inflation and general cost of living and return sports programs to what they were (ca. 90's to 00's), not this oligarchy bull%(@$. Of course this will never happen, but a person can dream.

I don't know how these athletic programs can now be considered non-profits for tax purposes, but I'm no authority on that issue.

That said, I'm challenging whether they can make any money under the current construct.

 

[billybud]

Seems to me it all hinges on what ESPN offers the ACC on their next leg of their contract.

If ESPN gives them $ on par with the B12 contract (which might not be that much of a lift thanks to inflation), then things ought to stabilize through mid the 2030s.

My guess is that we should have some word on the ESPN ACC renewal numbers this winter.

And on the other hand, if the ACC gets the P12 treatment, then yes we are set for a meltdown. But I think ESPN opts to give the ACC B12 type money to bridge this all to the mid 2030s. I've been told by people in media that ESPN still values the ACC as a property.

The ACC already makes Big 12 money...when you factor in the ACCN payments (no Big 12 network)...Yes, the ACC is valuable to ESPN..right now...due to carriage monies....bringing in California and Texas in addition to their other carriage "home states", means revenue to the Mothership.

 

[baggerbob]

The ACC already makes Big 12 money...when you factor in the ACCN payments (no Big 12 network)...Yes, the ACC is valuable to ESPN..right now...due to carriage monies....bringing in California and Texas in addition to their other carriage "home states", means revenue to the Mothership.

Eventually when they attempt to make it a full professional league they will go out of business. Congress will make sure tax exemption goes away. On top of that the NFL brings in too much money to the Networks for them not to protect the real Professionals.
And the majority of the population will stop watching a minor league group of professionals.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

They're starting to say the quiet part out loud.

It isn't even the quiet part at this point.

 

[ZooCougar]

 

[billybud]

Eventually when they attempt to make it a full professional league they will go out of business. Congress will make sure tax exemption goes away. On top of that the NFL brings in too much money to the Networks for them not to protect the real Professionals.
And the majority of the population will stop watching a minor league group of professionals.

Maybe...or maybe just wishcasting....

TV viewing right now...50% is captured by only 18 teams...when you move that up to 40 or so, it's nearly the universe.

Only 10% of viewers from bottom 71 schools...

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't know how these athletic programs can now be considered non-profits for tax purposes, but I'm no authority on that issue.

That said, I'm challenging whether they can make any money under the current construct.

Isn’t the NFL still tax exempt?

 

[noeynox]

I don't know how these athletic programs can now be considered non-profits for tax purposes, but I'm no authority on that issue.

That said, I'm challenging whether they can make any money under the current construct.

The NFL is a non profit so there is that.

 

[Hamms30]

I don't know how these athletic programs can now be considered non-profits for tax purposes, but I'm no authority on that issue.

That said, I'm challenging whether they can make any money under the current construct.

Athletic departments aren't stand alone entities. They're part of the University, which is a non-profit entity. So profitable athletic departments contribute to the overall school that uses these funds to both fund the athletic department and the larger overall budget of the school. The conferences are non-profit because after accounting for all the costs of running the conference, they distribute what's left over to the schools.

 

[billybud]

Maybe the universities getting big media bucks can have the money to have varsity sports...with scholarships, Title IX equity, NIL...

But there may be a retrenchment of athletics elsewhere...maybe back to the scholar athlete of my college days where a team like FSU had games seen in person or listened to on the radio. And club teams.

University demand is decreasing...there will be economic pressures on education...maybe government taxpayer supported athletic departments will see less funding from government.

In the US, tuition averages $19,068 per year – a cost that has more than doubled in the 21st Century – and recent PEW data found only 22% of U.S. adults report seeing the cost of college as worth it even when students need to take out loans. Only one-in-four said it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job in today's economy. These feelings are born out in Gen Z enrollment rates. The percentage of US high school graduates enrolling in college has fallen from 70% in 2009, firmly in Millennial territory, to 62% in 2022, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics data cited by a BestColleges review of research.

 

[ZooCougar]

 

[uconndogs]

Isn’t the NFL still tax exempt?

I would be willing to bet that the NFL is a tax free association and that the individual franchises are taxed entities.

 

[uconndogs]

Athletic departments aren't stand alone entities. They're part of the University, which is a non-profit entity. So profitable athletic departments contribute to the overall school that uses these funds to both fund the athletic department and the larger overall budget of the school. The conferences are non-profit because after accounting for all the costs of running the conference, they distribute what's left over to the schools.

Nonprofit entities can and often do have operations that can be taxable.