Schools can now pay student-athletes directly

[HuskyNan]

In the open, that is. It’s been going on for ages in the back rooms, especially for football

 

[HuskyNan]

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[Bone Dog]

In the open, that is. It’s been going on for ages in the back rooms, especially for football

How did they settle on 2016 as the cutoff for compensation?

 

[DemonDeac22]

Doesn’t the advantage now shift to the power conferences that have huge revenues generated from football? The bigger the pie means the bigger the slice for the college athletes in those schools, right?

 

[oldude]

Doesn’t the advantage now shift to the power conferences that have huge revenues generated from football? The bigger the pie means the bigger the slice for the college athletes in those schools, right?

In Football that’s so. But there is a case that’s been made that the Big East will thrive because they have the same money to throw around as the P5 and they can spend it primarily on basketball.

In addition there is another element that will play out that involves the new clearinghouse for NIL deals. In addition to compensation from the schools, players can still sign NIL deals. The difference will be that such deals must be “market based.”

So players like Paige Bueckers will still be able to sign a 7-figure deal with Nike. But one’s like the $1 million deal for Nijaree Canady to leave Stanford for Texas Tech just to throw a softball will presumably end.

 

[Dogdude]

What it means if you're not an athlete on a team or in a sport with visibility (minor schools or minor sports), your team will likely get demoted to club status, where you'll be playing to pay and have to have bake sales to pay for bus rides.

 

[Big Fan]

How do the smaller Catholic schools in the Big East compete with this? Even UConn - who barely ends up in the black for sports make this work? Will you see schools cutting non revenue sports programs like Clemson did to go all in on football? What happens to the BCS teams in football - they don't exactly have any revenue to share. And this does not factor in the value of a scholarship. Will this income get taxed (that's rhetorical I hope) but will the value of the scholarship now be taxed as income or benefits? Of course different states could handle this differently just like taxing or not taxing SS and pensions. . Federal taxes ? Should players now be required to sign contracts with buy outs, etc if they transfer like executives at large companies?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

What it means if you're not an athlete on a team or in a sport with visibility (minor schools or minor sports), your team will likely get demoted to club status, where you'll be playing to pay and have to have bake sales to pay for bus rides.

Sadly, to an extent, yes. This was predicted in a round-table I think last year with Arizona AD's and Warde Manual, the well known AD from the B1G. There will / may be a bit of a reprieve in that it takes time for changes and colleges continue to develop athletes for the upcoming LA Olympics. But at some point, all bets are off.

 

[Skeets]

In Football that’s so. But there is a case that’s been made that the Big East will thrive because they have the same money to throw around as the P5 and they can spend it primarily on basketball.

In addition there is another element that will play out that involves the new clearinghouse for NIL deals. In addition to compensation from the schools, players can still sign NIL deals. The difference will be that such deals must be “market based.”

So players like Paige Bueckers will still be able to sign a 7-figure deal with Nike. But one’s like the $1 million deal for Nijaree Canady to leave Stanford for Texas Tech just to throw a softball will presumably end.

OD, I am totally ignorant. Will the payments be spread evenly to all scholarship athletes or can the football schools load up on football while the BE loads up on basketball? Why would schools contemplate reducing their sports teams if they didn't have to pay their obscure sports very much?

With a nod to Sarge, I'll make a prognostication: the ugliness will continue.

 

[Urshurak]

What could go wrong…..

 

[ochoopsfan]

Student athletes today!

 

[oldude]

OD, I am totally ignorant. Will the payments be spread evenly to all scholarship athletes or can the football schools load up on football while the BE loads up on basketball? Why would schools contemplate reducing their sports teams if they didn't have to pay their obscure sports very much?

With a nod to Sarge, I'll make a prognostication: the ugliness will continue.

My understanding is that colleges will pay around $20 million next year to scholarship athletes. They can divide that money anyway they see fit. The bulk will go to D1 Football & Basketball. Minor sports will take a hit, particularly at P4 football schools.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

But one’s like the $1 million deal for Nijaree Canady to leave Stanford for Texas Tech just to throw a softball will presumably end.

Well my respected friend, you make it sound like pitching a softball, a fast-pitch softball, is any less valuable than the ability of putting a ball through a hoop. I would beg to differ! I would also question if alums with deep pockets (like the many in the State of Texas) will discontinue activities to bring the best athletes to their respective schools. Canady is the best at her position. In the world of fast-pitch softball, if you don't have one of the best pitchers, your team won't be going very far. Did Canady earn her $1 million? Well, she got her perhaps mediocre team to the final World Series game, a place Texas Tech had never been anywhere near before.

 

[oldude]

Well my respected friend, you make it sound like pitching a softball, a fast-pitch softball, is any less valuable than the ability of putting a ball through a hoop. I would beg to differ! I would also question if alums with deep pockets (like the many in the State of Texas) will discontinue activities to bring the best athletes to their respective schools. Canady is the best at her position. In the world of fast-pitch softball, if you don't have one of the best pitchers, your team won't be going very far. Did Canady earn her $1 million? Well, she got her perhaps mediocre team to the final World Series game, a place Texas Tech had never been anywhere near before.

Growing up in Stratford, CT as a great fan of Bertha Tickey, Donna Lopiano and Joan Joyce, I should have known better. Canady is a fabulous pitcher to be sure. But my point is that a couple Texas Tech alums trying to win a national title in softball by dumping $1 million on the best pitcher in college softball is a sign of extravagant NIL excess.

Like you, I am also concerned whether or not the NCAA settlement will keep “alums with deep pockets” out of the recruiting of top athletes. Joan Joyce played professional softball for 21 years and then professional golf for another 18, and I’m not sure she earned $1 million in total. Oh the times they are a changing.

 

[augustaTC]

Wonder who was running the NCAA in those days? Oh, wait a minute, wasn't it that sleazy excuse for an administrator Mark Emmert?!! A cap on his illustrious career of screwing things up wherever he went.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The P4 schools need to just break away into their own league at this point. How can smaller schools expect to compete with schools that have $150 or $250 million in AD revenue every year? Maybe restructure the tiers of the NCAA so it's based on revenue.

 

[oldude]

The P4 schools need to just break away into their own league at this point. How can smaller schools expect to compete with schools that have $150 or $250 million in AD revenue every year? Maybe restructure the tiers of the NCAA so it's based on revenue.

The P4 is already on the way to being the P2 and who knows where that might end. Big Time college sports will continue to eat its own. Alums have always paid college athletes. NIL just made it legal. Now the NCAA settlement supposedly will grant schools the ability to pay athletes based on a fixed sum of money per school and independent NIL payments will be subject to a fair market assessment by an independent??? clearinghouse. If history is any indication, this effort will also fail.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

Growing up in Stratford, CT as a great fan of Bertha Tickey, Donna Lopiano and Joan Joyce, I should have known better. Canady is a fabulous pitcher to be sure. But my point is that a couple Texas Tech alums trying to win a national title in softball by dumping $1 million on the best pitcher in college softball is a sign of extravagant NIL excess.

Like you, I am also concerned whether or not the NCAA settlement will keep “alums with deep pockets” out of the recruiting of top athletes. Joan Joyce played professional softball for 21 years and then professional golf for another 18, and I’m not sure she earned $1 million in total. Oh the times they are a changing.

I got ya. I just had to jump on what seemed like a slap in the face for my second favorite sport and one I played & pitched at a high level until I was 42 years old. You were surrounded by the best growing up, and I was too. Being born and raised in southern California I was exposed to many great players and teams. As a side note, Patty Gasso, Oklahoma's head coach, was my son's first girlfriend. Anyway, it's nice to know we have a shared interest in the sport.

 

[Skeets]

The P4 schools need to just break away into their own league at this point. How can smaller schools expect to compete with schools that have $150 or $250 million in AD revenue every year? Maybe restructure the tiers of the NCAA so it's based on revenue.

Or hop in a time machine and go back to the way things were. Not likely to happen...

 

[YoDore]

I just wonder how many non-P4 teams will be able to fork out $20.5 million per year to pay athletes. No doubt UConn will be on par with P4 schools in compensating basketball players of both genders, and maybe the university will find a way to do the full $20.5 million. UConn will not let this new system derail its athletic programs.

But, what of the rest of the Big East? How many of them can afford it? I suspect many, if not all, will participate in revenue sharing but at a reduced level. However, this doesn't necessarily spell disaster for those programs. To be honest, they mostly can't compete in recruiting with the P4s and UConn under the present system, so not much will change there. They'll pretty much be competing for the same players they've always competed for against the same schools.

To state the obvious, the big advantage P4 schools have is ESPN and Fox money. However, if football schools adopt a financial split that allocates something like 5 percent to WBB, as some are suggesting will happen, that goes a long way toward leveling the playing field for women's programs in non-P4 schools. FIve percent would mean slightly more than a million dollars for P4 women's program to split among players. Even if some non-P4 schools can't quite reach that threshold, they can likely get close enough that they won't get totally blown out of the water in terms of spending. In that scenario, not much will change in terms of recruiting. Of course, there will still be NIL to contend with, and while there apparently will be some effort at regulation by running larger NIL deals through a clearing house to avoid purely pay-for-play deals, I'm sure coaches across the country are already trying to figure out ways to game the system.

 

[Dogdude]

The system has become way to complicated for it's own good, and that's stating the obvious. Also obvious is that no matter the rules, it's money, so no one is splitting anything with anybody. The schools and the sports with the dough are keeping it, and everyone else will just have to hang on.

 

[Skeets]

I just wonder how many non-P4 teams will be able to fork out $20.5 million per year to pay athletes. No doubt UConn will be on par with P4 schools in compensating basketball players of both genders, and maybe the university will find a way to do the full $20.5 million. UConn will not let this new system derail its athletic programs.

But, what of the rest of the Big East? How many of them can afford it? I suspect many, if not all, will participate in revenue sharing but at a reduced level. However, this doesn't necessarily spell disaster for those programs. To be honest, they mostly can't compete in recruiting with the P4s and UConn under the present system, so not much will change there. They'll pretty much be competing for the same players they've always competed for against the same schools.

To state the obvious, the big advantage P4 schools have is ESPN and Fox money. However, if football schools adopt a financial split that allocates something like 5 percent to WBB, as some are suggesting will happen, that goes a long way toward leveling the playing field for women's programs in non-P4 schools. FIve percent would mean slightly more than a million dollars for P4 women's program to split among players. Even if some non-P4 schools can't quite reach that threshold, they can likely get close enough that they won't get totally blown out of the water in terms of spending. In that scenario, not much will change in terms of recruiting. Of course, there will still be NIL to contend with, and while there apparently will be some effort at regulation by running larger NIL deals through a clearing house to avoid purely pay-for-play deals, I'm sure coaches across the country are already trying to figure out ways to game the system.

Just got an email this morning from David Benedict. UConn plans on paying athletes $18M this year with the goal of eventually getting to $20.5M. Mr. Benedict would like to double "donor participation". I can find some low hanging fruit on where the state of CT can find $18M, but this isn't the place for that kind of discussion.

 

[baggerbob]

Well my respected friend, you make it sound like pitching a softball, a fast-pitch softball, is any less valuable than the ability of putting a ball through a hoop. I would beg to differ! I would also question if alums with deep pockets (like the many in the State of Texas) will discontinue activities to bring the best athletes to their respective schools. Canady is the best at her position. In the world of fast-pitch softball, if you don't have one of the best pitchers, your team won't be going very far. Did Canady earn her $1 million? Well, she got her perhaps mediocre team to the final World Series game, a place Texas Tech had never been anywhere near before.

The concept of limiting NIL through a clearinghouse isn't going to hold up in court.
States will sue like Tennessee did and the courts have already ruled you can't punish schools for following state NIL rules.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

The concept of limiting NIL through a clearinghouse isn't going to hold up in court.
States will sue like Tennessee did and the courts have already ruled you can't punish schools for following state NIL rules.

So why are you posting this info to me?

 

[Lafayette]

This opens the doors for the lawsuits on teams forming a union. The courts have held so far that insomuch they are not employees, they cannot unionize. Now that schools will pay players, it becomes less grey.

$18-$20M sounds like a lot, but it's for all sports. So this is split among multiple teams (2x basketball, 2x tennis, 2x baseball, football, etc).

This will largely not be much per student but I am all for it (and wish I was born 35 years later)