Let's see how long it lasts. As long as I can see the players as actual students attending a school I attended, I will gladly cheer for them. If they really just become a professional team that is sponsored by a university then I'm probably going to lose interest.
The massive flaw in all the court cases about paying these players is the belief that the players have some intrinsic market value. A handful do. They rest are only valuable because of the name on the jersey and the fans attached to that name. Here we are in portal season, ready to cheer on somebody we would have rooted against last year.
Almost all of the value of college football and basketball comes from the affinity fans have for their school. If these players, in any sport, were just in the minors, like we see in baseball, nobody would watch them on TV. OT Elite pretty much shows that.
Interesting take
Re interest level you may be correct
My interest in Cbb in limited to Uconn and I suspect the last 30 years excellent teams has a lot to do with ii
Re the court cases all the court said was that
The players could not be prevented from earning
Money off their name image and likeness
It it did not require the universities to pay the players justice Kavanaugh intimated that
Making the players employees might make sense
You say the players value comes from the affinity with the school
To me it comes from their talent
If UConn had no scholarships and the team
Was the “normal” college students would
The games be sell outs be on tv!?
Big time college fb and bb is in the situation there in because they were beyond greedy
The TV money, exorbitant ticket prices expanding schedules, put them awash in money
To hide the profits
They paid the coaches millions of dollars in salaries
Built more and more facilities
Paid assistant coaches, crazy money
Expanded the athletic departments to preposterous levels
Join conferences with doubles and triples the travel
Budget
They put all the non-revenue sports into the athletic budget, which was not supported by the school so that they could show the athletic department was really not making any money
Meanwhile, they were all getting fat and happy
And while the players were getting paid(athletic scholarship to me is payment) it was a small percentage of their value
Time will tell if the “pro model “ of college sports will work
My take is that it will and while older folks (I’m one of them) may lose interest The younger generation will know the system as it is and continue to support it.
Somehow, I find it impossible to think no matter what the model is, that Alabama football will not continue to be popular
