After reading this and this, don’t you get the feeling that if Northwestern and the players could dump the whole unionization mess in the NCAA’s lap, they would do so in a heartbeat?
“The N.C.A.A. system is messed up, and they’re doing something about it.”
Filed under Look For The Union Label, The NCAA
If you mean the NCAA is doing something about it as in building a bigger stone wall, then yes they are doing something.
All I know is if this continues on its present course it will completely or all but destroy college athletics for most college athletes. They just didn’t know when they had it good. Thirty years ago they had a much better argument. Today they have no real argument. They are treated like celebrities and if they are the cream of the crop they are guaranteed a huge NFL pay day after school. After this not so much.
Except for the not getting paid for it part. ;)
Seriously, college sports are raking in billions of dollars. The schools will be dragged into it, but they’ll eventually figure something out. There’s too much money floating around not to.
But college players have never been paid and they are doing roughly the same job that they have been, at least since I have been paying attention beginning in the mid seventies. They have no more valid argument than Hershel Walker had and he did not have one either in my opinion.
Whether you believe the players have a valid argument or not is irrelevant to what ultimately happens. You are powerless to help the NCAA. The risk that the NCAA faces is the risk that some entity over which the NCAA has no control, specifically the courts or congress, believes the players have a valid argument. The decision the NCAA faces is whether to risk the consequences of losing before the courts or congress or to eliminate the risk of the consequences of losing before the courts or congress. If the NCAA hardballs and loses before the courts or congress you aren’t passing the hat to bail out the NCAA financially.
There are billions of dollars to play with. Compromising is like buying insurance; you may not like paying the premiums but it beats losing everything when the house burns down. Smart business people don’t risk everything when a settlement buys a guaranteed result.
Couldn’t the same thing be said of coaches, athletic directors, etc? The reality is there is a lot of money coming from TV and playoffs these days that did not exist back in the day and somebody is going to get it…..just who is what the spat is about.
Indeed, there is so much money around that attorneys, political hacks, and union knee busters are all slobbering over the potential windfall. Many/most of the causes are just and should have been addressed years ago but these are all Grim Reapers when it comes to the future of CFB. Isn’t there a savior who can lead the NCAA/universities to some quick actions to alleviate the immediate pressure and formulate a plan to move forward over the next few years? Hard to believe things have deteriorated so quickly that only the toxic solutions are on the table. As you said, there are plenty of greenbacks available, or is the scent of money so deep into the nostrils of the predators that nothing can be done? Hard for me to be optimistic at this point, but why kill the Golden Goose?
Macallanlover, Bowl committee chairmen, broadcasters, athletic directors and coaches have done plenty of slobbering already. They have been role models for the groups you demonized.
Gaskilldawg, The difference is they “Bowl committee chairmen, broadcasters, athletic directors and coaches” earned the money.
The “attorneys, political hacks, and union knee busters” are at best vultures and at worst extortionist.
You just don’t get it, because you keep perpetuating the biggest red herring of all time. But hey, most Low Information Types don’t get it either.
I get the free market just fine, thanks.
Apparently not. What part of amateurism do you not seem to get?
Heh. That’s the question you should be asking yourself.
I’m way past believing the NCAA has any common sense but if they find some, it seems like it is not too late to come to some compromise.