Jim Delany doesn’t give a damn about your optics, media assholes.
Delany was asked at Big Ten Media Days what the optics are of one of the most powerful men in college sports being against compensation for players while cashing an eight-figure bonus.
“The optics are what the writers make of them,” Delany said. “For me, we have an obligation — legal — to share a 990 [tax return], which we have [with USA Today] …
“For me, I’m active, interested. [College athletics] has been important to me for more than 50 years. I continue to believe in it. I think the apt comparison is probably not with the student. I don’t think it ever has been. I understand people will make that connection. I just don’t make it.”
Note that he doesn’t even bother to refer to players as student-athletes. They’re mere students. Students aren’t worthy of a big check, not like the active, interested Delany is.
This is why his Division III threat if the NCAA lost O’Bannon was so much hot air. He and his peers are going to milk the system for every drop they can get as long as they can. (“On Monday, he formally announced the beginning of a six-year media rights deal with Fox and ESPN worth $2.64 billion.”) They’re not going to lose any sleep over it, either.
Get The Picture 
If he were the SEC commissioner, that comment may make me find other things to do on fall Saturdays. Delany is a hypocrite of the highest order. Whether you agree the system needs a more market-based solution for compensating athletes, you have to admit it’s rich in irony that this guy cashes a big check while the men and women who make it possible are told they should be pleased to have what they have and shouldn’t be able to do what any other student on campus can do.
Jerk …
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Jim is a burr under so many saddles…the only comfort I get is that someday he will retire or the grim reaper comes for him…just go away…
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Never been a fan of Delany, but he is on the right side of this issue. I would say his bonus is on the excessive side but not surprised given the oversight from academia. He has represented the Big 14 well during all the changes but that doesn’t mean the “spread the wealth” crowd should arrive with their hands out. Players, fans, and the schools are all benefiting as well but you will never satisfy the crusaders until they kill the Golden Goose.
Preach on Brother, there is always a group here that will cheer that type of message and be happy to see the big buildings fall. Everyone has opinions so there is nothing wrong with disagreeing, but I don’t think anyone will like the end result if they succeed. Fight on!
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What’s right about being limited by what you can earn? I’m sure, Mac, you would have accepted an artificial cap on your earning power in your field of work. It’s a year-round commitment now. Why should a student-athlete lose his/her ability to trade on name and likeness but the school can sell as many jerseys in the bookstore as they like?
It has zero to do with “spreading the wealth.” I don’t care that he got paid the bonus, but I do find it ironic that the people who enabled him to earn that bonus are told to accept their fate because it’s best for them.
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Unlike you and the Senator, I do have a problem with Delany’s bonus. Not because of some artificial cap just feel it is excessive. There are many people who could have gotten comparable results for much less than eight figures. I find it wasteful, and excessive, similar to how I feel many boards squander shareholders’ dollars with many top executives. But that is another discussion.
No, I don’t feel players should get paid for their likeness, or jersey sales. Fans of that school buy those jersey’s because of the school, not the individual. How many Tebow jerseys did UGA fans buy? Or HW jerseys did FU fans buy? The school gives them the platform and we love the players because they are in Athens, where they are developed to reach a level where they will be rewarded both financially and with endorsements, pay for autographs. That time will come, but at the collegiate level it is about the team and the program/university. My opinion, I realize many of you feel differently but I feel it is the romantic in all of you. 🙂 Amateurism for the win!
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The jersey comparison is off a bit. I wouldn’t wear a Jesus Christ, or anyone else, jersey if it was orange and blue. But how many 34 red and black jerseys do you see on Saturday in Athens now compare that to 67 red and black jerseys. Has a little to do with who wore the jersey not just the team name on it.
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Mac, I don’t have a problem with Delany getting the big bucks. Whatever the market will bear, and all that…
I have a problem with Delany being a fucking hypocrite. If that leads to your world crashing down, so be it.
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Here’s my dilemma. I love college football. Barely even watch NFL. I know the name and jersey number of every Bulldog. So on one hand I don’t want the game to change. I don’t want an NFL-D league – I couldn’t care less about watching minor league football players, I want to watch the Dawgs beat the Wah Egas.
Ok, so now I’ve had my morning coffee and my naivete is fading. P5 football is already NFL-D league. The reference by Delaney to the P5 football player as a “student” is, in the present context, a fraud just as the Senator points out. The P5 college football player has as much in common with the rest of the student population as (insert your metaphor here for two wholly unlike things). That P5 football player is not even close to being academically on par with his true student peers, and no way in the world would ever be admitted to UGA absent his football playing ability.*
He isn’t there to be a student, he is there for one purpose only – to try out for the NFL.
Delaney says what he says because of the money. But he may also still believe in the student part of the equation (long since vanished in P5 football), and he may still be trying to protect that.
*Notable exceptions of course.
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Those dumb kids would just waste the money. It’s better off in my hands.
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