ND AD Says D1 Breakup is Inevitable

[OttoMets]

It is not just the NCAA's incompetence that is to blame. It also is the fact that the NCAA*** kept getting greedier, which meant making deals that benefitted it as organization, which meant its execs kept getting richer.

***And its member institutions, run by human chancellors and trustees.

Too easy to blame the faceless monolithic NCAA. People, motivated by greed, created this mess.

 

[Toga]

OK fans - pick the teams you want to be with (and would likely be available) in SU's future non-semi-pro conference.

 

[SU68]

PAC12 GOR ending in 2025, the value teams there will go to the B1G.

I can't help but think that the Law of Diminishing Returns will come into play for the SEC and the B1G. At some point the conferences become too big and unwieldy and the ROI won't be significant.

 

[OttoMets]

I don't place all the greed blame on the NCAA. Some needs to go to the institutions and conferences as well. If the money wasn't so big, student athletes would still be some semblance of students and the value of a scholarship would still be appreciated. NIL wouldn't have been seen as needed and then used as a recruiting tool. The facility wars wouldn't be so crazy either. There would be some level of competitve balance. Yes, cheaters would still cheat, but the impact would be closer to what we saw 30-40 years ago, not what we are currently seeing evolve.

Yup.

Somewhere an AD should've said "Are you kidding me? A nap room? I can't defend this to the chancellor with a straight face! We don't spend University dollars this way."

But those people left the room a generation ago.

 

[maxxyz]

And when a vast majority of people turn their TV to something else, it will collapse. That day will come sooner then later and that will be the end of college football.

I feel it will be the rebirth of college football.

Then again I thought Frank wouldn't enter the Portal, so what do I know.

 

[OttoMets]

Agree unions are coming. At least for the schools that opt for the pro model.

Those schools are going to have collectives run by powerful boosters that will usurp most of the donation money that now goes to athletic departments. They are going to run these programs and the ADs are going to be PR people.

...

Didn't this change happen already?

 

[SU68]

Supposedly but Nebraska isn't AAU...and they would accept Notre Dame without it.

Wasn't Nebraska AAU when they joined the B1G? Like SU, their research is non-medical which left both schools high and dry when AAU shifted its emphasis to medical research.

NU got kicked out which SU saw the writing on the wall and resigned.

 

[WoadBlue]

If academics are indeed of primary importance to ND, they will stay with the ACC.

If it turns out that are just another football factory, they will join the B1G.

I don't really care what they do. Feel good that whatever happens, Syracuse will have a bunch of schools with a similar prioritization of academics vs athletics and we will be fine.

Might not play for national championships. Might not play B1G or SEC programs any longer.

Don't care. Really don't want to play schools that franchise their athletic programs that way.

Want athletes at Syracuse who want to go to school, want to get an education, care about their alma mater and don't need to get paid big bonus money to pretend to go to class.

I think that 15 years ago, there would have been no doubt that Notre Dame would have refused any connection to pay-for-play/semi-pro. Almost all ND fans back then would have demanded such a position and been very quick to talk about football factories, including Ohio St and Michigan. But today's average ND fan under age 60 is far more libertarian than traditional. And a host of them rather clearly love money as much as any Big Ten or SEC AD. As with Texas Longhorn fans, no matter how rich their school's football program, they always envy anybody else richer and want to upstage anyone who might become richer.

Notre Dame football people are desperate to win a National Championship - which means at the top level of competition. If the SEC, the BT, and ESPN and other networks are determined to create this new semi-pro division, then I expect that Jack Swarbrick has already assured them he will fight to make certain that ND becomes part of it.

I think it was in 2004 that I first asserted on a Notre Dame board that eventually the changes in CFB would mean that Notre Dame - including football - would be in either the ACC or the BT. I noted then and many times since that ND in the ACC would mean that ND had chosen to try to preserve as much of what was good about the sport before it became all about the largest stadiums and richest athletics departments and when large numbers of private schools and smaller schools had a reasonable chance to compete. And I also said that ND in the BT would mean that ND had chosen to dive headfirst into the money pit, choosing to become a football factory that is a small Catholic school rather than a huge state flagship or land grant.

 

[texascpa]

That was the situation before the Supreme Court threw it out in 1984 in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma because it violated the national antitrust acts. That gave the TV rights to each school and the schools then signed them over to the conferences. It's more than highly unlikely they'll ever give that up and go back to the way it was pre-1984.

That's something most people don't know. Same with Bowl Game Associations - those are left to the conferences not the NCAA. NCAA just governs a set of rules all of the individual schools, through their conference affiliations, agree to. Most of the financial stuff is done outside the NCAA's control.

 

[texascpa]

OK fans - pick the teams you want to be with (and would likely be available) in SU's future non-semi-pro conference.

Until we stop using the term "pod" I refuse to participate in these.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

OK fans - pick the teams you want to be with (and would likely be available) in SU's future non-semi-pro conference.

I think what people often overlook is other sports. This breakaway isn't just for football.

But to play along, the Eastern schools. So BC, UConn, Pitt, Temple, Rutgers, Maryland, Duke, GA Tech, Miami. Those are schools with a history and like minded. Pretty decent BBall conference.

 

[maxxyz]

I agree the genie can't be put back in the bottle. But I don't think it was avoidable once so much money began to be injected. And I don't think the NCAA could've done all that much. What is it that you think should've been done to avoid where we are now?

I agree. Was the NCAA going to try to limit what athletes can get for compensation of their likeness and their sponsor value? They knew that the lawsuits would bury them and threw their collective hands in the air. The quicker the "business league" schools split off the sooner the other 200 teams can rebrand and move forward. And the "academic league" schools will need to take a hard look at whether they can afford a football team.

 

[orange79]

I think what people often overlook is other sports. This breakaway isn't just for football.

But to play along, the Eastern schools. So BC, UConn, Pitt, Temple, Rutgers, Maryland, Duke, GA Tech, Miami. Those are schools with a history and like minded. Pretty decent BBall conference.

There is no way Rutgers gives up the opportunity to take it's AD out of the red.

Probably won't work, but then again, what Rutgers decision has?

 

[TheCusian]

The fact is there are 4 different kinds of fans:

1. Fans who grew up rooting for a team in a geographic or regional way or who attended school there.
2. Fans who like football and will watch anything on any day. Let's put them in with the degenerate gamblers.
3. Fans who like the best vs the best, but don't care about non-playoff level football.
4. Fans who are casual and will watch what's on sometimes but are kind of minimally invested.

A splintering off of a semi-pro level will completely piss off and alienate group #1, unless it's your team. Fans of #2 and #4 won't care that much - the result is the same - football is on somewhere. Fans of #3 think they will be happy, but will probably end up more invested in the NFL.

I think the teams and schools pushing for this think group #3 will be a huge group. But just wait until it's 3-7 Michigan vs 2-8 Texas A&M and on the other channel you have an undefeated Pitt team vs a one loss UVA team?

 

[TheCusian]

Until we stop using the term "pod" I refuse to participate in these.

Your red line is the use of the word "pod"?

Ok, lets go with swarm or grouping or bucket.

 

[maxxyz]

Agree unions are coming. At least for the schools that opt for the pro model.

Those schools are going to have collectives run by powerful boosters that will usurp most of the donation money that now goes to athletic departments. They are going to run these programs and the ADs are going to be PR people.

If you had a great writer script how college athletics could get destroyed as quickly as possible, that writer would come up with what is happening now.

But if we are being honest with ourselves, college football has been broken for a long time. There are maybe 8 schools that can win the NC going into a given season. Talent is distributed incredibly badly (unless you are one of the 8 that have a chance).

When what 95% of the teams come into a season knowing they have absolutely no chance to win a NC, things are horribly broken.

Flush the 20 or 30 or 40 schools that are willing to spend unlimited money to try and win an NC out. Let them play amongst themselves.

I am sure they will get good ratings and an enormous amount of money from TV.

Hoping most of the P5 schools will choose to prioritize academics and keep a balance between that and athletics. I think there are enough schools to form some great leagues that offer very competitive sports, where the geography of members makes sense. Maybe some old rivalries can be restored and things will actually be significantly better for many of these schools.

Not even sure the pro schools will even care, as long as they get their money.

This could be good for most everyone.

Well said. Except I think that any P5 that gets an invite is going to join the big boy league. We will see if they regret it, but money drives the bus.

 

[TheCusian]

I think what people often overlook is other sports. This breakaway isn't just for football.

But to play along, the Eastern schools. So BC, UConn, Pitt, Temple, Rutgers, Maryland, Duke, GA Tech, Miami. Those are schools with a history and like minded. Pretty decent BBall conference.

Miami is in the "don't care about academics, lets pay these boys" camp

 

[Hoo's That]

That's something most people don't know. Same with Bowl Game Associations - those are left to the conferences not the NCAA. NCAA just governs a set of rules all of the individual schools, through their conference affiliations, agree to. Most of the financial stuff is done outside the NCAA's control.

Following that ruling the NCAA gets a grand total of $0.00 from D-1A football each and every year. What I always SMH at is the posts when the playoff selections are made that say something along the lines of "How can the NCAA allow something so unfair as that happen?" Folks, the NCAA hopes that each and every year the College Football Playoff has controversy and looks bad.

 

[Hoo's That]

I can't help but think that the Law of Diminishing Returns will come into play for the SEC and the B1G. At some point the conferences become too big and unwieldy and the ROI won't be significant.

What's also going to be fun is the reaction of their fans when the semi-pro teams start losing regularly because the Vanderbilts, NWerns, and G5 pay teams aren't playing them anymore and they're only playing each other.

 

[Hoo's That]

Wasn't Nebraska AAU when they joined the B1G? Like SU, their research is non-medical which left both schools high and dry when AAU shifted its emphasis to medical research.

NU got kicked out which SU saw the writing on the wall and resigned.

Yes. Nebraska was in the AAU when they joined the B1G and are no longer in it.

 

[Toga]

So far not discussed are the ramifications of no longer having an 85 scholarship limit in the new era of semi-pro ball.

 

[All4SU]

The AAU membership requirement is a façade. Nebraska was in the AAU when they were admitted and then was thrown out of the AAU with no action/reprisal/ultimatum by the B1G. When the semi-pro division is formed, the need for the academic façade disappears because those players won't be going to school. As I posted, NWern cares the most about academics, followed by Wisconsin. Illinois and Purdue are strong STEM schools, so they're probably #s 3 and 4., but after that it's anybody's guess

I think it’s hilarious that this movement to “do what’s right for the players,” by putting a few dollars in their pockets, will likely lead to the end of scholarships and education for players at the highest levels. Great plan!

 

[TexanMark]

I assume players will be receiving 1099s.

Si, hopefully they get their handler to figure it out.

 

[TexanMark]

I think it’s hilarious that this movement to “do what’s right for the players,” by putting a few dollars in their pockets, will likely lead to the end of scholarships and education for players at the highest levels. Great plan!

Maybe...or there will be a two tiered system. College Pro Teams and Mostly Academic First College Teams.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

The NBA is a much better product than college hoops… the offensive play making from night to night is incredible. The main thing the NBA suffers from is too many regular season games, but the playoffs are amazing.

I'd argue the same for College Hoops The playoffs are amazing and there are too many regular season games