A new and better FBS thread

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Originally Posted by OrygunBison

It hasn't been here a long time. Money is now flooding into this space. The exponentially increased amount of money and the consolidating of that money will starkly change college sports, primarily football and MBB with all other sports having to just follow.

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where have you been. The money has been stupid big for decades. The only difference now is that the people actually entertaining you are beginning to get a fraction of what they’re worth instead of all the cash going to management and monuments to donor’s egos.

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Originally Posted by bisonaudit

where have you been. The money has been stupid big for decades. The only difference now is that the people actually entertaining you are beginning to get a fraction of what they’re worth instead of all the cash going to management and monuments to donor’s egos.

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The money for about 30 schools in 2 sports has been stupid no doubt. If these kids are worth so much more than what they’ve been getting, why didn’t they just start their own breakaway league?

Could it possibly be because the vast majority of what people pay for is not some kid putting a ball in a hoop better than another kid, but the university itself?

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Originally Posted by NDSU92

The money for about 30 schools in 2 sports has been stupid no doubt. If these kids are worth so much more than what they’ve been getting, why didn’t they just start their own breakaway league?

Could it possibly be because the vast majority of what people pay for is not some kid putting a ball in a hoop better than another kid, but the university itself?

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Sure, there’s a huge competitive moat that college sports have built up on the backs of more than a century of free labor. So of course an alternative league could hardly compete with them today. That doesn’t strike me as a reason to continue not paying the people doing the work to maintain and enhance the brand.

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Originally Posted by bisonaudit

Sure, there’s a huge competitive moat that college sports have built up on the backs of more than a century of free labor. So of course an alternative league could hardly compete with them today. That doesn’t strike me as a reason to continue not paying the people doing the work to maintain and enhance the brand.

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So then you’re saying the value IS in the schools, leagues, etc. and not in how good at putting a ball through a hoop these kids are? The value is in the brand and the university that backs it.

During this more than century of “free labor”, no entrepreneur thought to come around and start their own organization? All they would’ve had to do is pay the kids a dollar each, pay the owner of the stadium a dollar more than the university, and they instead could’ve pocketed the millions? Why didn’t the market ever correct this as it would in other industries?

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Originally Posted by NDSU92

So then you’re saying the value IS in the schools, leagues, etc. and not in how good at putting a ball through a hoop these kids are? The value is in the brand and the university that backs it.

During this more than century of “free labor”, no entrepreneur thought to come around and start their own organization? All they would’ve had to do is pay the kids a dollar each, pay the owner of the stadium a dollar more than the university, and they instead could’ve pocketed the millions? Why didn’t the market ever correct this as it would in other industries?

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It would be foolish to pretend that there isn’t at least some value in the schools (however dubiously derived). It also seems foolish to me to pretend that there is next to no value in the players.

It seems to me that there have been some attempts. USFL, arena football in various incarnation, I just saw a story in the last 5 minutes about a graduate student leaving OSU for a start up pro football league, d-, g-league basketball, TBT... It isn’t as if whatever start up you’d envision would only be competing with college sports and it’s free labor advantage or that the colleges were the only ones who were invested in inexpensive, publicly subsidized developmental leagues.

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Originally Posted by bisonaudit

It seems to me that there have been some attempts. USFL, arena football in various incarnation, I just saw a story in the last 5 minutes about a graduate student leaving OSU for a start up pro football league, d-, g-league basketball, TBT... It isn’t as if whatever start up you’d envision would only be competing with college sports and it’s free labor advantage or that the colleges were the only ones who were invested in inexpensive, publicly subsidized developmental leagues.

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Then why are kids giving up their labor for free right now? Why don’t the best players join these leagues instead and get “paid” more money. The best could all band together and move. If they are so valuable, the loss of their major value would be enough to force the NCAA to come to the table.

We’re obviously not going to agree but I do really respect your opinion. The whole economics of sports is dumb. It’s all tangled up in trust/monopolistic principles. The 85th best FB player on Alabama’s campus gets a free ride, free books, free room and board, free food. The 86th best gets to work just as hard, contribute just as much and gets nothing.

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Originally Posted by NDSU92

Then why are kids giving up their labor for free right now? Why don’t the best players join these leagues instead and get “paid” more money. The best could all band together and move. If they are so valuable, the loss of their major value would be enough to force the NCAA to come to the table.

We’re obviously not going to agree but I do really respect your opinion. The whole economics of sports is dumb. It’s all tangled up in trust/monopolistic principles. The 85th best FB player on Alabama’s campus gets a free ride, free books, free room and board, free food. The 86th best gets to work just as hard, contribute just as much and gets nothing.

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I don’t know if anything is going to get the NCAA to the table, but it seems like the BIG has sent the dinner invitations and is getting out the fancy China and good cutlery.

I don’t know if it’s a sports problem so much as a US sports problem. European football seems to have a much freer market for players for example and by giving up on shamaturism much earlier than we did has avoided the entanglements with higher education.

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Originally Posted by bisonaudit

I don’t know if anything is going to get the NCAA to the table, but it seems like the BIG has sent the dinner invitations and is getting out the fancy China and good cutlery.

I don’t know if it’s a sports problem so much as a US sports problem. European football seems to have a much freer market for players for example and by giving up on shamaturism much earlier than we did has avoided the entanglements with higher education.

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The difference is American football has a ton of history and tradition linked to colleges. The sport literally began in the 1800's on college campuses. It was an "amateur" sport long before it developed into a professional career path.

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Originally Posted by BigHorns

The difference is American football has a ton of history and tradition linked to colleges. The sport literally began in the 1800's on college campuses. It was an "amateur" sport long before it developed into a professional career path.

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I believe soccer in England started much the same. With schools. If you watch The English Game on Netflix, it dramatizes the story of the first professional player. A factory owner/team sponsor gave him a "job" at the factory.

That said, I don't think guys back then were getting scholarships, housing, and other benefits that college kids here get.

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Originally Posted by ByeSonBusiness

I believe soccer in England started much the same. With schools. If you watch The English Game on Netflix, it dramatizes the story of the first professional player. A factory owner/team sponsor gave him a "job" at the factory.

That said, I don't think guys back then were getting scholarships, housing, and other benefits that college kids here get.

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Back then ordinary people didn’t go to college. Amateur athletics we’re a leisure pursuit of the elite. Professional sports were beneath them.