Thought experiment: What would the NCAA look like without the P5

[THEsocalledfan]

"Of 90 NCAA championships, only five (all in Division I) generate at least as much money as they cost to run: men’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, wrestling and baseball." https://www.ncaa.org/about/where-does-money-go

So really only 4. Lacrosse is not a sport; leisure activity for east coast pansies.

[taper]

That's an enormous loss of money that will trickle down. I'd expect FCOA going away, coaching salaries to drop, lots of schools dropping expensive sports like gymnastics and women's hockey, which in turn kills a few men's sports due to Title 9.

[Hammersmith]

https://www.ncaa.org/about/where-does-money-go

The 90 championships as a group are near revenue neutral right now(ticket sales minus expenses).

Here's the info from the link above but in text form:
(numbers come from the 2018-19 season - the last normal season pre-COVID)

Revenue:
$177.9M Championship Ticket Sales
$867.5M DI MBB Television Contract

Expenses that go to conferences, schools, or student-athletes or are used to pay for championships:
$222.0M DI Sport Sponsorship & Scholarship Payments (goes directly to the schools)
$168.8M DI Basketball Performance Fund (this is the money conferences get for playing and winning in March Madness - goes directly to the conferences)
$153.8M DI Championships
$86.6M DI Student Assistance Grants (goes directly to the students through the schools)
$64.5M Student-Athlete Services and Championship Support (all divisions)
$53.6M DI Equal Conference Fund (goes directly to conferences that send teams to March Madness)
$53.3M DII Allocation (including DII championships)
$49.2M DI Academic Enhancement Fund (goes directly to schools to be used for academics)
$35.2M DIII Allocation (including DIII championships)
$10.0M DI Conference Grants
$3.8M Educational Programs

Expenses related to the national organization itself:
$58.4M Other Association-Wide Expenses (legal, communications, business insurance, etc.)
$44.8M General and Administrative Expenses (day-to-day operations, salaries, IT, etc.)
$23.3M Membership Support Services (covers the costs for committees and the annual NCAA Convention)

[tony]

I just wanted to plant the thought. The NCAA/Bowl System is setup so that majority of every new dollar goes to the abut 60 teams. The next level down gets a little more. After that, it's just crumbs. It's a system whose main outcome has been to continue to separate those 60 programs into their own little college athletics oligarchy from which they can stifle meaningful competition.

I can't imagine that there is not a system in which the other 1000+ schools could strike out on their own and do better. And just the threat of these clowns having to put on their own Olympic sports championships might give conferences like the Big 10 and Pac 12 pause enough to recall that the NCAA does have value for them.

[56BISON73]

I just wanted to plant the thought. The NCAA/Bowl System is setup so that majority of every new dollar goes to the abut 60 teams. The next level down gets a little more. After that, it's just crumbs. It's a system whose main outcome has been to continue to separate those 60 programs into their own little college athletics oligarchy from which they can stifle meaningful competition.

I can't imagine that there is not a system in which the other 1000+ schools could strike out on their own and do better. And just the threat of these clowns having to put on their own Olympic sports championships might give conferences like the Big 10 and Pac 12 pause enough to recall that the NCAA does have value for them.

The other 1000+ schools could ban together and tell the 2AA to take a hike. Then they would have to start there own league administration , clearinghouse etc etc etc.
Nothing is stopping them from doing so. But they wont do that.

[tony]

The other 1000+ schools could ban together and tell the 2AA to take a hike. Then they would have to start there own league administration , clearinghouse etc etc etc.
Nothing is stopping them from doing so. But they wont do that.

They could, but why? It's the P5 that wants to break with the NCAA - I've been hearing that as a promise/threat for over a decade.

[WhoRepsTheLurker]

I thought the NCAA would give ‘em the boot. But instead it sounds like they’re saying go ahead and do whatever you want. Am I reading that wrong? 'em being FBS

Regarding lacrosse, it’s like hockey here in the mid-Atlantic states. If I’m not mistaken, a lot of kids play football in the fall and lacrosse in the spring. I don’t think I’d call them pansies …

[The_Sicatoka]

If I’m not mistaken, a lot of kids play football in the fall and lacrosse in the spring. I don’t think I’d call them pansies …

I've wondered what Weston Dressler or that WR from Wahpeton (Smith?) that played at NDSU would look like as an attacker in lacrosse: both are fast and quick, nimble, great eye-hand.

[56BISON73]

They could, but why? It's the P5 that wants to break with the NCAA - I've been hearing that as a promise/threat for over a decade.

They did. Basically all the 2a is is administrators. I do believe autonomy means they have broken away. They just havent come right out and said it.

[tony]

They did. Basically all the 2a is is administrators. I do believe autonomy means they have broken away. They just havent come right out and said it.

I'd disagree. They are still in the NCAA for the vast majority of their sports... they want their cake, they want our cake, they want everybody's cake, and they want to eat it all too.

I am sure that the NCAA could survive perfectly well without the P5 in it. I mean, say the Big 10 wants to participate in the NCAA Hockey playoffs, sure, they can, but the full members would set the terms, not the P5. Same with all the other sports.