GP1

Depends on how good he is. If nobody has heard of him, how good can he be? It's one thing to waste a scholarship on a player you thought could turn out to be good. Even schools like Alabama make mistakes. It's another to waste a scholarship on a player that is an almost certain bust. Good programs are not built on wasting scholarships on highly questionable players. Far too many schools have wasted too many scholarships over the years for "political" reasons. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college athletics and scholarships are how teams go about getting players. Scholarships cannot be wasted. Success is not easy and difficult choices have to be made. All of this will blow over for UB. They will be in much bigger trouble if they have several losing seasons in a row. In closing, this kid's brother is a highly paid NFL player with the resources to afford to pay for his brother to attend UB as a walk-on. Let him put his money where his Twitter feed is.

I'm more surprised anyone would put UNC at #12. Further, how many times can the pollsters fall for Oklahoma being the best team in the country and then having the rug pulled out from under them?

Technically, the NCAA is a non-profit organization so it can't make any money. It just organizes college sports for the member schools. The NAIA does the same thing for their member schools.

The past OSU vs Alabama game had the worst national championship ratings since 2004. I think America is tired of the same old, same old. So what does the NCAA do? Expand the college football "playoffs", without increasing parity in college football, so next year OSU and Alabama will just have to play more games to get to an even lower rated national championship game on a Monday night lasting until around midnight. The excitement devaluing the regular season in favor of an almost completely predictable "playoff" is almost overwhelming.....not. College athletics is not run by smart people.

The only reason the NFL is able to have is a draft is because they are exempt from anti-trust laws. Much of the NCAA is not and it would be horrible to exempt it from anti trust laws. The best way to achieve parity between teams is to require the P5 schools to have tiered scheduling based upon their performance the previous year, much like the NFL used to do a better job of. A school that finishes in at the top of their conference the prior year should be required to play at least three schools that finished at the top of their conference the prior year to open their season. Apply this to second, third, forth, etc. place finishers down the line. Only conference winners are allowed to make the "playoffs" with their overall record being the determining factor in making the "playoff" or not. Eliminate conference championship games. This system would take the shine off of the recruiting advantage 2-3 schools have in recruiting because players would see more than 2-3 schools as an avenue for winning a national championship, if that is their goal. It would also not punish the better schools for their success, just make them try a little harder for the mountain of cash they bring in each season. A rising tide lifts all ships.

The president of my company graduated from Auburn. He said their fans have circled the Akron game on their calendars and point it as a "program builder" since Akron has so much experience at the building process.

Well, someone has to say it. For some = for attractive young girls who know they are attractive and fit some fetishes/fantasies. There are some hammer throwers that also fall into some of the above but probably will not be as much as these two sisters. It's a different twist on the phrase "haves vs have nots". The self hyper sexualization of college age women is an odd twist for the "#metoo" era. If I was a publication like Playboy, I would already be approaching some of these women for a special editions of things like "the girls of conference X" editions.

This is the least surprising news I've heard in a while. Years ago all the NCAA had to do was to allow players to have jobs and make some money. Learning the value of work is a good lesson for a young person. Now these kids are going to learn the modern life lesson that is you can get paid for doing almost nothing as an "influencer".

Matt starts awesome Twitter thread yesterday. Some of the responses are pretty awesome. For example, one response was, "No Europe Gyro?" Link

Thanks MDZip. Knowing how many ADs are still around since then would be interesting, but I'm too lazy to look it up. The MAC is a member institution so the Commissioner can't do anything without consent of the members.

There is no way on God's green Earth that OSU loses a dime, but that's not why I'm responding. What if MAC schools continued to operate at a loss, and produced events that benefit the students, alumni, fans and the general community? Does the money matter at that point?

If they are counting taxpayers funding and student fees into the "revenue" column, I'll buy it. Roughly 70% of the athletic departments budget is subsidized. It's what the NCAA doesn't want to report. Does anyone believe OSU actually loses money? https://www.hustlebelt.com/2020/4/24/21233631/university-of-akron-president-recommends-20-percent-budget-cut-for-athletics-in-new-master-plan

Smart for whom? The revenues Ohio MAC schools make off of TV and elite schools could easily be absorbed into the Ohio general budget and paid for by the taxpayers. Ohio MAC football is basically a ward of the State of Ohio and should be treated as such. As long as the taxpayers are paying for it, they should have access to it, much like roads and bridges.

Ok. An exaggeration. Here is something more accurately stated. For almost every school, profiting $10.00 is mere illusion. They almost all lose money.

Ignorance and stupidity are different things. I don't think I'm stupid. I do know there are billions things I'm ignorant about. Ignorance is a solvable problem. Stupidity is not.

For almost every school, having a billion dollars is mere illusion. Almost all lose money. The P5 conferences have their own tv networks. If the G5 schools forego Tuesday and Wednesday nights in ESPN, these conferences will move game so those nights. They will claim "greater exposure" as their reasoning, but we have learned that is all poop. They will fail. Let them.

While 100% true, with the exception of about 5-10 schools, you have described TV money for all of college athletics. Almost no schools books are in the black. Taxpayers and student fees are picking up the rest. There is a whole series of lazy marketing behaviors over the past 30 years including partnering with organizations like img that wreak of laziness. I think the way G5 schools should market is as a community event and give back to the taxpayers what they are already paying for. It would take schools out of the world of welfare recipients and into the world of public service. Much like roads.

I don't know if they are dumber. I think the leadership of G5 schools simply had bigger fish to fry, were not paying close enough attention, didn't really know what to do and sort of enabled the growing problem. The results are in and the disaster is clear. The past problem has metastisized to the point they have all but given up. The weeknight games are simply what the leadership does when they don't know what else to do.

It's easy money when you have no other ideas and don't plan to stick around long enough to live your mistakes.

How are they smarter? I would argue they act solely to hoard money at the expense of their schools, alumni, fans and greater communities. My evidence is the upcoming football playoff expansion. It will galvanize the top schools at the top and everyone else will flounder. I don't think it takes a particularly smart person to hoard money at the expense of their employers.

I'm here to help Clark. Sentence 1: Out of curiosity because I have no clue what the answers to these questions are: Who was the commissioner? How much longer was this person commissioner after this decision? How many commissioners have there been since? How many athletic directors from that era are still employed by their university? Sentence 2: I don't think for a second the athletic directors didn't consider any of this. I think they knew exactly what would happen. Anyone with half a brain could see what was going to happen. They did it to pad their resumes. Sentence 3: They don't believe this. Most tend to have advanced degrees, but that is dubious because an advanced degree can be obtained in the 21st Century by applying for a Masters program on line and paying the tuition. The next thing you know you have a diploma hanging on the wall. Let's assume for a second they are smart people. The evidence is overwhelming that the weeknight games are horrible for the schools. They have to understand this. They simply don't care. Their "dream jobs" are not working as a MAC level athletic director and if moving beyond that involves destroying the schools they work at, they will gladly do it and laugh their way to their next job.

Yes. I blame the entire conference as they agreed to it. It's almost as if at some point, behind closed doors, the athletic directors asked the following question: What can we do to drive people away from attending games while at the same time make ourselves look pathetic on national television? In reality, it is probably the only answer the conference has gotten right over the years.

Or, they can put a good team on the field competing against teams that will draw interest while offering great tailgating, a clean stadium/parking and good concessions at a time AND DAY OF THE FREAKING WEEK that is convenient for students, alumni, fans and the greater community to attend. None of this matters if games continue to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This entire strategy has been an abject failure for the MAC. There can't be a single, sane person out there who believes this strategy is working.

Or, "I intend to make that stadium and the team that plays in it the center of social activity in the fall for the students, alumni, fans and the greater Akron community."

A meaningful game would result in worse outcomes for the G5 team. I'd love a G5 division and real playoff. It would be meaningful progress in a way most people don't see as progress.