An Interesting Proposal

[johnnyzip84]

Here is a pretty interesting story stemming from a recently published book written by an agent. His proposal to "clean up" college athletics hinges on agents being allowed to lend money to players, within the constraints of some oversight and regulation. I haven't read the book, but this and the following articles have definitely piqued my curiosity.

An additional story by Andy Staples

[g-mann17]

Here is a pretty interesting story stemming from a recently published book written by an agent. His proposal to "clean up" college athletics hinges on agents being allowed to lend money to players, within the constraints of some oversight and regulation. I haven't read the book, but this and the following articles have definitely piqued my curiosity.

An additional story by Andy Staples

How about this?

We do away with scholarships entirely and the Agents can pay for the students completely. Or if the agent is really bold, set up your own scholarship program to offer to top tier players and let them pick their school. As far as I know there is nothing in the NCAA by laws that prevents this assuming there is an application process and the scholarship is based on academic merit. The Student Athlete is not getting paid, lawyers do this kind of thing all the time Larry Dawson was on that kind of scholarship.

Agents are a bunch of whiney see you next tuesdays. Play by the rules and stop being parasitic weasels.

[Class of 82]

So long as college football and basketball essentially fill the role of the minor-leagues of the NFL and NBA, you will never "clean up" the system. You will continue to have kids (who everyone involved knows have no business anywhere near a college classroom) posing as "student athletes," when they are really nothing more than unpaid serfs forced into lining the pockets of coaches, administrators and NCAA officials and saving the NBA and NFL the many millions of dollars that they should be spending on the development of their own players. Corruption is rampant in the system, because the system itself is entirely corrupt from the ground up.

If I were Caesar, I would immediately decree that the NFL and NBA to go the Major League Baseball route by developing true minor league systems and allowing the drafting and signing of high school players who want the option of playing pro ball. After all, why should any athletically-gifted kid who is not interested in college be forced into a system whose chief beneficiaries do not include himself? Why should high school baseball players have a chance to get paid as they progress to the big time, but basketball and football players be denied a similar chance? The only reason I see is the greed of others who want to cash in on their services for free.

Some might say what I'm proposing would ruin college football and basketball, but I don't really think that's true. They would still be great games to watch, and the student athletes would once again actually be students who happened to be involved in athletics. In the end, that could only be a good thing. I'd still be a nut about Zips football and basketball, and I'd guess just about everyone here would be, too. And true minor league football and basketball would themselves be an exciting addition to the American sports landscape. (Don't even get me started on the NBA's D-League. It's a joke.) Besides, college baseball is not injured by the way MLB develops its teams, and I see no reason why college basketball and football couldn't live within similar systems. Everyone would be better off, imo, and corruption would become the rare exception rather than the near rule that it is today.

Rant completed.

Out.

[GP1]

I like the idea. I also like the direction this could go. Once a player has an agent, he could use his agent to set up endorsement deals so they could make further money off of their fame. I don't mean actual clothes he wears while playing the game, but things like signing autographs for money could be acceptable. The agent could get 10% of the autograph sesson as payback for the loan. The lesson shouldn't be just about taking money, but paying it back also. A little risk needs to be introduced to the players as well.

As long as a "student/athlete" can meet his sports and school requirements by the university, it shouldn't matter how he gets money or how much money he gets.

[GP1]

Some might say what I'm proposing would ruin college football and basketball, but I don't really think that's true.

It could or could not ruin it. A minor league system would lower the quality of play for football and basketball. Levels like DIII would be almost completely unwatchable. A good example is college baseball. Most experts about baseball agree that minor league baseball is better at every level than the best college baseball teams. This is why I don't like college baseball. One could go see the Aeros play and see better players at almost every position than they would see at even a national championship baseball team.

Many of the monuments athletic directors have built in honor of themselves and to boost their resumes over the last 15 years would sit half empty. Not a way to support the "building process". College athletics would collapse under their own weight because of the facilities they have to maintain with less revenue.

My opinion, I like the minor league system idea, but I think schools have built such monsters in terms of facilities, universities across the country would be damaged by the lower interest. The answer is to find a way to get the players paid so schools can pack stadiums and feed the monster.

[Zipmeister]

So long as college football and basketball essentially fill the role of the minor-leagues of the NFL and NBA, you will never "clean up" the system. You will continue to have kids (who everyone involved knows have no business anywhere near a college classroom) posing as "student athletes," when they are really nothing more than unpaid serfs forced into lining the pockets of coaches, administrators and NCAA officials and saving the NBA and NFL the many millions of dollars that they should be spending on the development of their own players. Corruption is rampant in the system, because the system itself is entirely corrupt from the ground up.

If I were Caesar, I would immediately decree that the NFL and NBA to go the Major League Baseball route by developing true minor league systems and allowing the drafting and signing of high school players who want the option of playing pro ball. After all, why should any athletically-gifted kid who is not interested in college be forced into a system whose chief beneficiaries do not include himself? Why should high school baseball players have a chance to get paid as they progress to the big time, but basketball and football players be denied a similar chance? The only reason I see is the greed of others who want to cash in on their services for free.

Some might say what I'm proposing would ruin college football and basketball, but I don't really think that's true. They would still be great games to watch, and the student athletes would once again actually be students who happened to be involved in athletics. In the end, that could only be a good thing. I'd still be a nut about Zips football and basketball, and I'd guess just about everyone here would be, too. And true minor league football and basketball would themselves be an exciting addition to the American sports landscape. (Don't even get me started on the NBA's D-League. It's a joke.) Besides, college baseball is not injured by the way MLB develops its teams, and I see no reason why college basketball and football couldn't live within similar systems. Everyone would be better off, imo, and corruption would become the rare exception rather than the near rule that it is today.

Rant completed.

Out.

One good thing about your proposal is the quality of play at a school like Akron would not be noticeably different, and we would be more competitive with the traditional powerhouse schools. They would still be better than us but not by as much.

[Class of 82]

My opinion, I like the minor league system idea, but I think schools have built such monsters in terms of facilities, universities across the country would be damaged by the lower interest. The answer is to find a way to get the players paid so schools can pack stadiums and feed the monster.

I don't know. My guess is that the college game at every level would still be pretty good. A lot of the players might be a little smaller and slower, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game would be boring to watch. The coaching would still be there, and my guess is that some subset of really good players would still elect to go the college route, just as they do in baseball. But all of the players would at least be real college students with a real desire to be in school. And I think most college fans are fans by traditions and loyalties that would still be present.

Trying to reform a corrupt system without striking at the root cause of the corruption just seems like a total waste of time to me. In the article johnny posted, the guy is basically arguing for a system that make the system more corrupt than it already is. Students wouldn't really be paid; they'd be borrowing against future earnings that may never materialize. What happens if they blow out a knee? Or what happens if it turns out they can't cut it in the classroom? Do agents start paying off professors/administrators to falsify records in order to protect their "investments"? Any way you slice it, any pretense of the "student athlete" would become more of a joke than it already so often is. And the kids remain the ones getting screwed while everybody else makes a bundle. It ain't right. And it shouldn't be.

[Zipmeister]

I don't know. My guess is that the college game at every level would still be pretty good. A lot of the players might be a little smaller and slower, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game would be boring to watch. The coaching would still be there, and my guess is that some subset of really good players would still elect to go the college route, just as they do in baseball. But all of the players would at least be real college students with a real desire to be in school. And I think most college fans are fans by traditions and loyalties that would still be present.

Trying to reform a corrupt system without striking at the root cause of the corruption just seems like a total waste of time to me. In the article johnny posted, the guy is basically arguing for a system that make the system more corrupt than it already is. Students wouldn't really be paid; they'd be borrowing against future earnings that may never materialize. What happens if they blow out a knee? Or what happens if it turns out they can't cut it in the classroom? Do agents start paying off professors/administrators to falsify records in order to protect their "investments"? Any way you slice it, any pretense of the "student athlete" would become more of a joke than it already so often is. And the kids remain the ones getting screwed while everybody else makes a bundle. It ain't right. And it shouldn't be.

That's what insurance contracts are for.

[Class of 82]

That's what insurance contracts are for.

And who pays for that? Another loan from the so-called "student athlete"?

This guy's idea would be a disaster, which probably means it has at least some chance of being implemented.

[GP1]

A lot of the players might be a little smaller and slower, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game would be boring to watch. The coaching would still be there, and my guess is that some subset of really good players would still elect to go the college route, just as they do in baseball. But all of the players would at least be real college students with a real desire to be in school. And I think most college fans are fans by traditions and loyalties that would still be present.

People don't want to watch slow and smaller players. That's why the NFL is so popular...fans like the athletic talent.

The coaching? I can't think of the name of a single college baseball coach including the Zips. Most would fade into the minor league system, or go coach high school baseball or sell insurance.

I could care less of the players go to school or not. School is a nice side story, but not the reason people go to games.

Traditions and loyalities? How many people attended the OSU vs Mich baseball weekend last year? One can't hang their hat on tradition. Quality entertainment is something to hang your hat on, but not tradition.

I don't mean to sound rude and it isn't intended to be so. The truth is, the better the talent in college football has gotten, the more people watch. Americans, through all of their faults, don't like crap.

[GP1]

One good thing about your proposal is the quality of play at a school like Akron would not be noticeably different, and we would be more competitive with the traditional powerhouse schools. They would still be better than us but not by as much.

All of this is true. However, there would be a noticeable difference. There are a lot of kids playing in the MAC who would rather take their chances with a big bonus and some income in a minor league system, with a chance of making the NFL than a dead end career in a college they would never graduate from if it wasn't for Exercise Science degrees. The talent would drop off quickly. DIII would be unwatchable.

[Class of 82]

People don't want to watch slow and smaller players. That's why the NFL is so popular...fans like the athletic talent.

The coaching? I can't think of the name of a single college baseball coach including the Zips. Most would fade into the minor league system, or go coach high school baseball or sell insurance.

I could care less of the players go to school or not. School is a nice side story, but not the reason people go to games.

Traditions and loyalties? How many people attended the OSU vs Mich baseball weekend last year? One can't hang their hat on tradition. Quality entertainment is something to hang your hat on, but not tradition.

I don't mean to sound rude and it isn't intended to be so. The truth is, the better the talent in college football has gotten, the more people watch. Americans, through all of their faults, don't like crap.

You're not being rude... just giving your opinion, and I respect it even if I disagree with it.

I guess in what I've bold-faced that you've summed up the ugly truth pretty well, GP. And it's pretty obvious to me that the NCAA and the vast majority of member schools feel pretty much the same way that you do, which is why they cling so desperately to the mythical "student athlete" crud. There are a lot of true student athletes in college sports, but there are a heckuva lot of kids who are pretty much un (or at least under) paid professionals being used by a bunch of self-satisfied mobsters for their own gain. It's a truly poisonous system.

On a side note, I think you greatly underestimate the importance of traditions and/or loyalties at the college level. I'm an Akron fan because I'm from Akron, and because I graduated from the university. Obviously, I'm not a fan because of all of the national titles we've won in football and basketball. If being a fan were purely about the overall quality of play, I'd be a tOSU fan. But I could care less about tOSU.