Nick Saban wants to be voice for change in college football

[Swamp Donkey]

Amateur athletics in college sports is kaput.

No one has ever cared about "amateurism" or transfer rules for any sport except football and men's basketball and only in two divisions.

It was always a sham.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

and so, how this on Saban? What did he do, specifically?

Ensured his players had their pockets stuffed and drove Escalades or Hellcats.

Saban is the last mofo on the planet who should be talking. He was only concerned when someone ELSE paid players.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Yeah, because Congress is so good at fixing things.

This requires an alliance among the conferences.

Alliances of conferences can't change antitrust law.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

I have believed all along that any form of paying the players will have a short shelf life of some kind due to a couple of potential influences.
Others have mentioned these separately but I believe they are related since either or both can happen soon.

1. Title IX comes in to play and the courts force NIL funds to become a true collective where it is split evenly between each individual athlete.

2. Boosters and the schools finally realize that there is a finite amount of money available and the schools pressure the boosters to divert the majority back to continuing to build the empires already underway.

Clearly the second scenario is preferred since it is the least disruptive and could even bring some sanity back to the table. However, given the current political situation I wouldn’t be surprised if the former scenario is forced into place by the courts.

The bottom line is that the long term future of college athletics is in question and the result could be the end of what was once a great thing.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

I’ll be the voice of reason. There is no solution to the existing problem. You can’t allow collegiate athletes to be paid if you’re not ok with the current state. It’s that simple. It was always going to spiral out of control because that’s the way free markets work. If kids feel they deserve to be paid they should be allowed to declare as professionals and the NFL needs to drop their own rule or develop a farm league so they can do so.

Then allow the kids who truly want to just play sports while getting a free education at a university they love do that. Everyone wins, including the fans.

The NCAA mismanaged a lot and shares some blame. But as I’ve said before, they were basically the Saddam of college athletics. They were hated and rightly so. But they also kept the crazies in check. Now that they’re all but defunct, in some respects they have been vindicated.

While I was staggered to see you being “the voice of reason,” you otherwise nailed it.

Put me in the camp of those curious to hear what he has to say. Now that he’s out of the business, he may have some useful suggestions.

For me, the most troubling quote tho, was this one: “he said the only way any of this works is if there's also a commitment on the players' side.” What’s their incentive? None of the ones pulling in the big coin think they’ll be in CFB for more than three years and the rest all think they’re gone in four. Unless the carrot means more money right now, or maybe in a year or two will they even think about it. These are 18-21 year olds after all.

 

[78]

Just accept the reality that some, maybe most recruits want in and out in under four years. Forcing them to stay any longer under a false pretense only leads to unintended consequences.

 

[soflagator]

You don't get it. The genie is out of the bottle. It's taking laps around the stadium. The things you don't like about college football didn't happen in a vacuum. They are the outgrowth of the inequity that has grown within the game.

This is pretty simple. You can't have one group getting stupidly rich while the other goes about its business like it's 1962. Something has to give when it comes to doling out all that money.

So it’s easy then. Let the kids who are demanding to be paid become professionals and join an NFL roster. They don’t want to be in school and feel they’re ready. Who is anyone, in America no less, to stop them. Let them go.

 

[soflagator]

Just accept the reality that some, maybe most recruits want in and out in under four years. Forcing them to stay any longer under a false pretense only leads to unintended consequences.

You’re still forcing them to attend a college when they don’t need or want to. Thats the problem. The time, even if only a year or two, is irrelevant and completely unnecessary. If a HS phenom athlete wants to get paid for his craft and start this career, he should be able to do it right then.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

So it’s easy then. Let the kids who are demanding to be paid become professionals and join an NFL roster. They don’t want to be in school and feel they’re ready. Who is anyone, in America no less, to stop them. Let them go.

Agreed

It’s time for the NFL to divert a few billion dollars towards the creation of their own developmental league instead of using the universities with the current model.
If a player wants to get paid, he can get drafted into a developmental league and own his future.
Maybe college sports could go back to pretending to be amateur sports and although the quality of the product might drop off a little the importance to the fan bases would not.

I disagree with the premise that if the top 10-20% of the players skipped college sports that the interest would diminish. Competitive games drive interest as much as anything.

 

[78]

So it’s easy then. Let the kids who are demanding to be paid become professionals and join an NFL roster. They don’t want to be in school and feel they’re ready. Who is anyone, in America no less, to stop them. Let them go.

You're asking the NFL to pay the tab on further player development when it's already being paid by the universities. They want a free thing.

 

[78]

Agreed

It’s time for the NFL to divert a few billion dollars towards the creation of their own developmental league instead of using the universities with the current model.
If a player wants to get paid, he can get drafted into a developmental league and own his future.
Maybe college sports could go back to pretending to be amateur sports and although the quality of the product might drop off a little the importance to the fan bases would not.

I disagree with the premise that if the top 10-20% of the players skipped college sports that the interest would diminish. Competitive games drive interest as much as anything.

I think we're headed toward some sort of hybrid model such as suggested here. The universities want football, the NFL wants to pass off the developmental cost as much as possible, and the players want the ability to pick and choose.

 

[soflagator]

You're asking the NFL to pay the tab on further player development when it's already being paid by the universities. They want a free thing.

Wait? The universities are paying for the players’ development? They’re not ready at 18? So their NFL paydays, should they earn one, are in large part due to the strength and conditioning, nutritional support and coaching/development they receive for free from the universities? On top of a free 5 year education and housing, and the platform to showcase their skillsets to launch a generational wealth type career?

I think Saban may have an argument here. He should be getting some type of residual compensation for all those athletes that he did that for.

 

[AuggieDosta]

Ensured his players had their pockets stuffed and drove Escalades or Hellcats.

Saban is the last mofo on the planet who should be talking. He was only concerned when someone ELSE paid players.

Nick owns Mercedes Benz dealerships via Dream Motor Group and had Janet on a loop.

 

[Silverback Gator]

Nick owns Mercedes Benz dealerships and had Janet on a loop.

Trying to picture that position. Not sure I'm built for that. Good on Nick!

 

[AuggieDosta]

Trying to picture that position. Not sure I'm built for that. Good on Nick!

Well, their mascot is/was an elephant.

 

[t-gator]

So it’s easy then. Let the kids who are demanding to be paid become professionals and join an NFL roster. They don’t want to be in school and feel they’re ready. Who is anyone, in America no less, to stop them. Let them go.

This isnever going to happen. This isn't the nfl's problem. They have zero incentive to start a farm system. They already have one.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Good news: The NCAA is really cracking down on what schools can do for visiting recruits!

NCAA banning schools from decorating hotel rooms on official visits

Talk about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..........

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Good news: The NCAA is really cracking down on what schools can do for visiting recruits!

NCAA banning schools from decorating hotel rooms on official visits

Talk about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..........

This is why NCAA must die.

 

[soflagator]

This isnever going to happen. This isn't the nfl's problem. They have zero incentive to start a farm system. They already have one.

I understand that. But they’re still enforcing a rule that’s technically stopping a player from becoming a professional right away. These kids are ready day one to step into the NFL and don’t need several years of coaching and development at the collegiate level. And if that’s not the case, and they do in fact need that, then their entire argument of them being exploited is completely invalid.

 

[aka]

This is why NCAA must die.

We're all going to die before this is sorted out.