When to ditch the NCAA?

[MooseLodge]

A chunk of this isn't the NCAA's fault. Power 4 is their master, because Power 4 represents practically all of the revenue. The NCAA is falling apart because of adverse court rulings of a business model that has been in place for over a century. The NCAA doesn't have the resources to keep fighting these battles.

In the end, we will have a P4 with collective bargaining and salaries, and almost everyone else will adopt a non-athletic-scholarship model. That's my prediction. The only thing that would prevent this is Congress granting the NCAA (and the NAIA and NJCAA for that matter) an anti-trust exemption. The Supreme Court cannot do that; they can only rule on the laws that are on the books.

[Anchorage]

I’m not one to worry about an NCAA pity party. They did plenty of this to themselves by not revenue sharing with players at the highest levels sooner. Coaches and Administrators raking in big bucks from billion dollar TV deals off the backs of the work the athletes putting in. They were too busy trying to push this fantasy of amateurism while kids had $14 in their bank accounts while paying coaches millions and marketing those players to death.

I’m glad to see all these lawsuits winning. Hell I’m glad Thurl Bailey and his teammates are suing for them not getting paid from their 1983 title and the NIL rights. I absolutely think they have a strong case given how much the NCAA used that footage for promotional purposes.

Like I said I do understand there is a giant disconnect between the game at the power conference levels and the lower/mid level D1s on down.

I think the power conferences should break off and set up their own system. I think the scholarship system can still work for the lower levels as long the NCAA backs off restricting players from making money for themselves. And even providing some meal money and other things for those athletes if the university can afford it. Things don’t have to be balanced between colleges or players.

And for once and for all let’s end the concept of amateurism in sports. And by no means should any athletic association, Major League Baseball, NCAA, NFL, be granted an anti-trust exemption. Sports and athletics are not that special or sacred that they deserve one. I’m very hopeful that nonsense gets blocked in Congress. And it drives me nuts that the very same politicians that will talk your ear off about the free market and how great it is are the exact same ones trying to protect the NCAA and the schools from having to operate under a free market. Hypocrites, all of them.

Those are my two cents at least.

[tsull]

I'm at the point where I'm anti NCAA and anti-athlete. I just can't follow college sports anymore when the players change schools every single year. Should they be penalized for it? No they should be able to go wherever they want, but as a fan I'd have no interest in following it.

There needs to be contracts, trades, cuts, drug testing, if they're going to run a professional League, which the NCAA now is. You can't be professional / amateur at the same time, this is the whole problem I have with the current college sports setup.

Regarding the NCAA, there's absolutely no reason anyone below high Division 1 should even be in the organization anymore. The NCAA is just accepting membership fees from FCS, division 2, and division 3, to stay in business. But they don't do anything to help the lower level schools, as I think Kamola Cat wisely said, they didn't support any of the schools that dumped division 2 football on the west coast. Your organization is supposed to help you, not hurt you.

I just can't believe that these smaller schools hang on to NCAA membership. Personally I wish all the West Coast small colleges we get together and just form a regional division. I really don't care if some Northwest school gets to the quarterfinals in football, no one will remember it anyway.

[Pounder]

It bears mentioning here that WOU started up a men’s soccer program in 2022. This kind of baffled the heck out of me, and I know enough soccer to be dangerous.

Turns out that, in year 3 of the program, not only did they make the tournament, they won their first tournament game… on the road. Next round Saturday. While I’m begging to come to a conclusion, I’m better off not making one yet. Interesting mix of kids from the northern Willamette Valley and Portland suburbs and transfers from a surprising number of places.

Anyway… a few things come to mind reading this thread. (1) It seems to me that it’s absolutely self-defeating to be a sports fan AND anti-athlete. Good luck with that. (2) I really think that, if the big schools wanted to leave the NCAA, they’d already have done it. I sense it’s more profitable to them to not upset the apple cart too much… especially for basketball, where the “smaller” schools that help make March Madness more interesting is something everyone would lose with a split. (3) stop me if you’ve heard me say this before, but the NCAA is not a government-mandated organization with a governing mandate, they are an association of its member institutions. And yes, they follow the money (including the schools). And no, I don’t see how they can force schools to keep football… without being anti-athlete, and as the courts confirm, it’s as self-defeating for the NCAA as it is for individual fans.

But (4) happen in a couple waves this year and I found this quite illuminating. Part 1 was Boise State proposing a Pac-12 merger with the Mountain West at one point that would try to resolve the OSU/WSU SoS issue with a promotion/relegation scheme. After word of that leaked out, another proposal was flung forward for a pro/rel structure on a far larger scale. That really got social media talking. I know some European leagues, and other leagues, so I know the concept, and a lot of people have seen Welcome to Wrexham (though they should be assigned to watch Sunderland ‘Til I Die). I wouldn’t say a consensus was formed, but it did strike me as interesting that a lot of people end up saying “I think relegation is morally wrong, but I think several schools should be promoted.” Which, trust me, is absolutely NOT what media networks want to pay for right now. So as much as you might want to say that several schools don’t belong in D-1, just assumed you received several flipped birds as a response. But be on notice that networks might just latch on to a pro/rel structure because there’s definitely potential to make money with the concept.

[tsull]

Interesting take Pounder, a lot to read there. I'm not a big fan of the NCAA anymore not sure if I ever was. The increase to 105 football scholarships is a power play once again to damage the underdog. The pro / amateur model is baffling to me how teams can tamper another rosters, take good players away from other schools and not have to pay any compensation. They'll turn around and say it's about student athletes, but it really isn't.

* Regarding soccer, for Western Oregon it's been pretty exciting for this year's team. I went to a match this year, one of their few losses, but it was a great match against Montana State Billings in Salem. We have some nice players on their squad. Their coach came from the University of Pittsburgh because his wife took the head volleyball job at Oregon State. I hope they can hang on to him he's a good one.

Just a note on soccer, the school is running with that this is the first time they've ever had the sport. Many years ago, my college roommate played NAIA soccer for, yes, you guessed it, Western Oregon. They can't find the records of those seasons so they just assumed that this is the first time of the sport. The media keeps running with this over and over but it's not true. However that doesn't take away the fine accomplishments from this year's team.

[boatcapt]

There's the sport side and the business side of the NCAA and their member schools at all levels. As much as we wish they were distinct and separate, they are NOT! There are many down division sports programs (and perhaps schools) that wouldn't survive without the money that the NCAA provides to them and their conferences. This money almost exclusively comes as a result of Power 5 football and basketball. SO, you cut off the head, the body soon dies. But what do the P5's get from the NCAA to make them want to stay? They get insulation from congressional and state legislative oversight and they are getting a whipping boy to blame when there is a systemic problem. Hey Congress, we are just playing by the rules established by the NCAA, if you have questions, ask them...It's not OUR fault that the CFB playoff committee didn't pick 11-0 Bosie State for the playoffs, it's the stinking NCAA that created this system!

[tsull]

There's the sport side and the business side of the NCAA and their member schools at all levels. As much as we wish they were distinct and separate, they are NOT! There are many down division sports programs (and perhaps schools) that wouldn't survive without the money that the NCAA provides to them and their conferences. This money almost exclusively comes as a result of Power 5 football and basketball. SO, you cut off the head, the body soon dies. But what do the P5's get from the NCAA to make them want to stay? They get insulation from congressional and state legislative oversight and they are getting a whipping boy to blame when there is a systemic problem. Hey Congress, we are just playing by the rules established by the NCAA, if you have questions, ask them...It's not OUR fault that the CFB playoff committee didn't pick 11-0 Bosie State for the playoffs, it's the stinking NCAA that created this system!

Best description of the NCAA that I've seen. I'm kind of surprised this thread got resurrected. It was written months ago. That said, from the small college perspective, the NCAA is not always real beneficial.

[Anchorage]

I think it’s more of an issue of the power schools not needing the ncaa anymore. Especially in football and basketball.