The NCAA really screwed themselves on this whole deal. They should have seized control after they signed their billion dollar NCAA tournament deal for basketball. This whole mess would be a lot different if they NCAA took the power when they had the chance. Instead they let the conferences walk all over them; making their own TV deals, poaching teams from each other, and growing more and more out of control.OrediggerPoke wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:47 pm I actually think it is the likely demise of the NCAA for certain revenue sports amongst money making programs. Why would a school like Ohio State or Alabama need to involve the NCAA from a regulatory standpoint and pay the NCAA (to basically share with the have nots) when the bigger schools can keep all of the money for themselves and pay the players directly? I personally believe we will ultimately see a 'super league' for football and basketball that does not have NCAA oversight. I don't believe Wyoming stands any chance of being a part of that super league and thus Wyoming and the majority of smaller programs will remain relatively 'amateur' status while the big boys ultimately create their own structure where players are either independent contractors or employees. For sports like swimming, tennis, etc...I think those sports are ultimately in the most trouble because it is football and basketball that mostly subsidize those sports.
From a player's perspective, this is probably good for football and basketball but terrible for the non revenue sports. Change will be coming.
Let's go back to 2008, when this mega deal was struck.
The Big XII still has 12 teams, The Big 10 still has 11 teams, the Big East still exists, and the WAC is still around. Realignment isn't a thing yet. There is no money race, because the NCAA had only just created it with the basketball contract. The NCAA could have easily done the same thing with football, and held all the cards on how it would be done. There would be no conference jumping. Everyone would get paid out the same way basketball does (credits for being in the tournament). Hell, we may even see a more regional restructuring occur (i.e. TCU would still go to the Big XII, and Boise would still end up in the MWC) based on what was best for the sport and viewership, not by chasing money. We would have to chase money because it would no longer be an arms race.
I do realize that this is a devil-you-know vs. devil-you-don't argument, but I have a hard time believing that it wouldn't be a better place than what we're in now.