$50k/y is a modest entry level professional salary. Kind of shocking that these athletes are so exploited that it makes such a big difference for them.
As a CFB fan who follows recruiting this report is laughable, or at least needlessly disingenuous. Oregon certainly pays their players with big NIL deals, and it's not like Texas is doing anything different than any other big time program, and he made it sound like they did, presumably just to juice the narrative a bit, even though it was misleading. Because there's no Texas model. They all do it. They're called bidding wars. Texas merely outbid Oregon from some OL. Moreover, it hasn't affected recruiting at all, with respect to which teams end up with the best players on signing day, because they're all paying their players now, with NIL deals of various amounts. So it's same old same old on that score, and is a wash. But he's right that it is a bit of a free for all with no regulation. And the NCAA can't do nothing about it, because they'll just get busted in the courts again if they dare to try. And naturally, being The NY Times they had to allude to how women are somehow getting a raw deal yet again, which of course is not merely misleading but is absurd. The market is deciding on the amount. But as a good liberal one must at least make the pro forma nod to the perpetual unjust suffering of American women. In any case, this is all straightforward stuff to any CFB fan, with the exception of not being privy to all the nitty gritty details of the various deals players sign, which would be cool to know. And yes, I suppose this state of affairs could characterized as 'unsustainable', and eventually they will switch to some version of full professionalism. Though naturally the schools will do everything in their power to keep as much of the big TV and gate money as possible, while as of now they still keep all of it. And even this NY Times lady, this interviewer, presumed non-sports fan, had no choice but to push back on the nonsensical assertion that the moral fiber of CFB might be compromised by finally letting these players get paid. This guy was pushing some of the same unreconstructed, reactionary talking points, shared by both super right-wing MAGA CFB fans, as well as the schools themselves, who almost unfathomably made these same utterly feeble arguments before SCOTUS, and then promptly lost their case 9-0, which of course is what directly precipitated this seismic shift on the college sports landscape. Nobody cares about the romance of amateurism, which was a legal fiction from the start created very purposely and solely to exploit the players. Anything else, any sentimental attachment to phony and contrived and coercive 'amatuerism' was merely incidental. And quite frankly as a fan, or an alum, is something to be ashamed of, that your frilly, privileged, condescending selves are quite content to leave it alone, and let this appalling iniquity continue and let the players get nothing simply because it pleases you. And CFB is second only to the NFL, I believe when it comes revenue-generating spectator sports, though I'm not sure about that. It's definitely massive, and professional in all but name. And what the hell was that Santa Claus metaphor he made at the end.... ??? So that was pretty banal, but I suppose a minimally informative primer for NY Times-reading non-sports fans.....
$50k/y is a modest entry level professional salary. Kind of shocking that these athletes are so exploited that it makes such a big difference for them.
As a CFB fan who follows recruiting this report is laughable, or at least needlessly disingenuous. Oregon certainly pays their players with big NIL deals, and it's not like Texas is doing anything different than any other big time program, and he made it sound like they did, presumably just to juice the narrative a bit, even though it was misleading. Because there's no Texas model. They all do it. They're called bidding wars. Texas merely outbid Oregon from some OL. Moreover, it hasn't affected recruiting at all, with respect to which teams end up with the best players on signing day, because they're all paying their players now, with NIL deals of various amounts. So it's same old same old on that score, and is a wash. But he's right that it is a bit of a free for all with no regulation. And the NCAA can't do nothing about it, because they'll just get busted in the courts again if they dare to try. And naturally, being The NY Times they had to allude to how women are somehow getting a raw deal yet again, which of course is not merely misleading but is absurd. The market is deciding on the amount. But as a good liberal one must at least make the pro forma nod to the perpetual unjust suffering of American women.
In any case, this is all straightforward stuff to any CFB fan, with the exception of not being privy to all the nitty gritty details of the various deals players sign, which would be cool to know. And yes, I suppose this state of affairs could characterized as 'unsustainable', and eventually they will switch to some version of full professionalism. Though naturally the schools will do everything in their power to keep as much of the big TV and gate money as possible, while as of now they still keep all of it. And even this NY Times lady, this interviewer, presumed non-sports fan, had no choice but to push back on the nonsensical assertion that the moral fiber of CFB might be compromised by finally letting these players get paid. This guy was pushing some of the same unreconstructed, reactionary talking points, shared by both super right-wing MAGA CFB fans, as well as the schools themselves, who almost unfathomably made these same utterly feeble arguments before SCOTUS, and then promptly lost their case 9-0, which of course is what directly precipitated this seismic shift on the college sports landscape. Nobody cares about the romance of amateurism, which was a legal fiction from the start created very purposely and solely to exploit the players. Anything else, any sentimental attachment to phony and contrived and coercive 'amatuerism' was merely incidental. And quite frankly as a fan, or an alum, is something to be ashamed of, that your frilly, privileged, condescending selves are quite content to leave it alone, and let this appalling iniquity continue and let the players get nothing simply because it pleases you. And CFB is second only to the NFL, I believe when it comes revenue-generating spectator sports, though I'm not sure about that. It's definitely massive, and professional in all but name. And what the hell was that Santa Claus metaphor he made at the end.... ???
So that was pretty banal, but I suppose a minimally informative primer for NY Times-reading non-sports fans.....
This is the Big Time College Sports version of Citizens United. (Meanwhile, as an unwashed non-subscriber I can't watch any sports live).