Take a step back and reflect

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Yesterday I was driving around the valley Christmas shopping and listening to sports talk radio. The one and done 7 million dollar high school kid was the rage.

Almost every corner had a man or woman holding a sign asking for help. It made me think about the money being spent on coaches, players, scholarships, recruiting and rising ticket prices for yes high school and college kids getting a free education ( for a year or two ). This isn’t professional sports. 1.5 billion dollars spent on NIL?

Maybe it’s time to reflect on the true meaning of life. Family friends and helping those in need that are less fortunate.

[SteelUte]

Jim, Sadly you are too right. I was explaining NIL to my kid last night, that a 17 year old kid is going to be making $7million dollars to play at BYU. I pondered my role though small and insignificant as a fan and supporter. As long as we keep filling the seats and buying the merchandise nothing will change. As a parent if my kids could earn a paid education I would be so ecstatic. Many of the kids on these teams are doing just that, but NIL is becoming a disgusting part of college sports. My interest and passion for college sports is waning.

[RUUTES]

“This isn’t professional sports”

It’s unregulated for profit entertainment for a country that has lost all sense of priority.

Teachers, nurses, firemen, can’t rent a condo in Salt Lake City without a roommate. Homelessness is increasing rapidly (though the state denies it).

And the mega rich now casually sling millions at high school kids because they can toss a ball around.

I’m not a Christian but…Jesus wept.

[jshame17]

Hell, mega rich also can openly buy governments and positions of power to directly make decisions that impact their given markets. What’s a few college programs to boost their egos further?

There are no rules anymore and we are about to see many cherished institutions be gutted for profit.

[ryynoo]

I’m glad someone brought this up. Great thread. Thanks

[Utah]

It’s everywhere. Not just college sports. Look at the buildings being built by the LDS corp. Hundreds of billions of dollars they’ve hoarded. Look at the president (old and new) and the politicians around them and the money they’ve amassed.

Look at how huge these corps have gotten: Amazon, Walmart, Disney, etc.

This is our world now, and until people and groups stop hoarding, nothing will change.

[Rick Walker]

This isn’t new, this has been part of life since industrialization. It’s just creeping a little higher than it did a couple decades ago.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

All true Utah. The one exception is most colleges are public institutions. They are there to provide our kids with an education and life changing experience. College sports provide scholarships and activities for students. Alumni and fans buy tickets and gear to support the sports programs and the university. How many professors make 1-8 million a year like our coaches? Now we are being asked to buy BB and FB players so we can be competitive with donors from other public universities.

[ProudUte]

Thanks, Jim. Nice post.

From time to time, I need to sit back and realize how blessed I am. This past football season was painful for me. But I hurt for those people in the hills of North Carolina who lost so much in the hurricane, and now snow and bad weather.

[lgt4141]

Good reminder to me that sports is entertainment and is how I choose to spend part of my time and money entertainment budget.

[EagleMountainUte]

I know you are trying to make a moral point I just wonder why it didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago when it was the school making the money on the bodies of kids?

A claim to morals in a morally devoid industry never really ever resonates with me.

[AlohaUte]

I hate this argument so much. You act like the kids were slaves and got nothing out of it. I would have loved to have had free tuition, room and board, meals, prioritized housing, paid for tutoring, etc. Players who played at Duke or Stanford or any private school (and heck many top public schools now) made well over 100K to play football in just scholarships alone. Spare me the “wo is the poor helpless D1 college football player”.

[EagleMountainUte]

I don’t need to spare you at all. Universities lost the court battle. They should 100% be allowed to sell their image. The current system when it comes to morals is infinitely better than what it was in the past.

The finger wagging moral argument of ending poverty over a kid getting paid also doesn’t matter to me. It is just virtue signaling. Homelessness is a multi faceted problem that will never be solved by money alone. That has been demonstrated for some time now. I care so much about homeless people I will virtue signal to show I care on a sports board. Ok. Dopamine release granted.

[AlohaUte]

This is the constant, I guess, shame or dilemma of sports. I mean Juan Soto just got $750m to play baseball. How perverse is that? Sports are important to our culture and society and they play a healthy role as a stress outlet for us. So they are not meaningless, but it is perverse that people are paid so much to do it. But that’s market economics. Your work is worth whatever it is someone is willing to pay you for it.

If I were a wealthy billionaire, I suppose I’d have enough money to help alleviate poverty and homelessness to some degree as well as support our Utes. But if I could only do one or the other, I wouldn’t be spending my money on Ute sports programs. That money would be better spent elsewhere. But everyone’s priorities are different.

[jshame17]

This is correct.

And unfortunately, in order to acquire that levels of wealth , it makes it much easier when you don’t have morals or empathy for other humans.

And yes, to be clear, I don’t believe Billionaires should be allowed to exist. But I’ll save that for other forums to debate.

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