[The Miami Ute]

Nothing…I was a bad boy this year…or maybe a bag of coal.

[The Miami Ute]

I saw some Lobos in Yellowstone this past weekend. They were chowing down on a Buffalo carcass, so I’m down for the Lobos…

[The Miami Ute]

Sports is a loss-leader for the vast majority of universities. That leads me to conclude that if the courts force universities to compensate athletes as employees, then most universities will take the path of least resistance and drop sports in general. Most will drop sports because such a large group of athletes won’t be affordable to maintain but others, like Cal/Stanford/Vanderbilt/Northwestern, etc..will drop sports due to pressure from academia and because of principle. Something else that could happen is that, with the exception of say, 30-40 huge schools, most schools, if they want to maintain an athletic presence, will drop down to Division III. Below are the rules that Division 3 schools follow for athletes:

Division III (D3) schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but they do provide other forms of financial aid to student-athletes:
– Merit-based scholarships: Recognize academic achievements, leadership, and special talents.
– Need-based financial aid: Considers family income, assets, and other financial obligations to determine the level of assistance.
– Academic scholarships: Based on academic performance.
– Grants and work-study programs: Provide additional financial assistance.
– Institutional grants: Based on a variety of factors, including the student’s background, intended major, and overall fit with the college.
D3 schools are often most generous in offering other kinds of scholarships to athletes, with 75% of Division III athletes receiving nonathletic aid.

Here are some other things to know about D3 football scholarships:
– D3 schools do not require test scores for eligibility.
– D3 schools do not have NCAA Core Course or Core GPA requirements for eligibility.
– Student-athletes must meet the admissions standards set by the school.
– Student-athletes can receive athletic scholarships from private scholarship sources.
– Student-athletes can earn money from endorsements and promotions while remaining amateurs through NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) rules.

[The Miami Ute]

The problem with comparing college athletes with salaried employees of any industry, is that no one pays money to watch the salaried employees go about their business. In addition, sports in general don’t contribute anything tangible or of intrinsic value to society. In that sense, athletes are more akin to entertainers (singers, actors, comedians, etc..) in that their value is completely based on the number of eyeballs that they bring in. Just look at all of the sports that don’t have many followers or adherents and see what type of lifestyle those athletes have. Quite eye-opening, that. My point is that without us, the fans, all of these guys getting millions of dollars as college athletes will be relegated to ignominy like guys playing college lacrosse or rugby are now. If we the fans, as a collective, decide to shun college football or basketball, then current college football players will be like workers during the Depression going from place to place and saying “brother, can you spare a dime.”

[The Miami Ute]

Oklahoma has lost 26 players to the transfer portal. Some of the bigger names that Oklahoma has lost include quarterback Jackson Arnold, wide receiver Jaquaize Pettaway, linebacker Dasan McCullough, wide receiver Brenen Thompson, wide receiver Nic Anderson, tight end Bauer Sharp, wide receiver J.J. Hester, wide receiver Jalil Farooq and wide receiver Andrel Anthony.

[The Miami Ute]

Here’s what we know…we know that college football, under a certain set of guidelines, has been wildly popular for over a hundred of years. In fact, at one time college football was much more popular than professional football.

Here’s what we don’t know…we don’t know if professionalizing college football will expand or even maintain its current popularity.

My take, and I base it purely on my feelings towards the changes that are afoot and the new normal, is that it won’t.

I’ve said many times that college football is regional and local while the NFL is national. What that means is that it’s easy to root for an NFL team from a city that you’ve never even lived in but much harder to root for a college team that you have zero ties to. If college football eventually forms a Super League of say 30-40 top universities, that’s going to leave a large swath of the country (and a significant number of college football fans) out of the picture.

Personally, I don’t think the networks, the media or the Grand Poobahs from the B1G or SEC realize or understand this. A lot of these people think, and I’ve heard this mentioned, that if some Super League was formed, the state of Utah would be covered by the inclusion of BYU. This as if Utah fans would all of a sudden start following and watching BYU just because it’s a team from the state of Utah. Now, this comes from conflating the sentiments and emotions that apply to professional sports to those present in college sports. However, as I’m sure most people on this site would, there’s absolutely no way that this assumption is correct. Instead, what would happen is that the majority of sports fans in the state of Utah, and certainly most Utah alumni, would just do other things instead of watching BYU in the Super League.

The people that run college football kind of remind me of that line from Apocalypse Now, where CPT Willard says “No wonder Kurtz put a weed up Command’s ass. The war was being run by a bunch of four star clowns who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away.” College football is being run by a bunch of greedy media and P2 clowns that are going to give the whole circus away, and remember this, it’s a lot easier to destroy than it is to build.

[The Miami Ute]

Yeap, let me give some money away without it being a tax deduction said no millionaire ever.

[The Miami Ute]

I would agree with all that, especially the IRS part. You have to believe that somewhere soon down the line, the IRS will take an interest in all of these “kids” making hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much do you want to make a bet that quite a few of these guys, a lot of which have probably never had a job except for sports in their lives, are blowing off their fiduciary responsibilities?

[The Miami Ute]

Two more years after this season. Harlan gave him a six year deal when he left Utah State.

[The Miami Ute]

It’s a two way street, I have no problem someone following their self-interest, just don’t expect me to like it.

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