quote:

Missouri athletics revenue was $141 million in 2022, mainly football. They can afford those coaching salaries...

While that may be true, it's still a State funded school. You can't separate the parts that bring in revenue from the parts that cost the taxpayer. Money is fungible. If it's part of the school's revenue, it shouldn't have its own budget. Just get the government out of education, make it a free market all the way around, and then let the schools decide how much they want to spend on sports. That would be fine with me.

The purpose of a school is a quality education. Some would say football has become detrimental to a quality education; some would say it's just a distraction. But either way, football is no longer just an "extra-curricular" activity. It's big business.

I'm a football fan, but the same logic applies to the NFL. It brings in a lot of revenue. It's a big business. Yet, still, State and local governments throw money at the NFL to get or keep a franchise in their town. I'm not in favor of 'public-private partnerships'.

Most coaching salaries are not paid from state funds, they are paid by external sources and of zero detriment to the funds available for education.

Football always has been big business, but now we've let the camels nose into the tent it will get even more crazy.

Did anyone catch the announcers discussing that the QB for Texas went to Ohio State and was paid $1 million to go via NIL, basically he got a signing bonus through NIL, played two snaps and left for TX.

Top 20 Most Profitable College Football Programs
The 20 most profitable college football programs made an eye-popping $925 million combined after expenses. The SEC is the leading conference on the field and on the balance sheet, as it has nine schools in the top 20. Of the remaining 11 most profitable programs, there are four from the Big Ten, three from Pac-12, two from the Big-12 and one from the ACC. Here’s the complete list:

Texas – $92 million
Tennessee – $70 million
LSU – $58 million
Michigan – $56 million
Notre Dame – $54 million
Georgia – $50 million
Ohio State – $50 million
Oklahoma – $48 million
Auburn – $47 million
Alabama – $46 million
Oregon – $40 million
Florida State – $39 million
Arkansas – $38 million
Washington – $38 million
Florida – $37 million
Texas A&M – $37 million
Penn State – $36 million
Michigan State – $32 million
USC – $29 million
South Carolina – $28 million
Wins don’t affect the bottom line
Texas is by far the most profitable football program despite only winning five games last season. On the flip side, Clemson won 14 games and competed in the National Championship yet it’s not one of the 20 most profitable football programs.

Texas makes the most money after expenses because of television revenue. The University of Texas owns the Longhorn Network which broadcasts its games. The most profitable conferences, the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12, each run their own lucrative television network as well. Television revenue also boosts the profits of Notre Dame’s football team, as the Fighting Irish have an exclusive deal with NBC to broadcast its games.

Other uber-profitable schools, like Tennessee and Michigan, supplement television revenue the old-fashion way, generating money from ticket sales in their gigantic stadiums. The Wolverines home field, Michigan Stadium, is the largest in the country, seating over 107,000 people while Volunteers’ stomping ground, Neyland Stadium, holds just over 102,000 fans.

If these ultra-lucrative football programs are so profitable, should student-athletes be paid?
The elephant in the room is that all of these schools are making lots of money from the hard work of unpaid student-athletes. In light of these immense profits, fans and the media have begun to put pressure on the NCAA to start compensating football and men’s basketball players. Despite growing public sentiment to pay student-athletes, the reality is that even athletic departments with the most profitable football programs struggle to break even.

This happens because football and, to a lesser extent, men’s basketball subsidize all of the other sports which do not generate any revenue. So, in order pay student-athletes, schools would have to cut other non-revenue sports.

LINK: https://www.athleticscholarshi...ge-football-programs

Some Hope for the Future of CFB?

Looks like it.

There are two podcasters I trust for CFB information, Joel Klatt, and this guy, Josh Pate.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Transfer portal is good, it now allows kids to move from schools where they will never play, or have a poor relationship/fit with the school to one where they can start, play, and have a good fit.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I am curious. Schools such as Duke and Northwestern have some pretty rigorous academic standards. How do they handle the kid with poor grades and great athletic ability with the transfer portal? Do these students ever graduate? Are the academic standards waived?

Northwestern has some built-in hurdles to overcome when it comes to transfers. First and foremost, of course, is academics. Getting an undergrad transfer into school is just about impossible, which is why, in the last two cycles, 14 of the 15 Northwestern transfers were graduates, including all six of them last year.

Secondly, there’s Northwestern’s quarter system, which starts right after the New Year, instead of mid-January, and makes getting an athlete through admissions in time for the start of classes very difficult. Furthermore, players who start classes in the spring quarter miss half of spring practice.

I could type a whole lotta words about what I don't like about NIL(and yes there is a benefit or two) but I will just say these two things.

They need to adjust the portal dates till AFTER the bowl games. The contracts should be structured so that 40% or more of the money is paid out after they play in the bowl game. Aggravating having players sitting out and transferring before the last game of the season.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Transfer portal is good, it now allows kids to move from schools where they will never play, or have a poor relationship/fit with the school to one where they can start, play, and have a good fit.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I am curious. Schools such as Duke and Northwestern have some pretty rigorous academic standards. How do they handle the kid with poor grades and great athletic ability with the transfer portal? Do these students ever graduate? Are the academic standards waived?

I used to be a season ticket holder for Cal-Berkeley football, one of the gripes amongst boosters and alumni was the disparity in how other major universities handled their student-athletes versus how Cal did. In short, there was very little if any accommodation and minimal support to the Cal players, to the point that there exists a very real, and palpable adversarial attitude between the players and the professors/administrators.

Players who were already on a team but who graduates early, has to apply into the grad program and get accepted before they could finish out their playing career. Most schools, if a player graduates early but still has eligibility remaining, they get them into a grad program no issues...Matt Lenient during his senior year had already graduated so he was taking dance & film classes during his final year at USC. Some schools that are academically rigorous like a UCLA, Michigan, Virginia or privates like a Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy are more forgiving than others and recognize the competitive landscape that exists.