Everybody seems to think it's ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20 million on their roster. So do I. There's no way a team this good should cost that little.
Great read, and as a fellow Northwestern alum/fan, I also am questioning Pat Ryan’s spending habits! I get that it’s sometimes harder to get older people around to the idea of paying athletes directly now, but even a sliver of that stadium money could’ve established the NIL fund for at least a decade.
I feel like that's kind of an old way of thinking about the game now. One thing the introduction of money seems to have done is make the game more like the pros, which means any team can win on any given Saturday. Winning one game isn't as important now as managing the long season and putting yourself in a position to play well when it matters. To me, a national title>winning your rivalry game. Any fan base that would trade beating their rival over a national title is insane. In the NFL, the Steelers don't feel like the season is a bust if they lose twice to the Ravens but win the Super Bowl. I think college is going to feel more like that from here on out. And honestly, I kind of welcome it. All this dumb crap about not using the letter M during rivalry week and what not. It's over-the-top, fake-hatred stupidity in the name of tradition. If leveling things out means that rivalry games end up only being kind of special, I'll welcome it.
The premise of this article is founded on the idea that people think its ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20M because that's too much money, whereas the reality is I think the people that think its ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20M on this roster think its ridiculous because they're supposedly a college football team competing with other like minded universities who aren't even in the same stratosphere as them on spending. I don't disagree with your belief that that's always how college football has worked one way or the other, but the idea that people's reaction is one based on "valuation" kind of misses the mark for me, I really don't think the average fan thinks what your implying (and let's be honest the majority of pushback is merely because people are jealous more than anything).
Players are currently paid through external collectives. Once a judge signs a ruling, expect ed in April, all student athletes, not just football, will be paid through revenue sharing directly with the school. There will be a salary cap. Not all schools can afford the salary cap.
Revenue sharing is the player’s worth. It’s not the NFL, but players can still be paid a lot. Players will no longer be paid by external collectives, which was always temporary.
This link explains the breakdown of how revenue sharing will work for all sports and what schools are projected to be able to afford within the salary cap. https://nil-ncaa.com/
The salary cap the first year is expected to be between $20.5 and $23.5 million, or 22% of the revenue. Only 30 schools can afford the cap. This is a player pool. This doesn’t include coaching salaries which are paid through the state for public schools subsidized by boosters because they aren’t bound to the rules of what a student-athlete is.
Ohio State still lost to Michigan with their NFL team. Notre Dame is private and doesn’t need to disclose what their collectives paid players. Future player agreements will be approved through an NCAA clearinghouse, so even private schools will be disclosing player salaries.
While I'm not sure if someone has come up with an accurate projection of what this Ohio State team is actually worth, I would hesitate to say that the proposed settlement gets college athletes closer to getting their true worth. While the revenue-sharing cap will skyrocket with the expanded CFP, I bet that we both agree that even if Ohio State pays its roster $35 million, that is still a long way off from what they are worth and deserve.
Great read, and as a fellow Northwestern alum/fan, I also am questioning Pat Ryan’s spending habits! I get that it’s sometimes harder to get older people around to the idea of paying athletes directly now, but even a sliver of that stadium money could’ve established the NIL fund for at least a decade.
Great article, especially the part about the easy $50 mil that could go to NIL for Northwestern.
Ohio State claimed a nice consolation prize after yet another disappointing season in which they lost the only game that matters.
I feel like that's kind of an old way of thinking about the game now. One thing the introduction of money seems to have done is make the game more like the pros, which means any team can win on any given Saturday. Winning one game isn't as important now as managing the long season and putting yourself in a position to play well when it matters. To me, a national title>winning your rivalry game. Any fan base that would trade beating their rival over a national title is insane. In the NFL, the Steelers don't feel like the season is a bust if they lose twice to the Ravens but win the Super Bowl. I think college is going to feel more like that from here on out. And honestly, I kind of welcome it. All this dumb crap about not using the letter M during rivalry week and what not. It's over-the-top, fake-hatred stupidity in the name of tradition. If leveling things out means that rivalry games end up only being kind of special, I'll welcome it.
I died when you made the comparison to paying for KCP.
The premise of this article is founded on the idea that people think its ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20M because that's too much money, whereas the reality is I think the people that think its ridiculous that Ohio State spent $20M on this roster think its ridiculous because they're supposedly a college football team competing with other like minded universities who aren't even in the same stratosphere as them on spending. I don't disagree with your belief that that's always how college football has worked one way or the other, but the idea that people's reaction is one based on "valuation" kind of misses the mark for me, I really don't think the average fan thinks what your implying (and let's be honest the majority of pushback is merely because people are jealous more than anything).
This is not at all what revenue sharing is and what it will become. NCAA president Baker has spoken about what it will look like. I wrote about it last month. https://substack.com/home/post/p-153380244?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Players are currently paid through external collectives. Once a judge signs a ruling, expect ed in April, all student athletes, not just football, will be paid through revenue sharing directly with the school. There will be a salary cap. Not all schools can afford the salary cap.
Revenue sharing is the player’s worth. It’s not the NFL, but players can still be paid a lot. Players will no longer be paid by external collectives, which was always temporary.
This link explains the breakdown of how revenue sharing will work for all sports and what schools are projected to be able to afford within the salary cap. https://nil-ncaa.com/
The salary cap the first year is expected to be between $20.5 and $23.5 million, or 22% of the revenue. Only 30 schools can afford the cap. This is a player pool. This doesn’t include coaching salaries which are paid through the state for public schools subsidized by boosters because they aren’t bound to the rules of what a student-athlete is.
Ohio State still lost to Michigan with their NFL team. Notre Dame is private and doesn’t need to disclose what their collectives paid players. Future player agreements will be approved through an NCAA clearinghouse, so even private schools will be disclosing player salaries.
While I'm not sure if someone has come up with an accurate projection of what this Ohio State team is actually worth, I would hesitate to say that the proposed settlement gets college athletes closer to getting their true worth. While the revenue-sharing cap will skyrocket with the expanded CFP, I bet that we both agree that even if Ohio State pays its roster $35 million, that is still a long way off from what they are worth and deserve.