This is such a great piece. Thanks for the honest thoughts Stanz.
Division 1 athletics as we knew it is over, at least for the revenue sports.
Over the years as I have listened to the arguments for and against paying players, I always had two thoughts:
1. It is wildly hypocritical for the NCAA, and administrators/coaches, to argue against it given that they were making millions on the product of which players were the key raw material. In almost every business, the people cost is your top two or three expense line. Not so for the NCAA...
2. Advocates for paying players - be careful what you wish for. Only a handful of players can command the real money. It should have become apparent to anyone watching those old arguments play out that the same handful of players would eventually make their way to the richest schools. What will be the ramifications of that?
"Blueblood" or super conferences would emerge. Those conferences will get even more massive contracts from TV and other exposure entities (streaming, apparel, etc). The "even more" money will come at the expense of lower conferences, just like players moving "up" at the expense of the lower conferences. Forget what this will do to mid-majors - this will decimate any non-"Blueblood" conference, including the Big12, Big East and perhaps the Pac12 once they lose a couple members to the next newly formed conference.
And here's the other thing. Is this really good for all of the kids that get "paid"? If I'm Tyrese Hunter and I'm making a decision based on dollars alone and assuming that it isn't retirement sized money, what if he doesn't develop into an NBA talent because the coach isn't as good? What if he can't get the minutes? Now, may have taken today's money at a cost of millions more down the road. There's a reason why college coaches don't make it in the pros - trying to manage 12 professionals and their individual needs is not easy. And none of those kids wants to be a role player on those teams. How will they handle that? There's a reason why Roy, Coach K and others got out as this mess started unfolding, and others will follow. This is an unmanageable situation and the average tenure of a college coach will be more akin to NBA/NFL coaches than college dynasty-types.
It is what it is, but the NCAA has managed to kill the golden goose. It just doesn't know it's dead yet.