Yep. Also while I know the point of the board is debate I am kinda surprised anyone on here would be in favor for this because considering people constantly post about how cheap ISU fans/alums are, making athletes employees would be pretty devastating for ISU.
NIL op ed
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I don't profess to have even an basically understanding of small school economics.
But for the major conferences, if we live in a world where Jack effing Swarbrick can make probably close to 3 million dollars a year we can find a way to find at least that amount to pay players. It's just intellectually dishonest to state otherwise.
Once you pay them, then they'll be employees with all the costs attached to that, and also there will be a bidding war on players that creates a steep divide of have and have nots, worse than what we see with NIL. A lot of programs (and not just small ones) will just bow out.
Paying one dude (particularly one dude in charge of one of the largest, most prestigious athletic departments in the country) a lot of money doesn't translate to having the money to pay hundreds of people any significant amount of money (again, especially with all the related costs that would come with that).
Also we are paying players now, it’s called NIL. The best revenue generating athletes are all being paid in addition to their scholarships and other benefits
I think they should be employees and they'll need to figure out a way to handle that, and if they can't with the amount of dollars being thrown around everybody in these AD's are dumber than I thought.
It seems to me that it's starting to get out of control. Unfortunatley, for the have-nots, it will have to get worse and more out of control, and the Covid year to be done, etc., before it matters. Before it matters to anybody who can somewhat fix it, that is. And my definition of fixing, would likely include some measures of equity, disclosure, monetary caps, taxation, etc. Some rules and governance, in other words.
Yes, and taxation. Who decides or knows how much some of these players are getting, and are they fairly taxed for this income? I don't see that as possible in today's climate of NIL, with basically no rules. I haven't been following it that closely.
Swarbrick, earning 2.5 million as of 2019, and earns way more than 99% of all AD's... says the money is out of control and athletics is in crisis.
Notre Dame's Jack Swarbrick's Salary is Way Higher Than Any Other Athletics Director
Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick's base salary is under $1 million but he earns $2 million in other compensation.herosports.com
Notre Dame Releases Salaries for Brian Kelly, Muffet McGraw, Mike Brey & Jack Swarbrick for 2018-19
Mike Brey was the highest compensated Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to tax documents released today by the university. But the federal disclosure doesn’t...www.onefootdown.com
So yes, ND and Swarbuck, are part of the "haves", the bluebloods of the athletic world. So criticism against him speaking out, is somewhat valid.
It's going to takes a wide assortment of people, who want to save college athletics, people of the "haves" and the "have nots", coming together, to come up with some solutions.
Pretty sure they are paying taxes to avoid tax fraud. Most schools have depts to handle this and help the students out with this part.
OK. I hope the schools are doing it right. How do we know though?
Sure, it's all right on their W2's, clear as day. Nothing under the table, at all.
So if there is a legal determination that D1 players are classified as employees, why would that same classification not apply to D2 or D3? There is clearly way more money at the D1 levels, but the lower levels also earn revenue from sports played by players who get a scholarship at most.
How do we know if anyone is paying their proper taxes? We don’t, that’s why tax fraud is a crime.
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The IRS does that, just like they do for all of the rest of us. And if someone doesn't pay their taxes, then they'll pay the price, just like the rest of us. We don't need special rules and/or protections for these people, just because they're athletes. Non-athletes get endorsement deals for their name, image and likeness all the time, and nobody worries about if they're getting taxed fairly on it. Some folks seem to throw up their hands at problems that already have solutions, when it comes to this new landscape of college athletics.
All of this is new. And NIL has been a legitimate enterprise for professional athletes for some time, yes. That doesn't mean the blending of new and old here, will be a saintly endeavor.
It just seems to have so many ways to play the game, so many ways to hide income. There are no rules yet, that I am aware of, of any substance, that is. How can someone fairly pay tax when the government, or IRS, does not know how much income for NIL was involved? Are the alumni and boosters following W4 instructions and submitting W2 forms? Good luck with that.
How do we know players weren't paid as recruits before NIL? We don't, that's why NIL is fine.
Regarding the tax aspect of this, I see two avenues here. 1) a company pays an athlete for a sponsorship/advertisement. This creates a 1099 from the company to the athlete so that the company can claim it as a tax deductible expense. 2) someone donates to a collective/charity, gets a tax deduction that way. Collective/charity then uses money to pay athletes to do some charitable activity. Collective/charity then sends 1099 to athlete.
In both cases, a 1099 is produced and thus recorded for the IRS to know about and expect from the athlete.
In both cases, a 1099 is produced and thus recorded for the IRS to know about and expect from the athlete.
This is an interesting thought, what is stopping the classification from going to even lower levels? Some private high schools will give scholarships to play on their sports teams, is it just the fact that D1 football and basketball make money that is the problem?
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Again, you're talking about a problem that already has a solution mechanism in place. Both the entity that's paying and the payee are required by law to report those payments to the IRS. Failing to do so can result in significant punishment. Now, do some people still cheat on their taxes? Sure. Do some get away with it? Sure. And some NIL payers/recipients are going to do that too. But the legal guidelines are already in place for this, and have been for years and years. Just because legal payments to college athletes are new, doesn't mean that the rules for paying taxes on those payments are as well.
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Yep. If the people targeting tax audits are smart (which is debateable) they will target the **** out of College NIL for a few years to raise revenue and to help "encourage" compliance.
Not fine. In its present form.
I would be in favor of more regulation, caps, an equity bias, so that the "haves" cannot simply outspend the "have-nots". And while they are at it, make NIL something that the advertisers, the universities, etc., pick up, rather than the fans. The fans pay for too much (or enough) as it is.
Also, when the fans have to pay for NIL (I realize that advertisers are set up to pay the athletes for NIL, to some extent), schools like ISU lose out because they cannot compete with even minimally similar cash flow.
