NCAA Settlement
- Thread starter isucy86
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IDK, there will without a doubt be a massive gulf and those at the top will try to hoard talent.
But at the end of the day, as CW has pointed out, there's only so much playing time available for each athlete. Plenty of guys would transfer out in order to get on the field in the ACC or Big 12.
There is a gulf, and ISU will not be winning nattys in this era, but we can still enjoy damn good football, and in a conference that we can realistically win.
We like to think that but if you look at what goes on in the portal that doesn't happen. We see all sorts of guys that transfer up for a reduced role for the allure of playing in the 'big time'. There are so, so many guys that would rather play 8-10 minutes a night in a power league than 30 in a league where they could be all league type players.
Completely agree on the second part.
That’s going both ways though. Guys moving up for exposure and better pay, and guys moving laterally/down for more playing time.
One thing money can’t do is increase the number of starters on a football field. They could up the scholarship limit to 200. It’s still 11 on 11.
And yet, it worked for Nebby back in the day - they lived on stockpiling recruits.
Hell, the P2 really is a myth in terms of competitiveness in football. Moving forward it’s going to be a small handful of teams blowing everyone’s spending out of the water and hoarding talent.
With a salary cap and a draft, in the NFL you can’t even win without either a HOF QB or a really good QB on a rookie deal.
As this rolls along if you aren’t close to spending what the top couple do you’ll have no chance.
It isn’t about conferences being competitive because most in the P2 will have no shot at competing with the blue bloods.
People that talk about lack of parity in CFB are correct that there never really has been parity. But the recent era has had the most competitive balance we have seen in CFB. Prior to the scholarship reduction in the 90s the lower half teams in conferences didn’t even look like the same level of football as the blue bloods. At least recently competitive games have been the norm.
This difference is going to dwarf the old higher scholarship levels. Teams between blue bloods might be interesting still, but the days of solid program knocking off a big dog are going to change me to an end.
Right or wrong in terms of how this works and paying players, it’s really going to be more like a 6-10 team league with different levels of fodder.
That’s ancient history. There is a transfer portal now and every game is either on TV or streaming.
I’d also argue Nebraska made their hay on getting stud recruits who were partial qualifiers moreso than just hoarding players.
This feels basically like the country club-ification of college sports. The wealthiest are just separating themselves from the pack based off monetary considerations off the field. In the past, the economic divide fueled rivalries and begot the underdog stories. Now, the self-concieved "big dogs" are just locking out their "lessers".
There may also be roster caps when it all shakes out.
So you could go from 85 scholarships/140 players, to 100 scholarships/100 players.
Unless a kid really, really wants to have an expanded role, why on earth would they transfer down now? They're going to work in world class facilities making more than the average median household income just to be on a roster. If you're not going to play professionally anyway, why on earth would you take a voluntary paycut and not set yourself up for life after college.
Remember, these kids have grown up in an environment of sports as a business since their parents were kicking in a mortgage payment per month for them to play youth sports. The 'love of the game' kid isn't as prevalent as you think it is anymore.
Anyone know how our finances would compete with the Big 10/SEC? I heard something like 22% of the athletic department budget up to $20mil would be the required amount to pay out. I'm assuming most/every Big10/SEC team would cap out at that $20mil figure, just not sure where we would fall.
I agree with most of your post, and that there hasn’t ever been parity in CFB. I would disagree there’s more parity now than ever.
The game is more consolidated and isolated to two regions more than it’s ever been.
From 1976-1999, 18 different schools claimed national championships, from 2000-2024 there have been 14. Pre-2000, 4 different teams west of the Texas/Oklahoma border won nattys, post-2000 only 1. Pre-2000 8 different teams north of the Mason-Dixon Line won nattys, post-2000 only 2.
Not to mention there are fewer kids playing the sport with new science on concussions, and the smaller pool of talent is getting aggregated in two regions (but primarily 1, the southeast).
I’m sure everyone recognizes this, but CFB is in trouble. People look at the ratings and say, well the sport is strong. But the ratings aren’t growing (they’re actually going down if you look at the CFP) and the sport itself is becoming more isolated.
I agree, it’s not “love of the game”. All of these kids’ goal is to make the NFL. If you talk to the athletes, every one of them thinks they’ll play in the NFL. You transfer down to get playing time and exposure
I agree with the bolded, but my concern is that even those non-blue bloods (Illinois, Miss St, etc) could separate themselves to a much higher level than Big12/ACC schools.
Like, imagine Illinois with 50 more scholarships and $50M more budget than ISU- and imagine that continues for 10 years. That's the difference between ISU and UNI.
They don’t always willingly transfer down. They enter the portal thinking they will get picked up somewhere and then end up with no other options but going to lower tier program. Happens to a lot of players every year.
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This. Player mobility will go a long way to prevent a situation like the Nebraska rosters of the past. And as long as the college game is a feeder system for the NFL, playing time is going to matter a lot to at least some players, and probably a great many of them. You can make a million dollars a year riding the pine at Ohio State, or you can make 500k starting for Iowa State. So long as future goal is the NFL, there will be players willing to take less to play more.
And destroy their developmental league? Zero chance
The focus should be for ISU to be able to play to the game based on the rules of the Big 12 conference. Be competitive in our conference and we will all enjoy the product and the experience.
Iowa State has figured out, with current coaches and AD, how to be competitive even with big budget OU and UT in the conference. I have good confidence we can stay competitive in the new Big 12.
If we have a limited amount of money to pay players in football and basketball, I would rather have 70 football scholarships so we can pay a higher amount to the players and give them more time on the field. If others in the Big 12 want to have 110 football players getting paid, the pay will get diluted. It is hard for the NFL to draft you if they never see you play!
My last point, we don't have that many sports compared to some of our conference peers. The southern schools are going to have to use some of their payroll money on sports like baseball, which in some schools is a profit center.
We will have to adapt, and I think we have good leaders in the conference and at Iowa State to focus on a level playing field in the Big 12. At least at Iowa State we will have a chance to win conference titles compared to many of the BIG and SEC schools.
Iowa State has figured out, with current coaches and AD, how to be competitive even with big budget OU and UT in the conference. I have good confidence we can stay competitive in the new Big 12.
If we have a limited amount of money to pay players in football and basketball, I would rather have 70 football scholarships so we can pay a higher amount to the players and give them more time on the field. If others in the Big 12 want to have 110 football players getting paid, the pay will get diluted. It is hard for the NFL to draft you if they never see you play!
My last point, we don't have that many sports compared to some of our conference peers. The southern schools are going to have to use some of their payroll money on sports like baseball, which in some schools is a profit center.
We will have to adapt, and I think we have good leaders in the conference and at Iowa State to focus on a level playing field in the Big 12. At least at Iowa State we will have a chance to win conference titles compared to many of the BIG and SEC schools.
