Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[Kinch]

Missouri Senator Schmitt talked with a reporter on the Cruz bill he co sponsored. His point on media pooling: he said the bill would extend anti trust exemptions to pooling of media rights for college football. That was the purpose of the1961 broadcasting act to give protections to professional sports for pooling. He also said that NBA had half the audience as college football but double the media revenue. He said just as it is silly for the AFC West to negotiate its own deal, it is silly the way conferences bid their own rights. He said it is voluntary and a way for colleges to get additional revenue for Olympic sports.

Busy Week For Missouri Senator Schmitt: Confidence On Iran Deal, Save College Sports Act, And FAA Funding Highlights (LISTEN) - Missourinet

Iran negotiations, college athletics, and millions in airport funding are all on the table. Matt Pilger talks with U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt. Share this:

www.missourinet.com

 

[FinalFourCy]

And there is it...he doesn't support the bill because it doesn't meet his virtue signalling requirement for paying economically-baseless loads of cash to college athletes. He's not alone though...other media talking heads and posters in this thread have brought up the same thing. IMO, the virtue signalling is what will kill the bill, rather than the actual merits of what the bill proposes to do.

Quite often, college coaches who end up getting "blockbuster" salaries get those in part because they are getting looks by the professional leagues, and those looks (whether just rumored or actual) are putting upward pressure on the salary bidding war. So, the salary has at least some basis in real economic market value.

Is that the same case in college sports now, where "Daddy Warbucks" donors pile money into NIL collectives so their favorite college can buy teams? Maybe in a few cases, but in my opinion, usually not. Milan Momcilovic is a great example of this. Outside of the artificially-created college eco-system, is MM worth $ 6 million a year? Was any other basketball league willing to pay him that money?

I think in the college sports eco-system, the vast majority of the risk is taken by the schools. They have to take the loans to build the facilities, they have to pay salaries to keep coaches out of the pro leagues, they have to provide food, medical, housing, tutoring, transportation etc. to the athletes. Seems fair to me that if you take the majority of the risk, you should get the majority of the compensation. And it is certainly debateable whether the risks taken by the colleges are wise and actually within the scope of the mission of the college...like building 100,000 seat stadiums and paying coaches $10,000,000/yr. I don't think the way to control outlandish spending by college ADs is to pay artificially-inflated salaries to college athletes.

I asked google whether it was riskier to play college sports or to go for drive in a car...the answer could be totally wrong, or maybe it isn't...

Driving a car presents a significantly higher risk of serious injury or fatality than playing college sports. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Safety Council, car accidents cause millions of injuries and tens of thousands of deaths every year. In contrast, while NCAA sports carry inherent risks, serious catastrophic injuries are rare

Artificial?? The market clearly says these athletes are not fungible.

This can be debated for years.

Perfection is the enemy of good. They have to give up on settling this in the bill. Amend out the labor/employment issue

 

[FinalFourCy]

It’s unfortunate that labor politics is such a big part of the bill

But we can all laugh at Nick Saban thinking it’s just now an arms race or worrying about it becoming about which team spends more.

 

[FinalFourCy]

probably a better argument than needing to keep up with China

Just how many transfers are injured??

Or are they talking about the players that get encouraged into portal, historically a bigger number, that no longer get as good of treatment or physical development

I’m glad I don’t need to provide evidence of my next job having adequate gyms and doctors before allowed to accept raise

It’s the only option, so we have to support it as a conference and fans, but the bill is politically not well crafted, and the advocates for it stepping on their dicks

 

[Kinch]

Notice all the gobble gook that Tony Petitti said in his statement today, still no specifics on what the Big 10 wants. What an entitled idiot.

 

[FinalFourCy]

 

[Kinch]

This lawyer crushes Sankey’s arguments, but also speculates that this might be a Bill of Attainder prohibited by the constitution.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

Is this the only issue in America right now that kind of runs a jagged line through party politics? Seems like there are going to be a fair amount for republicans and democrats both for and against this bill.

 

[Kinch]