College football and basketball are minor leagues which creates the problem. Based off of the people involved they don’t want it to be that. But they make so much money off of it it’s only fair to let the players make the money too. The other issue is if you tried to form an independent actual minor league nobody will watch and they don’t make money. The logos actually matter more than the players.
Exactly. Without the school uni, the players are worth nothing. If people want to argue the players need a bigger cut that argument can be mad, but don’t for a second think it’s the individual players generating the revenue.
Take the same players from Oregon and Washington, put them on minor league NFL teams from Eugene and Seattle and see how much money they bring in from attendance, TV, and merch. No one would care or watch. We know this because it’s been tried. But with better players than college players.
This is pretty spot on. The only people who attend minor league baseball games are people who (1) are insane fans and have little else going on their lives, or (2) are serious baseball fans and live in cities without a MLB team. It's a functional league and nobody gaF who wins whatever division. It's a talent farm, hence the name.
College football is different precisely because of the school and geographical affiliation. It's why every fan base hates when a local kid leaves to play against the local team. It's emotional and personal.
Some of the same principles apply to the NFL as well. If they players go too far and fuck up the league then they have nowhere to go. We all know there are people who have the physical talent to play at the NFL level who for whatever reason (usually they're fucked up people) aren't doing it. A lot of them are in prison. Does anybody care that there is a defensive end in Walla Walla or Sing Sing who could help the Hawks or could have played for Washington? No. You don't. He's not here. That's why you don't care.
You only care about players who help YOUR team, not players who aren't involved. The team part is more important than I think the average player realizes.
