AZDuck
New Fish
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday that Division I football and basketball might be better served by following Major League Baseball's model, in that players are allowed to sign professionally right out of high school.
"Maybe in football and basketball, it would work better if more kids had a chance to go directly into the professional ranks," Delany said. "If they're not comfortable and want to monetize, let the minor leagues flourish. Train at IMG, get agents to invest in your body, get agents to invest in your likeness and establish it on your own. But don't come here and say, 'We want to be paid $25,000 or $50,000.' Go to the D-League and get it, go to the NBA and get it, go to the NFL and get it. Don't ask us what we've been doing.
"I think we ought to work awful hard with the NFL and the NBA to create an opportunity for those folks. We have it in baseball, we have it in golf, works pretty good, we have it in golf, we have it in hockey. Why don't we have it in football, basketball? Why is it our job to be minor leagues for professional sports?"
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9723411/big-ten-commissioner-jim-delany-discusses-possible-football-basketball-changes (not citrus)
A follow-up idea:
Maybe NFL teams can have an underclassmen draft to buy the rights to college players for a fixed price of $25K/year. The players are still eligible for their college team but if they are NFL-worthy they will get paid. This would make the NFL pay something for their unofficial minor league, not cost universities anything, and prevent any Title IX issues.
This is something that has promise. The fucktarded aspect of the "APU" movement is that most college players, even in Division IA, are never going to get paid to play again. The degrees they will earn from their respective universities will help them move on in life, and the total package these guys get (think training table, trainers/coaches, room/board and tuition) already is over 100K per year.
Also, there is no way you could pay CFB athletes and not pay all other athletes. To say nothing of what this would mean for the Eastern Washingtons and Linfield Colleges of the world, whose athletes do not get so much as a sniff from the NFL or any other pro leagues, generally speaking.
Last edited: