Drowning In Money

IN THE 1920s it started becoming evident that big time college football could make a lot of maney for big time universities, as college football stadiums filled up with tens of thousands of fans, and opportunistic administrators took their college football programs to bed with corporate America, a marriage which has only grown and intensified. Today, multi billion dollar television contracts between major athletic conferences and TV networks are now the norm, and getting bigger by the year. Tens of millions of dollars flow into the bank accounts of major universities, who then compete for the best talent in the county, paying millions of dollars a year to successful coaches, to administrators, and, now, as of the past several years, to players themselves. Athletic facilities, stadiums, fitness training centers, on campus dietery and health facilities, are gifted with millions of dollars of fancy upgrades; a big tie university campus now has modern, expensive facilites of all kinds, all feeding the monster of a billion dollar college athletic industry. A college football player receives fifty thousand dollars a year worth of assistance in the locker room to maintain his health and to deal with injuries, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year in value in meals, housing, edcuation, an assorted amenities. Each fotball player for a majour university is a huge investment, and a huge payback in terms of profit. Thus, after one hundred years of amateur status resulting in personal impoverishment and checks from parents back home to sustain the athletes, athletes, seeing the financial landscape, demanded to get paid, to share in the billion dollar bonanza. Their demands have been met, by universities left with no other choice. Now, its all about money. Money has always been important in "amateur" athletics, but traditionally took a back seat in an athlete's decision where to attend college, with academic standards, academic majors, distance form home, fan loyalties being of equal or greater importance. Now, its all about money. This is true of professional as well and college athletics. Ticket prices are staggering, as are salaries. Professional basketball players are making tens of millions of dollars a year. The first billion dollar contracts in professional baseball, basketball, and football are not far in the future. Money has always been a major factor. Now, its almost the only factor. A star high school football player is a free agent, and can consider offers from many schools, offers invloving hundreds of thousands of dollars. If a university offers half a million dollars in NIL (Name, image, and likeness) money, another university might offer a million, settling the issue. Billionaire benefactor-donars are courted like royalty by universities, hoping to be handed millions in NIL money with which to purchase the best talent in the country. University athletic departments send out thousands of letters to alumni, business people - everybody - asking for donations with which a stockpile of cash will be accumulated, to use for paying the players. What was intended as a system in which players were free to get payments for endorsing consumer products like professional athletes has devolved into a blatantly pure pay for play scheme. The love of money has turned ccollege athletics into professional athletis. How long will it be before the flow of manna will trickle down to the high school level, and then to Pee Wee football? A simple system of standardized remuneration, at a reasonable level for all college athletes, is the only solution, and will likely, after much wailing and teeth gnashing, be implemented. But until then, its the wild wild west in big time college athlteis, and only a few major universities will be able to afford to play the big money game. Everyone else will sink and drown amid the unrestrained financial rat race dog fight. In seven of the past eight years attendance at major college football games has declined. People are starting to lose interest. When fans start turning off their flat screens and disconnecting their cable television, the whole system will collapse. Until then,enjoy the gladitorial circus feeding frenzy.