This statement from Mark Stoops in an article made me finally realize the utter futility of our attempts to compete in big time college sports:
With the Kentucky faithful up in arms, head football coach Mark Stoops was on The UK Healthcare Mark Stoops Show and stated that if Kentucky fans were upset about the loss, they needed to "pony up more" NIL money and insinuated that all 85 of Georgia's players were paid.
Two things are obvious. 1) While it has always been true, players (football and basketball) expect to benefit for there work whether it be through direct payments of one type or another or indirectly through facilities and the many other other enhancements that come from playing big time sports. Open and legal compensation, as enabled by NIL, has accelerated the subsequent burden on college programs and the their supporters. 2) Though some programs are finding ways to compete in this new environment, most will remain irrelevant, relegated to remaining cannon fodder for the relative few teams vying for the playoffs.
Another thing that has not been talked about is the greed involved here. "Greed" has always been mentioned within the context of universities crudely using players to line their own pockets. While this is true, another aspect of greed has become apparent. The better/best players are demanding the largest piece of the compensation pie leaving very little for their follow players. In a way, they have become the white collar CEOs (eg. quarterback) who demand high dollars for their work while expecting the blue collar (eg. linemen) to take whatever the market will bear. I find this somewhat hypocritical in an age when so many rail against individual and corporate greed.
My interest in college sports has begun to wane as I realize that the University of Illinois, the only program I truly love, has no real chance to compete. Just my two cents.
www.ncaa.com
