If there was a way to support volleyball away from NIL, I would consider that.
I know about car stereos etc have been going on forever. But I don't think players have been getting millions in cash forever. I know stuff gets bought for players in DIII.
The pitcher from Texas Tech got an extra million for the College Softball World Series championship series of 3 games. They lost and fans aren't happy with that. They thought they paid her to win the national championship.
That's what I don't like. $$$ going to players puts big expectations and targets on their backs. I did not like RG's letter. Cutting roster sizes in Olympic sports is going to hurt. Walk on's won't get many opportunities and some kids turned those in to scholarships for a year or two.
We already are seeing it with track and field with eliminating everything except cross country and distance running. The field part of track and field matters. Those kids got told they don't matter to Colorado. The Malones got told they don't matter to CU. This is wrong and has RG's blessing.
You are right in this.
It's hard to say this because I am a big time fan and would love to see Colorado win another NCi in football and in other sports but the concept of college sports is getting completely perverted.
I don't like the idea of college athletes getting millions of dollars, I don't like the idea that for many of the the college experience now is nothing more than what they can get from athletics, and the academics and connections and experiences aren't a part of that.
I see the argument about college athletes "making millions of dollars for their schools" but the huge majority of athletes aren't doing that. I can see in addition to their schooling cost providing athletes enough money to have a comparable experience to what typical students from upper middle class families enjoy but driving exotic cars, buying expensive jewelry, etc. aren't a part of that.
In both baseball and hockey the best young athletes go directly into a minor league system and skip the pretense of an academic experience, maybe we need to do the same with football and basketball. The NBA already has the G-league and the WNBA is growing in popularity enough that a W G-league might make sense.
So much is unknown right now but we knew before all the re-alignment and NIL stuff hit that most college programs weren't making money for their schools. Now if they are paying $20.5 million directly to athletes plus decreasing donations by the amount that some major donors divert to direct NIL payments it's hard to imagine trying to maintain an athletic program outside of the power conferences makes any sense and even for a lot in the power conferences it won't.
And this is before we address the issues presented in the future by Ttile IX suits and by athletes suing their schools directly for long term health issues due to participation which become an issue when athletes are now being paid.
fly true Division I wrestling program in the state is at the Air Force Academy, something which is not an option for most of these athletes. Northern Colorado has a program (which competes in the Big XII) but few Colorado kids grow up dreaming of going to school in Greeley.
Will we soon see the same thing for our Track and Field athletes, how about Volleyball, Tennis, etc.
I know this won't be popular, especially with those who are making money off the system but maybe we end up with some federal legislation that allows most of the colleges to turn the clock back to a system that doesn't make some elite athletes rich but that does offer more opportunity for a lot more athletes and makes financial sense for the schools.
Yes this "isn't fair" to the star athletes but everything has trade-offs. The huge majority of college athletes never have and never will make money from being a college athlete but most benefit greatly from the experience, the connections made, the doors opened by being a college athlete. The direction we are going is throwing a lot of that out so a few can collect a bag.
I love college sports but I can see myself in the future losing a lot of interest and/or refocusing my attention on D2 sports, etc.