Texas A&M Football Caught Paying 5 Star Recruits!

From my standpoint, you're right on some things but its oversimplified. Those teams, if you're referring to Bama, OSU, Clemson, etc, having 4 and 5 stars is correct. The issue is the next tier after that. We battle to try pull a couple 4 stars every year. The next tier of programs, who will likely be predominantly in the South because of the boon CFB is there, will start paying the next swath more heavily (Bama, OSU and co paying the 5 stars then the group of 4 stars they want) which is going to wean talent away from the middle of the crop and concentrate it places. There's no point whatsoever for a MN to pay one 4 star guy to bring him in. you won't win more games that way and you won't generate revenue from one guy. So it's going to hurt the middle tier programs from that standpoint.
Secondarily, the high concentration of talent places is going to hurt fan interest. Why watch your team if they're going to never have a chance to win? I would foresee this really hurting the G5 and lower tier P5 teams. The P5 teams who get to revenue share will be fine in their AD, but the G5 teams are going to be left out in increasing numbers (for example, the likelihood Cinci is going to keep that level of senior talent around is going to get less and less, because guys will be offered NIL with the chance to transfer when they show they're good). It's a double edged sword in that it isn't just going to concentrate the talent coming out of high school, it's also going to hit you when they set foot on campus and we've now made it legal and unenforceable where prior you at least took the risk that you could get hit with sanctions, post season bans, etc that would dissuade you from making it so widespread to every single player.
The playing field wasn't level before, but you've tipped the scales more heavily in favor of the haves. Schools at the level of MN, Iowa, Colorado, Washington, etc who are good at many things but not consistently "great" are going to be the ones who take the biggest hit and that is going to lead to college sports becoming less fun. It will be interesting to see what comes of it all as it goes forward but it worries me about the direction. Maybe the people who gave Ewers money, saw him sit on the pine (did this play a role in him transferring as they're telling him he needs to start now?), and possibly flame out will scare them off of the big money. We'll see but I hope so.

And obviously you can tell I'm biased in writing this because I foresee this hurting the team I follow and I fully admit that. I also dislike, generally speaking, that college sports has simply moved towards making revenue rather than about representing your school, amateurism, etc. and that is not at all the fault of the players that it got there.
I get where you are coming from but the talent pool has already been concentrated, they just now have to outbid each other in the open as opposed to behind closed doors.

G5 teams were stuck on the outside looking in before this and that won't change with NIL. The college football landscape has been unbalanced for a long time now with most of the power concentrated in a handful of schools. The pool of teams with a legit shot to win the NC each year is pretty small and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
 

Why shouldn't an American have the right to sell his talents to the highest bidder?

Some folks are shocked, but it seems like The American Way.
 

i thought this was okay now? They opened the door, this is what happens.
It’s OK now, sadly. Boosters form an LLC which they fund with whatever it takes to “buy” the 5 star player’s commitment. Then, they make the payment via a purchase of the target player’s NIL rights. Payment probably in the form of cash upon signing plus annual installments (to ensure no future transfer). Payments probably terminate if player leaves or is tossed from school. Not sure what happens upon injury.

This was entirely predictable. The NIL sale loophole will give lots of players a few bucks (autograph signing, appearances, camps, etc.) but has also legitimized massive bagman payments to top talent guys who must pass some time nominally in college to establish pro eligibility.
 

Time to remove any and all educational requirements from the sport. No more scholarships, no more grades to stay eligible to play, no more tutors or classes to attend. The football teams become professional sports clubs sponsored by the schools for the entertainment of their students & alumni and the marketing of the university.
 

Why shouldn't an American have the right to sell his talents to the highest bidder?

Some folks are shocked, but it seems like The American Way.
He should have the right; and colleges should have the correlative right to form an association in which they promise certain Americans a free college education in return for playing college football. These are not mutually exclusive.

But colleges, especially colleges supported by tax dollars intended for education, should not participate in unconstrained human auctions for non-academic, athletic talent. That is why under NIL it will be the colleges with the most devoted and wealthy boosters/bagmen who will use massive NIL dollars to win these human auctions and attract the top professionally-paid talent.
 
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This is what I was worried would happen. If it truly manifests, I’ll stop watching. A non salary capped league will a few teams win it every year and the rest just be painful to watch. The U won’t be in the group who ponies up to contend. We’ve proven time and again we’re not that type of city/athletic department/fan base

That is essentially what you have been watching for years.
 

Time to remove any and all educational requirements from the sport. No more scholarships, no more grades to stay eligible to play, no more tutors or classes to attend. The football teams become professional sports clubs sponsored by the schools for the entertainment of their students & alumni and the marketing of the university.

And don't forget their most important function, their one, truly essential mission:

Generate money for TV networks, gambling outlets, and commercial sponsors.

Corporations need to sell beer, fast food, razors, cell phones...
 

Time to remove any and all educational requirements from the sport. No more scholarships, no more grades to stay eligible to play, no more tutors or classes to attend. The football teams become professional sports clubs sponsored by the schools for the entertainment of their students & alumni and the marketing of the university.

Like the SEC..

Sir Charles summed it up.

In classic Barkley fashion, Chuck responded with: “Hey, you don’t get to talk bad about Auburn. The girl who finished my homework at Auburn was smart as hell!”

🤣
 

Like the SEC..

Sir Charles summed it up.

In classic Barkley fashion, Chuck responded with: “Hey, you don’t get to talk bad about Auburn. The girl who finished my homework at Auburn was smart as hell!”

🤣

Yep.

What we're seeing is the beginning of the end for a very big, big con game. The cards are facing up now.
 



That is essentially what you have been watching for years.
This is where I come in as well. I don't really see a shift at the highest level. The Student part of student athlete hasn't really been a priority for a long time, at least at the Power 5 level.
 

So the question now becomes: if this con game is now fully transparent, do the alums still, ummmmm, you know... boola-boola, rah, rah! with the same dewey-eyed enthusiasm as before?

Fight on, fight on for the old alma mater... and here's your paycheck, by the way...
 

How does this fit with the mission of the University of Minnesota?



The University of Minnesota (University), founded in the belief that all people are enriched by understanding, is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth; to the sharing of this knowledge through education for a diverse community; and to the application of this knowledge to benefit the people of the state, the nation, and the world.
Subd. 1. Mission.
The University's mission, carried out on multiple campuses and throughout the state, is threefold:
• Research and Discovery - To generate and preserve knowledge, understanding, and creativity by conducting high-quality research, scholarship, and artistic activity that benefit students, scholars, and communities across the state, the nation, and the world.
• Teaching and Learning - To share that knowledge, understanding, and creativity by providing a broad range of educational programs in a strong and diverse community of learners and teachers, and prepare graduate, professional, and undergraduate students, as well as non-degree seeking students interested in continuing education and lifelong learning, for active roles in a multiracial and multicultural world.
• Outreach and Public Service - To extend, apply, and exchange knowledge between the University and society by applying scholarly expertise to community problems, by helping organizations and individuals respond to their changing environments, and by making the knowledge and resources created and preserved at the University accessible to the citizens of the state, the nation, and the world.
In all of its activities, the University strives to sustain an open exchange of ideas in an environment that:
Subd. 2. Guiding Principles.
• embodies the values of academic freedom, responsibility, integrity, and cooperation;
• provides an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice
and intolerance;
• assists individuals, institutions, and communities in responding to a continuously changing
world;
• is conscious of and responsive to the needs of the many communities it is committed to serving;
• creates and supports partnerships within the University, with other educational systems and
institutions, and with communities to achieve common goals; and
• inspires, sets high expectations for, and empowers the individuals within its community.
 

How does this fit with the mission of the University of Minnesota?



The University of Minnesota (University), founded in the belief that all people are enriched by understanding, is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth; to the sharing of this knowledge through education for a diverse community; and to the application of this knowledge to benefit the people of the state, the nation, and the world.
Subd. 1. Mission.
The University's mission, carried out on multiple campuses and throughout the state, is threefold:
• Research and Discovery - To generate and preserve knowledge, understanding, and creativity by conducting high-quality research, scholarship, and artistic activity that benefit students, scholars, and communities across the state, the nation, and the world.
• Teaching and Learning - To share that knowledge, understanding, and creativity by providing a broad range of educational programs in a strong and diverse community of learners and teachers, and prepare graduate, professional, and undergraduate students, as well as non-degree seeking students interested in continuing education and lifelong learning, for active roles in a multiracial and multicultural world.
• Outreach and Public Service - To extend, apply, and exchange knowledge between the University and society by applying scholarly expertise to community problems, by helping organizations and individuals respond to their changing environments, and by making the knowledge and resources created and preserved at the University accessible to the citizens of the state, the nation, and the world.
In all of its activities, the University strives to sustain an open exchange of ideas in an environment that:
Subd. 2. Guiding Principles.
• embodies the values of academic freedom, responsibility, integrity, and cooperation;
• provides an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice
and intolerance;
• assists individuals, institutions, and communities in responding to a continuously changing
world;
• is conscious of and responsive to the needs of the many communities it is committed to serving;
• creates and supports partnerships within the University, with other educational systems and
institutions, and with communities to achieve common goals; and
• inspires, sets high expectations for, and empowers the individuals within its community.

Great question! What does big-time, money-generating sports have to do with this mission? Maybe football and basketball help "fund the mission", to some extent.
 



I live in Austin and for years I have frequented the ole Longhorn football message board (Shaggybevo), which was the best message board in all of sports. So I've been following UT, A&M, and Oklahoma bitterness for years. I don't really have a strong opinion on any of the teams, they are all about the same to me, but the A&M recruiting has been insane. You'll have guys with little reported interest in A&M taking sudden visits there and committing on the spot. I think A&M being cheaters, even amongst other cheaters, is a known thing. It has gotten exponentially worse/better with Jimbo.
 

College football, as most of us on here have known it, has slowly been eroding away with transfers, money/space wars, etc. If this is true and is determined to be legal, then the slow erosion is over and it becomes a rock slide.
Think we had this conversation last summer as well but it was already absurd that athletes got scholarships for athletic participation. The US is the only country does that and we've gone from Universities trying to attract good leaders to Universities running minor league sports franchises.

There's no good rationale for why this system is setup the way it is and it's inherantly unstable and probably illegal. I don't know if it will go away in my lifetime but I think there's a good argument that it should and NIL is just shining even more light on that dilemma.

I still think it's entertaining, and I'll keep watching as long as it's around, but if we're being honest, the smartest guys in the room (UChicago and the Ivy League among them) have had this figured out for 100 years.
 
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Think we had this conversation last summer as well but it was already absurd that athletes got scholarships for athletic participation. The US is the only country does that and we've gone from Universities trying to attract good leaders to Universities running minor league sports franchises.

There's no good rationale for why this system is setup the way it is and it's inherantly unstable and probably illegal. I don't know if it will go away in my lifetime but I think there's a good argument that it should and NIL is just shining even more light on that dilemma.
The overall decline in the value of a 4 year degree plays into this as well. As universities lose revenue streams they will become more desperate to find/expand other sources of funding. College football and to a lesser degree basketball are bigtime money makers for a lot of schools.
 

The overall decline in the value of a 4 year degree plays into this as well. As universities lose revenue streams they will become more desperate to find/expand other sources of funding. College football and to a lesser degree basketball are bigtime money makers for a lot of schools.
I don't think many (if any) schools are putting that money back into academics or research which is what they're supposed to be there for.
 


At some point (hopefully soon) it becomes unwatchable for most of the country not bama, Georgia, Texas a and M, or Ohio state and they begin to lose money as people begin to quit watching the same teams play for a natty.
 

I don't think many (if any) schools are putting that money back into academics or research which is what they're supposed to be there for.
Disagree. I would bet the really profitable athletic departments are funding themselves without any help from the University and also contributing back to the general funds as well.
 

A college football team will reach a $100M player payroll within this decade.

This was an obvious, obvious outcome of NIL that myself and many others have been preaching since the rule was passed. There are going to be a bunch of do-nothing arrangements funded by boosters and even corporations where players get paid 6 and 7 figures a year.

The arms race is currently in the sticks and stones phase, but wait until it goes to hyper missiles. In theory, a souped up college football scene paying players a ton could challenge and overtake the NFL. What if the colleges were paying players a ton and they suddenly ended eligibility limits? Voila, you have a 120 team pro league in almost every state that could put the NFL's primacy in deep doo doo.
Overtake the NFL? Before that ever happens the NFL will start 32 academies in each city for the 16 to 20 year old athlete or they could start up a JNFL. In fact they could easily have two or three teams under their umbrella and model it after soccer-football. This would destroy college football as we know it.
 

At some point (hopefully soon) it becomes unwatchable for most of the country not bama, Georgia, Texas a and M, or Ohio state and they begin to lose money as people begin to quit watching the same teams play for a natty.
Wouldn't hold your breath on that one. This country loves football and the majority of people don't have a vested interest in the teams the way fans on a team message board will. So if the game is entertaining the majority of people watching really won't care if it is Bama vs. Georgia or Ohio State.
 

I don't think many (if any) schools are putting that money back into academics or research which is what they're supposed to be there for.
Not directly, but athletic success has literally changed some schools in immeasurable ways.

Florida gulf coast is literally what it is because of one basketball run
 

He should have the right; and colleges should have the correlative right to form an association in which they promise certain Americans a free college education in return for playing college football. These are not mutually exclusive.

One school can promise an education, and if an education happens to be what the athlete actually wants, then, great. Another school may promise an athlete other incentive$$$$$. An 'association' may attempt to make rules as to what can and what cannot be offered. If history is any guide, I say good luck and best wishes to the 'association' in making and enforcing said rules. Some of our wealthier citizens seem to be unconcerned with rules, almost as if they believe their wealth puts them above the rules.

But colleges, especially colleges supported by tax dollars intended for education, should not participate in unconstrained human auctions for non-academic, athletic talent.

"Should not"? Okay. That is very high-minded and admirable. But, again: not everyone feels they are constrained by some organization's rules, especially regarding what they should and should not do with their own vast wealth. And colleges are not immune to the lure of money. That's why the old system was rife with corruption and cheating.


That is why under NIL it will be the colleges with the most devoted and wealthy boosters/bagmen who will use massive NIL dollars to win these human auctions and attract the top professionally-paid talent.

Yes. Money talks. The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. And that is exactly as it's always been, except now the payouts will be out in the open, rather than under the table like before.

The payouts aren't new. We've simply moved on, to a point where we're no longer pretending they don't exist. No more hypocrisy, just grab the money and grin into the camera.
 
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at some point there's going to be some random school like Louisiana Monroe or Utah State that gets a rich and motivated alum to build a national title team

Jeff Bezos could pick any FBS school and make it win a natty in the next 5-6 years. If I were him I would pick UAB and kick the crap out of Bama for shutting down their program.
I'd like to see something like that happen, but the moment a school of UAB stature acquires players using the A&M model, Clemson, Bama, tOSU, and the other top p5 schools will try to get the rules changed.
I'd like to see it in basketball too. Maybe Bezos can fund UNC-Charlotte so they can curb stomp Duke and UNC!
 

Not directly, but athletic success has literally changed some schools in immeasurable ways.

Florida gulf coast is literally what it is because of one basketball run
The 56th best regional university in the south? Not to say that it doesn't serve a purpose in its community but lets not pretend that dunk city made fgcu any better at academics.
 

Disagree. I would bet the really profitable athletic departments are funding themselves without any help from the University and also contributing back to the general funds as well.
They report this. Last time I looked at it, none of the top universities were giving back money. Most were net takers. Only like the top 30 revenue generators were even breaking even. The other 100 or so football schools were all losing money on their athletic departments.
 

The 56th best regional university in the south? Not to say that it doesn't serve a purpose in its community but lets not pretend that dunk city made fgcu any better at academics.
Nice job of committing a logical fallacy in response to my post

You’d never heard of Florida gulf coast before dunk city
 

Nice job of committing a logical fallacy in response to my post

You’d never heard of Florida gulf coast before dunk city
I've actually been on the FGCU campus. Nice place. Kind of different - they have alligator warning signs up on the sidewalks.
 

Hey, if you can prove a team is cheating, then blow the whistle on them.

The irony here is that NIL was supposed to be separate from the school. NIL deals have to come through a business, and the school - in theory - cannot promise recruits NIL money as part of their recruitment.

So, if a school is doing that, and you can prove it, turn them in.

It's easy to accuse other schools of cheating. it provides a ready-made excuse for why "your" school isn't winning.

Hey, here's an idea. you want MN to get better recruits. go out and line up companies to make NIL deals and make sure the recruits hear about it. Sid used to talk about all the Fortune 500 companies in MN. I bet if he was still alive, he would be lobbying people to make NIL deals with players.
 




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