(01-22-2022 12:22 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(01-22-2022 11:45 AM)mjs Wrote:  I guess it could be argued that the NIL could work in our favor once we get our overall athletic department financial situation stabilized. There are certainly a lot more businesses, who might be willing to pay athletes through an NIL deal, in Little Rock than there are in Martin TN, Morehead KY, Cape Girardeau MO, etc. I guess we'll see.

First of all, I don’t see many businesses that would be interested in Little Rock players for an NIL deal. Heck, the vast majority of Little Rock citizens wouldn’t even recognize who LR players are. But that being said, I think fans like you and me will gravitate even more to the mid major level of college athletics where legalized payoffs of players won’t usually happen. The Power Conferences are going to be (maybe already are) almost indistinguishable from professional athletics, and I like college athletics more when it is really like college amateur non-pro stuff that it used to be!

My interest in pro sports waned over the years as the salaries became more ridiculous. The days of athletes staying with one team, for most of their careers, ended long ago replaced by the search for a big pay day. I used to pull for a team because I felt like I knew and liked the players, not just the name on the front of the jersey. The names always changed quicker for college teams as they only played for 4 years at most. But now the days of a kid staying at one school, for 4 years, is becoming a thing of the past. I'll continue to support midmajor college sports if it doesn't change too much, but already have little interest in the "big time", "professional" college teams that dominate at this point in time.