http://www.si.com/college/2023/04/26/mar...e-football

Quote:“We signed a billion-dollar TV deal in the Big Ten,” Locksley told RJ Young of Fox Sports. “Let’s take $25 million out of that and give it to every school and say, ‘That’s your salary cap. That’s what you recruit with. You manage it how you see fit,’ which is very similar to what the NFL does with their salary cap.”

Quote:“I’d like to see us go to that salary cap, where everybody has the same money to pay a player and we don’t have these big gaps between the haves and have nots,” Locksley said. “Let’s really see what college football’s all about when we’re playing all with the same type of restrictions or the same type of resources.”

I am curious what the board thinks of this possibility.

I see both positives and negatives with a conference salary cap.

Would this be a final step in truly adopting a pro model?

If one conference goes this route, how likely would more follow?

It might allow for more parity inside conferences, but further the divide between conferences. Is that actually better for the sport or worse?

Is this inevitable with the direction of college football?

Personally I don't want this to happen but I'm curious of others opinions

That’s all well and good provided that the players are deemed to be employees and agree to that salary cap as part of a collective bargaining agreement.

However, you can’t just hand down that directive from above like Zeus. Otherwise, it’s called a blatant antitrust violation and that $25 million (or whatever amount a school wanted to save) will be seized by the US government for damages.

1) It’s not how capitalism works
2) A cap doesn’t resolve the problem of labor…somehow athletes need to earn their share. Either colleges voluntarily start paying athletes, or courts will somehow force some form of adequate compensation for athletes.

Well, it will be hard to get the SEC to go along since they have never had one before.

I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

(04-26-2023 06:21 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  That’s all well and good provided that the players are deemed to be employees and agree to that salary cap as part of a collective bargaining agreement.

However, you can’t just hand down that directive from above like Zeus. Otherwise, it’s called a blatant antitrust violation and that $25 million (or whatever amount a school wanted to save) will be seized by the US government for damages.

You would know way better than I would on this, 100%, but aren't we already being pushed in the direction of players being deemed as employees? (big fan of your work by the way)

(04-26-2023 06:21 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  That’s all well and good provided that the players are deemed to be employees and agree to that salary cap as part of a collective bargaining agreement.

However, you can’t just hand down that directive from above like Zeus. Otherwise, it’s called a blatant antitrust violation and that $25 million (or whatever amount a school wanted to save) will be seized by the US government for damages.

You need a labor union to launder that antitrust violation into a union contract.

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure the 101 FBS programs outside the future P2 consider Maryland one of the "haves".

(04-26-2023 07:08 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure there are 101 FBS programs outside the P2 who feel quite strongly that Maryland is one of the "haves".

One of the "haves" in the Big Ten?

(04-26-2023 07:11 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 07:08 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure there are 101 FBS programs outside the P2 who feel quite strongly that Maryland is one of the "haves".

One of the "haves" in the Big Ten?

So long as they're getting a full share of the annual conference distribution, yes. Are they not?

(04-26-2023 06:51 PM)Big Frog II Wrote:  Well, it will be hard to get the SEC to go along since they have never had one before.

I was thinking that $25m was enough for the other sports, but what about football??

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'd be happy with a "salary cap" or some sort of limit on wages, as long as it was actually followed by everybody. I would greatly prefer that to the current Wild Wild West that we're in. The problem is, the Dallas Cowboys don't have oilmen, furniture dealers, car dealers, Restaurant owners, Sports Apparel Company owners, etc etc willing to spend 10s or even hundreds of millions per year to support their athletics programs. Any salary cap that is implemented would just be circumvented by the same old bagmen, just with much bigger bags. Give an enforcement division some real teeth, gestapo-like powers, the authority to suspend or even kick a school out of the conference, and it might work though.

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

They will… once the SEC and Big Ten are no longer competitors.

(04-26-2023 07:11 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 07:08 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure there are 101 FBS programs outside the P2 who feel quite strongly that Maryland is one of the "haves".

One of the "haves" in the Big Ten?

Maryland is definitely not one of the "haves" in the Big Ten. Personally I wouldn't be a fan of this happening regardless of our status in the Big Ten.

We are almost definitely headed toward a college players union and a CBA. I give it two decades before we are at that point though. NIL is essentially the Wild Wild West right now, and it won't be long before actual laws are put in place.

(04-26-2023 07:28 PM)UCbball21 Wrote:  We are almost definitely headed toward a college players union and a CBA. I give it two decades before we are at that point though. NIL is essentially the Wild Wild West right now, and it won't be long before actual laws are put in place.

I think it's going to be much faster than that.

But a big question is, what is the relevant group to unionize?
Big Ten football players? Big Ten, SEC and Notre Dame football players?
FBS players in revenue sports?
P5 athletes in all sports?
All Division I athletes?

I have no idea what legal and practical considerations go into answering those questions.

(04-26-2023 07:28 PM)UCbball21 Wrote:  We are almost definitely headed toward a college players union and a CBA. I give it two decades before we are at that point though. NIL is essentially the Wild Wild West right now, and it won't be long before actual laws are put in place.

Perhaps state laws, but Federal? An impossible task is called "an act of Congress" for a reason...

(04-26-2023 06:27 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  1) It’s not how capitalism works
2) A cap doesn’t resolve the problem of labor…somehow athletes need to earn their share. Either colleges voluntarily start paying athletes, or courts will somehow force some form of adequate compensation for athletes.

LOL. No it isn't! Nobody is forcing these kids to play football. In fact, they are all happy to do it, whether they're walk-ons or not. Whenever they want, they can try their hand at the NFL, CFL, XFL, USFL, or choose not to play. There's thousands that would be happy to take their place.

(04-26-2023 07:11 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 07:08 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure there are 101 FBS programs outside the P2 who feel quite strongly that Maryland is one of the "haves".

One of the "haves" in the Big Ten?

I mean, Maryland will be making 2X more than Alabama in TV deal money

(04-26-2023 07:14 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 07:11 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 07:08 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(04-26-2023 06:52 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder why we never hear one of the "haves" proposing such a "solution".

I'm pretty sure there are 101 FBS programs outside the P2 who feel quite strongly that Maryland is one of the "haves".

One of the "haves" in the Big Ten?

So long as they're getting a full share of the annual conference distribution, yes. Are they not?

If you mean are they not getting a full share of media revenue, then yes they are. If you mean are they not a "have", then no, they are not.