'It’s now totally possible that with all the NIL opportunities currently available a Texas football player can enter the NFL and take a pay cut.' (lin
- Thread starter LookSharp
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At first glance the thesis might sound preposterous but consider this. With the advent of NIL and free agency then why watch semipro football when you can watch the NFL? IMHO the present business model is running on borrowed time, perhaps not at PSU and a dozen or so survivors but for a majority of schools, yes. They'll go the way of the U. of Chicago. It's only a matter of time before college sports becomes cost prohibitive. And let us not forget Americans' standard of living continues to diminish. That means less discretionary money for entertainment. Everyone is going to suffer from the musician to the actor to the pro sports icon. Inexorable economic forces are at play courtesy of globalization. It's only a matter of time.
1. The standard of living is rising not falling. 2. Entertainment spending is increasing along with it. 3. Chicago U chose to deemphasize sports and dropped football - in 1939. 4. Coaching salaries are exploding. 5. There is nothing inexorable about it.
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You want to live in one of the most backward states in the nation? Go to Texas.
While this could be the case in the near future, looking at the MLB for a similar model, MLB couldn't afford the farm system and all of its teams anymore, so many of them were cut out. How long could the NCAA keep all of the Div. 1, 2 or 3 schools in this NIL model without having a similar collapse as MLB did with the farm system? Sounds more like NIL is building a house of cards on a loose pile of cash which can slip out from under itself at any moment.
Allow me to restate because standard of living is a nebulous term. It can be measured a thousand ways, especially when "social scientists" are involved.
Standard of living includes the whole of the economy, not just the wage economy. Let's focus on real wages and the middle class. Leave no doubt, 'wealth' is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands and real wages haven't kept pace with inflation. So that fewer people have the disposable income to make the expensive, weekend trek to Happy Valley. Better to spend what disposable income you have locally on Eagles or Giants tickets. Moreover, pro football is more satisfying than semipro, which is what college football has become thanks to free agency and NIL money.
If I was Sandy, I would build more luxury boxes and fewer general admission seats. But just remember with smaller crowds goes the gameday experience. Those left attending will be waxing nostalgic about the good ole days when we crammed 106,000 into 'Beaver Field'.
With discretionary income goes entertainment spending.
That was at the tail end of The Great Depression. A commensurate economic downturn hasn't hit yet but rest assured, it's coming.
And it's unsustainable at any program which accepts mediocrity. There will be bankruptcies and consolidations, not unlike in the business world. I envision two dozen or so FBS programs surviving and forming one giant megaconference. It will be a farm system of the NFL; corrupted by overzealous, deep-pocketed alums. We should want nothing to do with it. JMO.
That's what tOSU did the last time they renovated the Shoe. It might have been a wise idea. You could still have a great gameday experience with 80-90K in the right venue.
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