Using OCST's post here from the unionization thread . . .
Here's my thought expanding on OCST's concept:
OilCanShotTupac said:Spin the teams off as for-profit entities.
License the school name, logo, colors to the for-profit entities (for a very hefty sum that makes a lot of money for the schools).
Charge the teams rent for use of school facilities.
Pay the players. Let them elect to take classes if they want, but end the fucking charade.
Let the gravy train roll on.
I'm sure I'm overlooking some troublesome detail, but I don't see why something like this wouldn't be workable.
Here's my thought expanding on OCST's concept:
- Take football and basketball (being the two big revenue sports and also the two sports whose professional leagues rely on collegiate athletics rather than a minor league system) out of the NCAA and make them the actual (rather than de facto) minor league systems of the pro leagues in their respective sports.
- Traditional conferences could be maintained, if desired, as the minor league names (e.g. instead of the International League or the Carolina League, you might have the SEC or the ACC).
- The Major conferences could become the equivalent of the AAA/AHL level minors, while mid-majors could be like AA or A, and smaller schools could be like the Florida Coast League or similar.
- I would take OilCan's ideas for licensing of logos and mascots, as well as use of college facilities.
- Finally, I would make each of the former "college" teams into affiliates of a major league team. So the Celtics might have Michigan State, Notre Dame, UMass, Holy Cross and BU (randomly picking by school color or geography to gain a broad spectrum of major, mid-major and small) as their "Minor League System," while the Pats might have FSU, BC, UConn, Harvard, Colorado, Boise St and Vanderbilt.
- There are about 250 1A and 1AA schools playing football. So basically each NFL team would have roughly 8 teams in their system (probably less as some schools might opt out (If this just applied to Division 1A, you're looking at about 125 teams, thus about 4 "minor league" affiliates.
- As in minor league baseball, the draft would now cover high school kids and be a ton of rounds. But once a high-school student was drafted AND signed, he would be a pro and would be in the minors. The pro system would then slot him according to his skill level. Perhaps in year 1 (as an 18 or 19 year old), he might play for the "UConn Huskies/Patriots" and in year 2 he might play for the BC Eagle/Patriots, before moving to the FSU Seminole/Patriots as a 3rd year.
- This would eliminate the age-eligibility rules. A pro team could determine who is an Xander Bogaerts ready to play NFL at 20 and who is a Daniel Nava who should wait until he is 25 or so.
- Money would flow to the right levels and the right people as determined by the market, a la baseball.
- Players could have the opportunity to take a course or 2 if they wanted to, but they could do so free from any eligibility requirements, the same way a 19 year old working at a factory and taking night courses might do.
- Players not good enough to be drafted could then opt to enroll in college in the more traditional fashion, non-scholarship. Perhaps they play Div 2 or Div 3, perhaps they catch the eye of a scout and get drafted later in life (the better Daniel Nava comp).
- Colleges and universities could still receive some money from the system to help fund other offerings, be that academic, athletic, or extracurricular, without any need to keep the money in the big-sport program, as the costs of maintaining the facilities and paying coaches, etc would now be borne by the Major League team (or its affiliate).