Commercialization of FBS, college basketball requires restructuring of NCAA

[centennial]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/watchdog-group-commercialization-of-fbs-college-basketball-requires-restructuring-of-ncaa/



The Knight Commission has called for a restructuring of college sports in response to the "highly commercialized environment" of major-college football and basketball. In a letter to NCAA president Mark Emmert, the reform-minded commission emphasized the need to explore "alternative structures for Division I college sports."

Last week, Knight Commission co-chair Arne Duncan suggested "big-revenue athletics programs" might be placed in a different division outside of NCAA oversight.

"Just let them play by a different set of rules -- and be up front about it and be honest," said Duncan, a former U.S. Secretary of Education. Duncan went on to say the NCAA currently is "overwhelmed," adding that the association had become "irrelevant" in the wake of the FBI basketball scandal.

Those were considered strong words from an individual who used to work closely with the NCAA as a member of President Barack Obama's cabinet.

The Knight Commission is concerned that up to 60 percent of the NCAA's annual $500 million-plus distribution to schools is "impacted" by FBS football, a sport the NCAA doesn't sponsor. The commission is recommending more "far-reaching reforms" that continue to emphasize athletes' education, health and safety.



Didn't want to quote the full article but plenty other juicy stuff in it. Many schools will need to retire their football programs without the yearly P5 payouts.

[DFW HOYA]

Didn't want to quote the full article but plenty other juicy stuff in it. Many schools will need to retire their football programs without the yearly P5 payouts.

The I-AA schools have been out of the payouts for 40 years. What changes?

[centennial]

The I-AA schools have been out of the payouts for 40 years. What changes?

Yes, but a different division means less money flows to the G-5 and FCS.

[Sader87]

It could be interesting....though I doubt we'll see much change.

Curious what would/will happen to hoop/football programs at schools like Duke, Georgetown, Boston College etc if the "highest division" becomes even more professionalized/minor league for the NFL and NBA?

[ElCid]

It could be interesting....though I doubt we'll see much change.

Curious what would/will happen to hoop/football programs at schools like Duke, Georgetown, Boston College etc if the "highest division" becomes even more professionalized/minor league for the NFL and NBA?

This is a self defeating road to go down. Most "college" fans support their teams because they are college teams. You make money the "central" aspect, or highly commercialized, and it will drain away support even more than it has experienced already. I know I already don't watch a tenth of FBS games that I used to years ago. This obviously will not apply to all fans, especially the die hard ones, but those middle and fringe fans will fall slowly away and everyone will wonder why. In general, people do not like the money side of it. This "being up front about it" just throws it in people's faces. Very bad.

[DFW HOYA]

Curious what would/will happen to hoop/football programs at schools like Duke, Georgetown, Boston College etc if the "highest division" becomes even more professionalized/minor league for the NFL and NBA?

What was once called "Division IV" has been talked about since the 1990's. What's changed is that it's largely outside the NCAA's control but resides with a triumvirate of Disney (ESPN/ABC), Fox, and CBS. If they want semi-pro football, they get it. If they don't , they won't. What will be changing in the next decade is the renewal of the big media contracts. The fact that CBS walked away from the SEC football contract is a reflection that there is a ceiling for content and while ESPN will bid for everything, their declining subscriber base will make these deals eventually unsustainable unless Disney subsidizes it. Also around the corner: bids from the other "networks": Amazon, Netflix, and Apple.

Notwithstanding, I don't see where any of the above schools changes course. ND isn't walking away from its brand, nor is BC giving up $20 million a year from ESPN. Georgetown's two-track athletics budget isn't really affected. It's not like they're all going to join the Patriot League. No one wants to join the PL right now!xlolx

[Sader87]

I'm not saying they do....but, the divide between amateur athletics at selective schools, see:"1 and done" at Duke and professional athletics is already somewhat blurred...how far do those schools go before they say enough is enough?

[DFW HOYA]

I'm not saying they do....but, the divide between amateur athletics at selective schools, see:"1 and done" at Duke and professional athletics is already somewhat blurred...how far do those schools go before they say enough is enough?

There's a certain amount of self-justification at Duke on this. They're not going to penalize someone if they get a life-changing offer, and the argument goes that neither would a lot of schools. (Example: If Malcolm Miller had been offered $5M to leave his sophomore season, would HC have kicked him out?) The problem is that Duke has become a magnet for kids with no interest in college other than to serve as a launching point for a lottery pick. The constant churn leaves the Blue Devils with a hollowing core of talent which feeds the need for even more one and dones. The only other school even remotely this affected is Kentucky.

The larger issue is that amateur athletics doesn't have a lot of support these days. When the academies are giving out waivers so cadets can go pro ahead of a military obligation, it's a bigger issue than one and dones.

[JayJ79]

does the "Knight Commission" really hold much sway?
Or is that just another of those groups of academic types that have been villifying athletics since the dawn of time?

Also, are they the ones that made the talking car back in the 80s?

[bonarae]

Or is that just another of those groups of academic types that have been villifying athletics since the dawn of time?

I believe this is correct. xsmhx

[Lion1983]

The way I look at it is, if the NCAA dont sponsor FBS football, why is 60% of the money going to it?

Let the schools in FBS do their thing, if the NCAA dont sponsor it, put more revenue and resources into the football that the NCAA does sponsor. FCS is the highest level of NCAA football. They dont have to chance any structure to change were the priorities for the payout goes.

If they make payout money earmarked, were a school can only use 30% or so for football, it will lessen the emphasis on smaller schools, like the FCS programs, and most of the G5, to worry as much about keeping up. Let the P5 schools do their thing, and let the rest play for the NCAAs highest level football championship.

[centennial]

The way I look at it is, if the NCAA dont sponsor FBS football, why is 60% of the money going to it?

Let the schools in FBS do their thing, if the NCAA dont sponsor it, put more revenue and resources into the football that the NCAA does sponsor. FCS is the highest level of NCAA football. They dont have to chance any structure to change were the priorities for the payout goes.

If they make payout money earmarked, were a school can only use 30% or so for football, it will lessen the emphasis on smaller schools, like the FCS programs, and most of the G5, to worry as much about keeping up. Let the P5 schools do their thing, and let the rest play for the NCAAs highest level football championship.

60%? I would think it's probably 90%. Either way, your common Joe wants to watch Alabama or Georgia or Wisconsin before they want to watch MVFC/ Big Sky/ CAA. The bigger schools have huge alumni bases, casual in state fans, bandwagoners vs the average FCS school. A lot of FCS/ G5 schools need the yearly P5 payout to balance the books. The money follows the viewership, and the viewers are with the P5, so putting more money into the NCAA football is not going to be easy.

A combined upper FCS/ G5 can be the new FBS, P5 can go semi-pro. I have a few concerns-

- Stealing of talent. If the NCAA is not needed what prevents semi pro P5 from stealing Carson Wentz/Cooper Kupp/ David Johnson from the FCS?

- Roster Size- Can a roster size of 125 semi pros deplete the G5/ upper FCS? Consequently a roster size of only 53 players like the NFL increase talent in the G5.

- Wins- Can the P5 survive decreased win rates. Do the Rutgers/ Kansas of the P5 survive with only 1-2 wins without having easy pay to play wins.

Consequently, the G5 + FCS top 5 conferences go to a 32 team March Madness style single elimination playoffs to be separately marketed and distribute those funds to the members with extra money going to conferences for wins in the tournament. That can be sold as NCAA January Madness. Hard times ahead if the P5 run away from the NCAA.

[centennial]

does the "Knight Commission" really hold much sway?
Or is that just another of those groups of academic types that have been villifying athletics since the dawn of time?

Also, are they the ones that made the talking car back in the 80s?

They are pretty powerful with the NCAA. They "promote" the will of the blue blood schools.

https://www.knightcommission.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Commission



The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, often referred to simply as the Knight Commission, is a panel of members of the American (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) academic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic), athletic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport) and journalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism) communities, with an eye toward reform of college athletics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_athletics), particularly in regard to emphasizing academic values and policies that ensure athletic programs operate within the educational missions of their universities.
The commission was founded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._and_James_L._Knight_Foundation), which was itself founded by brothers John S. Knight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Knight) and James L. Knight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Knight), members of the founding family of what became the Knight Ridder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Ridder) newspaper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper) and broadcasting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting) chain. The commission first met in 1989 after a series of scandals in college sports. The founding co-chairmen of the commission were Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_M._Hesburgh), president of the University of Notre Dame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame), and William C. Friday (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Friday), former president of the University of North Carolina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina).

[JayJ79]

The way I look at it is, if the NCAA dont sponsor FBS football, why is 60% of the money going to it?

Because FBS football is the sport that generates most of that money. And while the NCAA doesn't directly run the bowl system, they still get their cut of the money, and still have some oversight.

[Sycamore62]

The larger issue is that amateur athletics doesn't have a lot of support these days. When the academies are giving out waivers so cadets can go pro ahead of a military obligation, it's a bigger issue than one and dones.

i dont see this as a problem at all. The military does all kinds of things that reallocates resources to a place that promotes the services.

[ElCid]

The larger issue is that amateur athletics doesn't have a lot of support these days. When the academies are giving out waivers so cadets can go pro ahead of a military obligation, it's a bigger issue than one and dones.

Just to be clear, it's just an obligation delayed, not eliminated. The military does it for other things as well. This just gets more press than other situations.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

This is not an FCS Discussion topic, please put these topics in "Other sports" where they belong.

I'm glad you brought it here I just want it in the correct filing cabinet going forward.

[Lion1983]

60%? I would think it's probably 90%. Either way, your common Joe wants to watch Alabama or Georgia or Wisconsin before they want to watch MVFC/ Big Sky/ CAA. The bigger schools have huge alumni bases, casual in state fans, bandwagoners vs the average FCS school. A lot of FCS/ G5 schools need the yearly P5 payout to balance the books. The money follows the viewership, and the viewers are with the P5, so putting more money into the NCAA football is not going to be easy.

A combined upper FCS/ G5 can be the new FBS, P5 can go semi-pro. I have a few concerns-

- Stealing of talent. If the NCAA is not needed what prevents semi pro P5 from stealing Carson Wentz/Cooper Kupp/ David Johnson from the FCS?

- Roster Size- Can a roster size of 125 semi pros deplete the G5/ upper FCS? Consequently a roster size of only 53 players like the NFL increase talent in the G5.

- Wins- Can the P5 survive decreased win rates. Do the Rutgers/ Kansas of the P5 survive with only 1-2 wins without having easy pay to play wins.

Consequently, the G5 + FCS top 5 conferences go to a 32 team March Madness style single elimination playoffs to be separately marketed and distribute those funds to the members with extra money going to conferences for wins in the tournament. That can be sold as NCAA January Madness. Hard times ahead if the P5 run away from the NCAA.

Nothing is preventing a P5 school from stealing a great FCS player now, Joe Blow from any FCS school can jump into the transfer portal after a year or two, and go were he wants. So if hypothetically, Alabama wanted a player that is currently playing FCS, they can still get them.

[centennial]

Nothing is preventing a P5 school from stealing a great FCS player now, Joe Blow from any FCS school can jump into the transfer portal after a year or two, and go were he wants. So if hypothetically, Alabama wanted a player that is currently playing FCS, they can still get them.

They still have to follow NCAA regulations. Kid has to want to leave, and I am not sure they can recruit the student athlete. Usually, like with Oregon stealing the EWU QB they use an old coach or a contact. A free for all where the 20 MVFC All-Americans are recruited by 10 schools with "real" money is terrifying. G5/ FCS could become the farm league for the Semi-Pros..