Yahoo Sports:Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

[MattFancy]

I was listening to the Doug Gottlieb show yesterday on ESPN and Gino Terreta was on there. He said instead of teams losing scholarships, wins, bowl games, etc. The schools should have to pay a fine. Since college football is all about the money, why not hit the schools where it hurts? You think the President of Miami would be happy if he had to write a $1 million check for what happened?

[The Tris]

In the stadium thread on this, I proposed the only way you could attempt to stop this was by having NCAA violations effect players in the NFL.

@dennisdoddcbs: Our Mike Freeman says NFL/NCAA talking real penalties that follow players to the pros. Wow http://t.co/W7S2ZRM

A lot of people are crying collusion on this concept.

---------- Post added August-18th-2011 at 12:40 PM ----------

I was listening to the Doug Gottlieb show yesterday on ESPN and Gino Terreta was on there. He said instead of teams losing scholarships, wins, bowl games, etc. The schools should have to pay a fine. Since college football is all about the money, why not hit the schools where it hurts? You think the President of Miami would be happy if he had to write a $1 million check for what happened?

Thats a really, really bad idea.

Texas boosters would gladly stroke million dollar checks to the school to pay for buying recruits. This would create massive inequity in the sport.

Only way to stop it is to incentivize the players enough through meaningful punishments (NFL penalties) and stipends to refuse to take boosters gifts. Boosters will never stop.

[Heisenberg]

I was listening to the Doug Gottlieb show yesterday on ESPN and Gino Terreta was on there. He said instead of teams losing scholarships, wins, bowl games, etc. The schools should have to pay a fine. Since college football is all about the money, why not hit the schools where it hurts? You think the President of Miami would be happy if he had to write a $1 million check for what happened?

I would think it would have to be much more than $1 million to make a statement.

[MattFancy]

In the stadium thread on this, I proposed the only way you could attempt to stop this was by having NCAA violations effect players in the NFL.

@dennisdoddcbs: Our Mike Freeman says NFL/NCAA talking real penalties that follow players to the pros. Wow http://t.co/W7S2ZRM

A lot of people are crying collusion on this concept.

---------- Post added August-18th-2011 at 12:40 PM ----------

Texas boosters would gladly stroke million dollar checks to the school to pay for buying recruits. This would create massive inequity in the sport.

Only way to stop it is to incentivize the players enough through meaningful punishments (NFL penalties) and stipends to refuse to take boosters gifts. Boosters will never stop.

To touch on your first point, I agree. The only way to stop college athletes from taking money would be to punish them in the NFL. Not sure I agree with it, but it would definitely help stop all of it.

On point 2, you make a good point about boosters paying money. I didn't think about that one.

---------- Post added August-18th-2011 at 12:43 PM ----------

I would think it would have to be much more than $1 million to make a statement.

That was just an example. I mean if you really wanted to send a message, what about like $10 million or something crazy like that.

[Spartacus87]

Teams have done a cost analysis and determined that it's worth cheating if the punishment if caught is loss of scholarships and a missed post season.

This is not true at all if you're running a football program that's already low on financial resources, like Miami is.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Explain to me how an employee code of conduct that punishes behavior PRIOR to employment could possibly be legal?

Can the NFL punish players for past drug use as well? Is the NFL just now its own sovereign nation?

[The Tris]

I think we need to stop considering CFB and the NFL as seperate entities and embrace it as a minor league feeder system.

The entire culture of US amatuer athletics is so jacked up any way. The only sport that isn't completely assbackwards is baseball.

Whats the best English college soccer team?

[MattFancy]

Explain to me how an employee code of conduct that punishes behavior PRIOR to employment could possibly be legal?

Can the NFL punish players for past drug use as well? Is the NFL just now its own sovereign nation?

I don't understand how that works either. The NFLPA should not be happy about this.

[China]

Can the NFL punish players for past drug use as well?

Sure, by not hiring them.

I also think that punishments should not just go to the universities but to the coaches as well. Coaches should have sanctions follow them wherever they go.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Sure, by not hiring them.

So...let's pretend Sean Taylor was still alive and we found out that we took several thousand dollars from this guy in 2003 (which it seems he did)...should the Skins cut him?

[China]

So...let's pretend Sean Taylor was still alive and we found out that we took several thousand dollars from this guy in 2003 (which it seems he did)...should the Skins cut him?

Not hiring a player for previous drug use is not the same as firing a currently employed player for taking money in college. Drug use can adversely effect the ability to play and poses a risk for arrest (and thus loss of the players services in the future, not to mention the value of the draft pick used on the player). A player taking money in college doesn't carry the same risks for their professional career.

[Mursilis]

Yep, the players realize that the NCAA and the schools are making millions off them; everything from jerseys to video games, they want a piece of the pie, and something has to give because it is only going to get worse IMO.

The players are getting compensated quite well. 2010-11 costs for U. of Miami are ~$55K/year, so a full 4-year scholarship is worth $220K!! 99% of the students actually paying for their education would happily play a sport for a free ride like that.

[ixcuincle]

http://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/statuses/104292998162030593

A potential fix to the issues confronting college football in the wake of the Miami story is.gd/nX4rhN

Briefly skimming over article, seems like he is ADVOCATING paying players

That won't fly

[AsburySkinsFan]

The players are getting compensated quite well. 2010-11 costs for U. of Miami are ~$55K/year, so a full 4-year scholarship is worth $220K!! 99% of the students actually paying for their education would happily play a sport for a free ride like that.

Fine, what about academic scholarship students who are on a full ride and don't bring in millions of dollars per year to the school in revenue. When compared the athlete contributes far more to the school for the same amount as the academic students. Now, for the school, which one is a more important source of revenue?

---------- Post added August-18th-2011 at 05:00 PM ----------

http://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/statuses/104292998162030593

Briefly skimming over article, seems like he is ADVOCATING paying players

That won't fly

Nope it won't, because you won't be able to pay them more than will be offered to them by boosters and those willing to break the rules in order to recruit.

[Mursilis]

Fine, what about academic scholarship students who are on a full ride and don't bring in millions of dollars per year to the school in revenue. When compared the athlete contributes far more to the school for the same amount as the academic students. Now, for the school, which one is a more important source of revenue?

How many full academic scholarships does a typical school like Miami offer? I don't know, but I'd bet it's less than they offer for athletes. And athletes generally generate money for athletic department, not the school in general.

BTW, if a school really wants to generate some cash, they should develop smart graduates who will get high-paying jobs and give back some of that cash. Harvard and Yale have the largest endowments, not jock schools like Miami.

[The Tris]

Fine, what about academic scholarship students who are on a full ride and don't bring in millions of dollars per year to the school in revenue. When compared the athlete contributes far more to the school for the same amount as the academic students. Now, for the school, which one is a more important source of revenue

Football players also get clothing, food and health insurance.

[Spartacus87]

How many full academic scholarships does a typical school like Miami offer? I don't know, but I'd bet it's less than they offer for athletes. And athletes generally generate money for athletic department, not the school in general.

BTW, if a school really wants to generate some cash, they should develop smart graduates who will get high-paying jobs and give back some of that cash. Harvard and Yale have the largest endowments, not jock schools like Miami.

BCS football programs that win a lot bring in a lot of money to the school.

See: the Michael Vick/Blacksburg example already laid out in this thread. UF has enjoyed a nice boost within Florida since their run as "Titletown" from 2006 to 2008.

Also, Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale are obviously not on equal ground to compare with most public state universities, or even a "new money" private university like Miami.

[AsburySkinsFan]

How many full academic scholarships does a typical school like Miami offer? I don't know, but I'd bet it's less than they offer for athletes. And athletes generally generate money for athletic department, not the school in general.

http://www.ukathletics.com/blog/2011/04/uk-athletics-a-vital-partner-at-university.html

That's not the way it works at UK, instead the athletic department contributed 19 million in scholarships to the school. If anything the other scholarship students should be thanking the athletes.

BTW if a school really wants to generate some cash, they should develop smart graduates who will get high-paying jobs and give back some of that cash. Harvard and Yale have the largest endowments, not jock schools like Miami.

Apples and oranges the average alum won't make half the $$ a Harvard grad will.

---------- Post added August-18th-2011 at 06:09 PM ----------

Football players also get clothing, food and health insurance.

So do the scholarship athletes on the lesser sports, yet I don't see the UK tennis program bringing millions of dollars to the university yet they get the same benefits from the school.

[Mursilis]

http://www.ukathletics.com/blog/2011/04/uk-athletics-a-vital-partner-at-university.html

That's not the way it works at UK, instead the athletic department contributed 19 million in scholarships to the school. If anything the other scholarship students should be thanking the athletes.

But to quote from your link:

That means, as Barnhart recently outlined, not only does the university not take money out of its central budget to support athletics, it actually receives a chunk from the athletics department. As the Herald-Leader article on March 20 accurately reports, the donation relationship between the UK Athletics Department and the University of Kentucky is not the only one of its kind in the SEC.

But the relationship is fairly unique. The UK Athletics Department's revenues and contributions over the last several years compared to UK's prime in-state competitor, the University of Louisville, reveals as much.

According to an NCAA database on USA Today's website, the University of Louisville's athletics department received $4,460,956 for indirect facilities and administrative support and another $2,152,967 of direct institutional support during the 2009-10 fiscal year. As a self-supporting entity, the UK Athletics Department did not receive a penny from indirect facilities and administrative support or direct institutional support.

U of L's athletic department has received at least 7.41 percent of its annual revenue from direct institutional support and indirect facilities and administrative support since 2004-05, according to the USA Today database. That percent was as high as 11.46 percent in the 2007-08 athletics year and was 10.42 percent during its $63,487,395 operating revenue in 2009-10.

So not all school athletic departments are self-supporting - only the really big-time ones are. The rest, the majority, are not.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

But to quote from your link:

So not all school athletic departments are self-supporting - only the really big-time ones are. The rest, the majority, are not.

I don't think Vanderbilt athletes should be paid. I also don't think Vanderbilt should be in "competition" with Alabama. It's stupid. One is a semi-pro program. One is a club level program.

The entire structure of college football needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

Maybe it should be like English soccer with different tiers and you can move up and down. So, if Boise wants to compete against USC, it has to move up to its weight class.