why can't I just play sports at the university?"

The right question is "What does semi-pro sports have to do with being a university?". This needs to end already. Let the Athletic Department break off and become its own private business. They can enter into a licensing partnership with the University to use the name, logos, and other trademarked properties. They can lease facilities and field space from the school. And so on, and so on. Folks can still cheer for school colors just like they always have done. This semi-pro league with an employee players union can then negotiate a CBA and end the cash grab arms race. And sure. One of the perks of playing can be admission into the school. Why not?

The ONLY way to preserve even a hint of amateurism is to take all of the money out of it. All of it. The DIII model might work. Maybe. You can't have a multi-billion dollar industry built on the basis of limiting how much the workers are able to earn. You just can't.

I kid, I kid. But at some point (if you go back decades, or centuries) --- isn't almost everything arbitrary? Who decides that one crime is a 3-year sentence, but another crime is a 10-year sentence? Who decides the Standard Deduction for single filers is $14,600? Who decides you only have 4/5 years to play NCAA sports. Who decides you need to maintain a certain GPA, or be on-path to a degree. Who decides the Portal is only open during certain weeks. I mean, I can quit my job today, and start another job tomorrow. So why can't a football player @ Tulsa do the same? If Rutgers wants to pay that player an extra $200k in October, who are we to say no? You are suppressing competition! You are preventing the player from reaching his full income & athletic potential! It never ends.

to play for a loser? Or how about give me an extra 100K and I'll help engineer a comeback ** Edited by HokieBrazil at 4/16/2025, 10:47:09 AM