Around the Big Ten

[iam416]

Entropy is correct, though public perception drove this, too.

Also, WRT to college football, the Universities have more or less told the NCAA to F off. They basically have an elite 60ish team competition -- no one from outside the power 5 conferences + ND is going to win the national title.

What would kill the NCAA is if those power 5 conference told the NCAA to F off on hoops.

[THE_WIZARD_]

PSU would have got hammered eventually. But they knew from a PR standpoint they couldn't wait for the bumfucks at the NCAA to do it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Don't see it happening in hoops Talent...that is a whole different deal. The fans LOVE the tournament and LOVE the fact that ANY team can qualify and cinderellas often advance deep. Football is a different animal. Obviously.

[entropy]

The NCAA also has no real power. why? The school presidents don't want anyone from the outside looking in... So the rules and ability to investigate have not kept up with the times and school administrators are ok with it. It's a giant mirage

[geo weidl]

The 60 million that psu has been hammered with, is just a tip of the iceberg.

STATE COLLEGE, PA.—State Farm is pulling its ads from Penn State football broadcasts, while General Motors is reconsidering its sponsorship deal and Wall Street is threatening to downgrade the school’s credit rating, suggesting the price of the sex abuse scandal could go well beyond the $60 million fine and other penalties imposed by the NCAA.
Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm said it had been reviewing its connection to Penn State since the arrest of retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky last November. The insurance company said it will pull ads from broadcasts of Nittany Lions home games but continue to advertise during Penn State’s away contests.
“We will not directly support Penn State football this year,” State Farm spokesperson Dave Phillips said Tuesday. “We just feel it was the best decision.”
State Farm had no immediate information on how much money is at stake.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/article/1231303--penn-state-scandal-sponsor-pulls-tv-ads

[entropy]

I think if I was PSU, I would have countered with the death penalty for one year.

[iam416]

The NCAA's "power" is based on the "student-athlete" model -- the "noble amateur" which it was able to sell to University presidents and the like in the 50s, I guess. That's the concept that is the foundation of its existence. They built up an intolerable set of rules to preserve this concept -- almost an entirely amoral set of rules. And the rules led to rule-breaking or cheating. And then the public backs the NCAA's existence b/c god knows we need someone to stop the the rampant rule-breaking. It's silly.

I mean, think about SMU's reputation -- and what did they actually do? Pay football players (and their moms and pops!) to play football. Oh, the sin! CFB openly did it in its early existence; the NFL, obviously, does it. But SMU is a pariah because they did it -- and got caught (ok, the brazen flauting of rules is another issue, even if the rules are totally stupid).

[entropy]

problem is the NFL has a salary cap, that everyone follows. the salary cap in CF (regardless of what you think of it) is not followed. That is the problem. You can't let schools just pay kids because you'd never have fair competition. Look at what it has done to baseball.. the NFL has it right.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The SEC has no salary cap...

[iam416]

Pirates!!! No, I understand. But let's be honest -- we don't have fair competition now wrt to stuff entirely permitted by the NCAA. Stadiums, facilities; $$$ spent on HCs and, perhaps even more importantly, Assistants, reputation, etc. -- there's a reason why Iowa State is Iowa State and Alabama is Alabama.

[hack]

And the Steelers are the Steelers whereas the Bengals are the Bengals. Sports work best when the playing field is level, which is why that cliche has a sporting reference in the first place. Nothing's perfect, but the closer you get, the more credible the outcome. CFB, in the context of other major team sports played in the US, isn't close.

[iam416]

Best for fans but whether its best for the value of the league, tough to say. Anyway, that's an entirely different discussion.

My only point was CFB isn't anywhere close to fair right now. Adding permissible payments into the equation won't really change the haves and have-nots, though it may exacerbate the gulf.

[THE_WIZARD_]

If they truly wanted parity in CFB ala the NFL...then sucky teams would get more schollies and the BCS qualifiers would get less...like draft picks in the NFL.

Of course the NCAA doesn't really care about parity.

[Optimus Prime]

It's good to be King!

Screw parity and the pseudo-egalitarianism fantasy.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I have no problem with that...but let's stop pretending that Idaho's and the North Texas' of the world have any shot in the FBS. 120 teams. Ridiculous. It would be comparable if you combined the NFL with the CFL and a few minor leagues together...and let players choose what teams they can play for...and expect the Toronto Argonauts to compete with the Steelers...