NCAA in "Deep Discussion" to Implement Revenue Sharing with Athletes

[Lorewarn]

Unionizing wouldn't really about the top earners but more about everyone else. Most players don't have the big NIL deals and players in the non-revenue sports don't see much money at all. Plus, the NCAA and many of the universities are scheming as we speak to figure out ways to shift more power back onto their plates. The union would (in theory) act as a representative for the collective in any of those discussions.

Color me skeptical that more than half of D1 football players are going to want to unionize. 

Right now, being a power 2 starter in the transfer portal is gonna get you easy six figures, even if you're only decent. These guys are not going to continue to make this kind of money when/if this all sorts itself out at a healthy equilibrium.

 

[RedDenver]

Why would the players unionize when the most powerful among them are making multiple millions of dollars a year and can do pretty much whatever they want to with little to zero oversight and authority? 

Because there are no protections for the players. Agents and others can grift them or charge exorbitant fees. There aren't contracts, so collectives or whoever is paying the NIL money can screw them over. Schools could stop paying health care. There's a ton of reasons.

 

[Enhance]

Color me skeptical that more than half of D1 football players are going to want to unionize. 

Right now, being a power 2 starter in the transfer portal is gonna get you easy six figures, even if you're only decent. These guys are not going to continue to make this kind of money when/if this all sorts itself out at a healthy equilibrium.

I'm really not sure what to expect.

Right now, the players don't have many protections in the "pay-to-play" game and people are abusing the system both ways. There aren't standardized or formal contracts in many cases. I've seen claims of some "agents" taking upwards of 15-20% of an athletes NIL earnings as commission (compare that to the NFL where there's a 3% cap).

I think it's possible we aren't hearing as much complaining right now because it's all so new and exciting and lucrative, but the new car shine may wear off, even for some the wealthier players. When you take into consideration some of these exorbitant agent fees and taxes, getting $2 million to play at Georgia suddenly becomes $800k and things don't look quite so sexy anymore.

 

[JJ Husker]

Color me skeptical that more than half of D1 football players are going to want to unionize. 

Right now, being a power 2 starter in the transfer portal is gonna get you easy six figures, even if you're only decent. These guys are not going to continue to make this kind of money when/if this all sorts itself out at a healthy equilibrium.

I think you’re answering your own skepticism. Using the $20.5M rev share cap as a figure to work with, lets figure out where the money would go, and I’ll be conservative. Say the top ten players on a team average $500k each and the next 20 players $300k each. That’s $11M gone leaving $9.5M for the remaining 75 players which is $126k each. Okay so the 30 may not want to unionize but what about the 75 other players? The same math and dynamic would apply down the line with NIL or other forms of payment. There are going to be more players wanting a bigger share than there are players who are satisfied with their amount. Hello union.

 

[runningblind]

I think you’re answering your own skepticism. Using the $20.5M rev share cap as a figure to work with, lets figure out where the money would go, and I’ll be conservative. Say the top ten players on a team average $500k each and the next 20 players $300k each. That’s $11M gone leaving $9.5M for the remaining 75 players which is $126k each. Okay so the 30 may not want to unionize but what about the 75 other players? The same math and dynamic would apply down the line with NIL or other forms of payment. There are going to be more players wanting a bigger share than there are players who are satisfied with their amount. Hello union.

That 20.5 million is across all sports.  Nebraska has a volleyball team to pay for you know.

 

[Lorewarn]

I think you’re answering your own skepticism. Using the $20.5M rev share cap as a figure to work with, lets figure out where the money would go, and I’ll be conservative. Say the top ten players on a team average $500k each and the next 20 players $300k each. That’s $11M gone leaving $9.5M for the remaining 75 players which is $126k each. Okay so the 30 may not want to unionize but what about the 75 other players? The same math and dynamic would apply down the line with NIL or other forms of payment. There are going to be more players wanting a bigger share than there are players who are satisfied with their amount. Hello union.

as runningblind pointed out, that 20.5mil figure applies to the entire athletic department. Football will probably get around $15m max, and my non-expert hunch is that your numbers are conservative.

It will be very interesting to see it all play out, because even if we landed where you think we might, that doesn't take into account how NIL will still be a silly wild west with tons of players making even more on top of the revenue sharing, until such a time as they do unionize.

 

[JJ Husker]

That 20.5 million is across all sports.  Nebraska has a volleyball team to pay for you know.

as runningblind pointed out, that 20.5mil figure applies to the entire athletic department. Football will probably get around $15m max, and my non-expert hunch is that your numbers are conservative.

It will be very interesting to see it all play out, because even if we landed where you think we might, that doesn't take into account how NIL will still be a silly wild west with tons of players making even more on top of the revenue sharing, until such a time as they do unionize.

The claim was made that he/you didn’t think the majority would want to unionize based on the small subset who are making the larger amounts. The amount isn’t my point. It’s just the math. It’s a minority of players making the big bucks. It stands to reason that the much larger number of players benefiting less may want to unionize to help grab a larger share. Doesn’t matter if it’s all sports or just football, $1M or $100M, revenue sharing or NIL. The top paid players won’t be driving the bus.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Color me skeptical that more than half of D1 football players are going to want to unionize. 

Right now, being a power 2 starter in the transfer portal is gonna get you easy six figures, even if you're only decent. These guys are not going to continue to make this kind of money when/if this all sorts itself out at a healthy equilibrium.

Players will want to unionize because it's massively beneficial to the bottom 90% of players to do so. It's the same reason why LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes, even though they could command a lot higher % of the team salary cap, are part of the union and don't complain about it. Furthermore, Unionizing allows them to not only negotiate money, but healthcare, eligibility, minimum standards for practice and player safety, everything that goes into the sport.

Assuming that the players union doesn't negotiate by seniority, a rough estimate for the per player salary would be something like:

50% Revenue Split = $55 million (Big Ten teams are collecting roughly $110 million, perhaps more, in football related revenue)

105 Players sharing $55 million = $524k per player, per year. Obviously, the structure may change where a 4th year player gets more money than the first year player.

This kind of money is much higher than the vast majority of NIL payments 90% of the roster is collecting, and I suspect even the massive NIL contracts we hear about are numbers that equate to the entire contract and not the per year numbers. But even outside of that, NIL payments are going to end up uncapped - it won't be legal to limit how much an athlete can make off the field.

I also don't think that non-Football athletes will be collecting that much of the money. if Title IX becomes an issue, schools will legally separate the football programs from the University to get around it - which very well could invite Congress to get involved.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I would be surprised if this stands during the Trump Administration. They mean well, but in actuality it's only going to hasten the demise of non-revenue sports.

The legal separation of Football from schools would happen nearly pretty fast, assuming this passes legal muster (it doesn't).

 

[funhusker]

I would be surprised if this stands during the Trump Administration. They mean well, but in actuality it's only going to hasten the demise of non-revenue sports.

The legal separation of Football from schools would happen nearly pretty fast, assuming this passes legal muster (it doesn't).

Lincoln is going to have FB, VB, WBB, and Softball.   That’s gotta be around 105 athletes for men and close to 105 for women, right?

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Lincoln is going to have FB, VB, WBB, and Softball.   That’s gotta be around 105 athletes for men and close to 105 for women, right?

I'm assuming so, but unless a law passes congress to mandate this kind of revenue sharing by law, it's going to take a very short period of time for a school to try and circumvent the rules for a competitive advantage. I think this interpretation by the Biden Administration is not legally sound anyway. 

But I'd give it a year before a school like the University of Miami decided to legally divorce football from the school, licensing out the logo in order to allow themselves unlimited NIL financing to players. 

The powers of this sport just need to get together and accept reality. Allow players to unionize, agree to a CBA, and add stability to all of this. 

 

[funhusker]

I'm assuming so, but unless a law passes congress to mandate this kind of revenue sharing by law, it's going to take a very short period of time for a school to try and circumvent the rules for a competitive advantage. I think this interpretation by the Biden Administration is not legally sound anyway. 

But I'd give it a year before a school like the University of Miami decided to legally divorce football from the school, licensing out the logo in order to allow themselves unlimited NIL financing to players. 

The powers of this sport just need to get together and accept reality. Allow players to unionize, agree to a CBA, and add stability to all of this. 

Or just allow students the opportunity to make money on their names, images, and likenesses but just get rid of these ridiculous groups like 1890.

Let kids sign agents, but agents have to sign deals with actual companies and have contracts that actually explain why the kid is getting paid.  And then the kid pays taxes or gets in trouble with the IRS.  Welcome to the real world kids, where usually we aren’t just given money not tied to responsibility.

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[krc1995]

Why have title IX if you can change your gender?  Are we all just one now? 

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

The entire saga of the House settlement was an unserious illegal boondangle from the start. Everybody involved knew it wouldn't last in court, but the NCAA refuses to step aside. 

The athletes are employees. They're going to unionize and sign a CBA unless Congress gets involved in a major way. The NCAA needs to get it over with and recognize players as employees.