skyvue
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- Nov 4, 2008
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The facilities race has played a huge rule in college athletics and I've been saying for years that it was seriously out of control, but who do those improved facilities benefit? The athletes, to a large part. Coaches salaries have grown too big, in my view, but that's the only legit complaint the athletes have, in my opinion. They get a free education (ask any recent college--or their parents--about how much that saves them), exceptional training and coaching, excellent health care, good food and nutritional guidance and much more--these benefits and others are invaluable to someone who has hopes of being a professional athlete.
Again, the only people getting rich on the athletes' backs that I can see (someone will correct me if I'm missing something) is the coaches and high-level admins. Collegiate sports were every bit as enjoyable in the 1970s as they are today (the only major improvement I can point to is the television coverage). What's changed is the amount of money spent on the out-of-control facilities race, the things I described above that benefit the athletes directly. There's no reason a locker room has to be nicer than the homes most people live in, The only reason they are is the facilities race. The pressure to keep up with the Joneses.
If I had my way, we'd have minor leagues in football and basketball, unrelated to any college. The athletes who don't care about an education, and there are some, of course, could go play there for dough. The ones who want the college experience and a good education would sign contracts agreeing to remain amateurs in terms of pay-to-play. They'd get their scholarships and they could make money from t-shirts and autographs and the like. But pay-to-play would be stopped cold and those who chose to play in those minor leagues would be ineligible to play college ball. And there would be caps on the amount of money each school could spend on facilities--there would be parity in that regard. I'm not saying it will happen. I'm not saying it could happen. But I'd take it without hesitation over the current situation.
I'm sure I'll come in for some mocking for the above, but I don't care. I'm sick to death of the money talk--not just NIL, but facilities and how much the SEC brings in compared to the other conferences and how much coaches make. All of it. I wish all OU athletes well in their post-collegiate careers--sports or otherwise. Same goes for our current athletes. But I don't care a bit to know how much they're making. I only want to watch them play. My favorite OU podcast--the Oklahoma Breakdown--spends so much time talking about how much this athlete is making or that coach signed for--pro and college--and I hate it. I can assure you that we didn't talk money this much back in the 1970s and '80s and it was more fun then. And lest anyone dismiss me as a nostalgic old fool, I'm actually not nostalgic. I don't look back at any of the decades I've lived through as being better than today--better in some ways, sure, but worse in others. I live very much in the present but the present in college football and basketball stinks on ice and it's getting worse, not better.
Now, you kids get off my lawn!
