The Plot to Disrupt the NCAA with a Pay-for-Play HBCU League

[DudeAnon]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/t ... all-league

I hope they succeed. It may be a hit to the Big East when the NCAA cartel dies, but such is life. It is pretty sickening how much money is being made off of young black men.

"Imagine you're playing at Georgetown. There's Howard right across the city [in Washington, D.C.], and those guys are getting paid.

"What would keep you where you are? You'd be like, 'The hell with this. I'm out. I'm going over there.' You could have endorsement deals, have Cadillac giving you a car, you ride around and hand out business cards for the local dealer. Every car sold, you get a cut. I'm telling you, at that point, it's over."

Of course, there's one way NCAA schools could compete: by allowing competition, and permitting players to paid. Doing so, Volante concedes, likely would put an HBCU league out of business. But that also would be a win. "If you look at NCAA basketball and football, the majority of scholarship athletes in those sports are African-American," he says. "Right now you largely have old, white rich guys making money hand over fist off of them. If all those players start getting paid, our ultimate goal will be achieved."

His plan is effectively offer to fund a new league for the poorest schools in the NCAA (HBCU's). I think it could work, but the old-boy network will probably threaten to defund HBCU's entirely if they go through with it.

[MUBoxer]

Won't happen. It'd need for grade A talent to go to get viewers to actually pay attention to get money to pay the players. If they start off at the poorest NCAA institutions then you're getting into crappy facilities, no fan interest, small market, no reputation. These schools won't be able to snag players from the Top schools that can offer unreal facilities for their year in waiting.

[NJRedman]

Not to mention they would be cut off from playing NCAA schools in any other sport. And yes, no fan support no high level coaches not TV contract. Where is this money coming from to pay these kids at first? They sign an agent and the agent says they want more than 100K for their top recruit. Then what?

[marquette]

I think it's a nice idea, but realistically it has some massive hurdles. How many schools are going to be involved? Will these players be making more than the D-League salary (I believe around $30k)? Even if the salaries top $50k, are the facilities and training available at a similar level to Duke or even Marquette? How much do they pay the coaches? Where does the revenue come from? Would a tv partner be interested in essentially a D-League light? How many fans show up to these games? Do students and alumni feel connected to these athletes over the long term?

[Bill Marsh]

I think it's a nice idea, but realistically it has some massive hurdles. How many schools are going to be involved? Will these players be making more than the D-League salary (I believe around $30k)? Even if the salaries top $50k, are the facilities and training available at a similar level to Duke or even Marquette? How much do they pay the coaches? Where does the revenue come from? Would a tv partner be interested in essentially a D-League light? How many fans show up to these games? Do students and alumni feel connected to these athletes over the long term?

Those questions are addressed in the article. The comparison with the USFL and why this would not suffer a similar fate is a good one.

[marquette]

I think it's a nice idea, but realistically it has some massive hurdles. How many schools are going to be involved? Will these players be making more than the D-League salary (I believe around $30k)? Even if the salaries top $50k, are the facilities and training available at a similar level to Duke or even Marquette? How much do they pay the coaches? Where does the revenue come from? Would a tv partner be interested in essentially a D-League light? How many fans show up to these games? Do students and alumni feel connected to these athletes over the long term?

Those questions are addressed in the article. The comparison with the USFL and why this would not suffer a similar fate is a good one.

I get what the article says, but it doesn't seem realistic. They expect a startup of $15 million will be enough to bring facilities at all HBCU institutions up to modern standards. Marquette spent $32 million on our training facility over a decade ago and spent $3 million on renovations over the last couple years (Georgetown, Creighton, PC, X, and others have spent similar amounts within the last 10 years). They are talking about 16 schools, that's less than $1 million each.

They have the same projections for coach and player salaries but according to tax documents Wojo in the 2015-16 season made $1.8 million. How do they lure even mid-pack coaches from power schools when they are not looking to offer even $1 million per school? They are also hoping to raise this money from prominent African American members of the community and list LeBron James and Charles Barkley as possible donors because last year they combined to donate $4.5 million to philanthropic causes. While admirable, you are essentially asking private citizens to bankroll a for-profit league with non-tax-deductible donations. That's a tough sell.

They are planning to pay players from $50-100k per year. That sounds great but students at our universities are already receiving, with COA, housing, tuition, food, etc., very near those numbers already. They say these players will be able to make money off their likeness and endorsements, but this opportunity already exists via the D-League, which has no age limit. Very few athletes take this route because of the reduced exposure, fanfare, and poor facilities. They are hoping for a tv contract in the realm of $5-10 million with no track record of ratings in a contracting market.

I think it is admirable, I just don't see how their plan works or changes anything.