Mark Schnabel: Talking with sport
Mark Schnabel Sports Talk
Earlier this year, the NFL Players Association released a survey of its members regarding the league’s training facilities.
The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs finished in last place.
A few days ago, the athletic director at my beloved alma mater, Ohio State, said he would cut the budgets of non-revenue sports by $8 million. He announced that no sports would be cut, for now.
What do these two seemingly unrelated developments have to do with the price of rice in Malaysia? Not much. What do they have to do with recent changes in college sports, which could soon include direct payments to athletes? Apparently everything.
What effect might this have on smaller universities, like the ones here in our area? It might not be so bad.
The NCAA and member conferences will settle a lawsuit for $2.8 billion to return to former athletes revenues they were previously denied. NCAA members will also have to share future revenues with current and future athletes.
In recent years, NIL (name, image and likeness) money has turned college sports into a professional pursuit without some of the hurdles, such as salary caps, contracts or recruiting.
With all bets off, there’s a chance that if you don’t play NCAA Division I football or basketball, your sport will disappear.
Those football players will want their fair share and more, as football is the largest revenue generator.
As far as my alma mater is concerned, the women’s synchronized swimming team may have won 34 national team championships, more than any other sport at the school, but they’re taking money away from the football team, as is men’s and women’s cross country, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey (including two of the last three women’s NCAA champions), lacrosse, rifle, pistol, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, wrestling, women’s field hockey, women’s rowing, women’s softball, women’s dance, and co-ed spirit.
As courts increasingly view Division I college athletes not as students but as employees, Title IX may fall by the wayside. That means a school does not have to guarantee equal scholarships between the sexes. Schools may not even have to pay scholarships to any athlete. As an employee, an athlete may not even have to attend classes.
There are precedents for universities owning professional sports franchises. Two members of the first division of Mexican professional soccer, Liga MX, are owned by universities.
On the plus side, since the player is an employee, no dorms or meal plans will be needed, football players can pay for room and board themselves.
This is where the Chiefs’ training facility comes into play.
In recent years, colleges have built palatial training facilities and locker rooms, primarily as a way to improve recruiting. In this new environment, why should a school build anything more than the basics? The athlete will determine their choice of school based on how much money they are offered.
This is unlikely to be repeated at the Division II, III and NAIA levels (if it were, it would be the end of intercollegiate sports at those levels). That should be good news for schools like Bethel.
Smaller schools will still be able to offer a full range of sports, perhaps even expanding that offering. This also means that the level of competition at the lower levels will increase.
Now, I’m not saying that everything I’ve predicted here will happen. We’re just in a state of great chaos and general confusion. Who knows what will happen.
Marco Schnabel He is the sports editor of the Kansan newspaper and was a member of his college’s chess team, where players could claim prize money (since it was not an NCAA sport) and has lifetime earnings of about $45, including something like $25 as the four-time Class DE-Unrated Division champion of the 1980 Buckeye Open. It was a tough tie that couldn’t be broken.
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