With the state of college sports today with NIL, transfers, no loyalty I have a lot of concerns. I have been in the Gamecock Club for over 43 years and now I must decide if I want to move forward with rejoining the Gamecock Club. I recently talked with an official from another division 1 school and some things he mentioned were concerning. I was informed that all the athletes that play at all these division 1 schools, get free education, food, first class travel to away game with a total value of over $700,000 per student athlete. Now the interesting thing that was told to me is that when all these athletes graduate go to pros or go into the real world to work for a living is that less than 1% of all these athletes give back to the schools they attended, and the ones who did not give back were the African American athletes. They do not give back to the Gamecock Club, to the university general fund. Another thing is that less than 1% of all the people who work at these schools give back to the schools nor do they have to buy season tickets to football at a price that the regular person who buys season tickets to any sport at the school they are associated with. Ray Tanner has never participated in the Gamecock Club or has he given back to the University's general scholarship fund. The regular citizen who buys season's tickets has to join the Gamecock Club pays for Tanner, the board of trustees to sit in those boxes get fed free food and yet they pay nothing. If you want to verify what I am saying speak to someone who is familiar with the Gamecock Club, IPTAY or any other booster club. Not just making this up these are issues that I have talked to other people about. But yet I will probably renew my Gamecock Club dues for 2025 because I really want to support Shane Beamer and the other coaches at USC. Thanks for letting me express my freedom of speech, whether you agree with me or not I understand.
State of college sports and my concerns
- Thread starter Spurman54
- Start date
This is why NIL is a joke and should never have seen the light of day.
If I were getting $700,000 worth of perks for 4/5 years of ''work'', how can I justify suing for a bigger piece of the pie no matter how much my ''employer'' is making if that was the deal I agreed to. Particularly, if my employer is ''training'' me for my future endeavors whether it be sports or education related where I will make my living in the future.
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At my place of employment, I have never contributed a portion of my salary back to the company.
Kirby has donated $8.5 million back to UGA. He is a UGA alumnus so that is a little different than a coach or AD or faculty member who did not attend the school.
Black alumni as a whole, not necessarily athletes, contribute to their alma maters at the lowest rate of any alumni group. This is true for all schools, even HBCUs. Black former athletes are no different than black alumni in general.
I haven't either, but most companies just sell a product to make a profit - they aren't constantly soliciting their customer bases for donations in the name of "charity."
You put in your 2 cents and so I'll put in mine - mostly because I'm bored.
I don't think you're looking at it logically. (IE: your decision to probably renew your GC club dues)
Imagine you go to the store to buy donuts. You pay for the donuts. You like the donuts. You keep going back. But yet, every time the merchant hands you the donuts after you've paid - they spit in your face. And you keep buying the donuts anyway. And on top of spitting in your face, they raise the prices and keep spitting in your face....
All of that is an analogy of course - perhaps even a bad one, to make a point. At some point you have to make the decision to STOP. Your time and money can absolutely be better spent. You don't owe the University one single red penny and even if you did, you've paid your dues. Save your money. Nothing is going to change in this whole NIL madness until people like you / us - STOP paying for it.
The $$$ is the grease that keeps it all moving forward. It's not worth it. At all.
Back in the day the company I represented hit us up pretty hard to contribute to their PAC.The companies interest diverged from the workforces best interest so over time we all ditched the PAC.
I can't speak to or address all of your concerns and wouldn't touch the statements about race with ten foot pole, but it sounds to me like you are realizing that big time college athletics, and to some degree the universities as a whole, are _businesses_. They use phrases like "give back" to try to convince you otherwise, but in most cases, I think the giving is a one-way street.
Imagine if Jerry Jones asked Cowboys fans to donate to the organization to upgrade the team's practice facilities. Sounds ridiculous, right?
I don't have any concerns. If the entire enterprise imploded, it wouldn't cost me a second of sleep.
You don’t dare suggest one should have a life apart from watching others play a game!Crazy idea but you might be on to something.
You are suggesting Tanner return part of his salary because they are soliciting their customer base for donations? I have several friends that work for the university to solicit non-athletic donations from donors. They certainly are not donating a portion of their salary back to the University.
We are also good freind of a CEO for a non-profit organization. She certainly isn't giving a portion of her salary back to the company.
Btw- in Colorado snowboarding this week. Great condition but very
Professional owners request the city (some citizens are fans, some not) to donate to practice facilities and/or stadiums. May sound ridiculous but happens all the time. Forced donations but...
The next time Beamer, Pairs or Dawn holds a Press Conference maybe someone will ask them if they are members of the Gamecock Club? Would be interesting to find out especially since they average 5 million each per year.
But those requests are made in the name of economic development, no different than the way BMW or another company may seek tax incentives or infrastructure improvements as an inducement to locate in a community. While the city's calculations can be debated, both sides feel they are getting something tangible out of the deal. I've never heard of an NFL team appealing to fans' sense of charity.
Where in Colorado?Just back from Breckinridge yesterday.Very,Very cold which made things pretty icy.Highs in the single digits with lows in the negatives.Still had a great time.They are having World Ice Sculpture Championship while we were there.Pretty Incredible.
Although there's quite a bit of precedent for football coaches "giving back" to the academic side of institutions, I am not suggesting that. I am only pointing out that companies are honest about their desire to make a profit and don't sell themselves as a charity to their customer base in the same way that big time college athletics programs do. However, I think we're entering an era when more and more fans will start to ask the same questions the OP is asking himself.
The Ivy League is one of the last bastions of true amateur collegiate athletics. They don't give out scholarships. They provide only need-based financial aid.
The NFL should have minor league teams like major league baseball does. No one good enough to get drafted out of high school, goes to college football to hopefully improve their skills in order to be drafted. But they should get nothing more than paid for athletic scholarships. But, obviously that train has left the station.
I was a member of the Gamecock Club for 30-35 years, buying multiple season tickets, until around 2010. Now, I go to one game a year, period!!!! That's it. If college football no longer existed, I honestly would not miss it. But I have a lot fewer years ahead of me than behind me. Those in their 20s, 30s and 40s probably wish there was college football throughout the year, as I did at their age. They would be hugely upset if college football went away. But, it's not the game it was when I was their age. College sports, especially football, needs a reset.
The NFL should have minor league teams like major league baseball does. No one good enough to get drafted out of high school, goes to college football to hopefully improve their skills in order to be drafted. But they should get nothing more than paid for athletic scholarships. But, obviously that train has left the station.
I was a member of the Gamecock Club for 30-35 years, buying multiple season tickets, until around 2010. Now, I go to one game a year, period!!!! That's it. If college football no longer existed, I honestly would not miss it. But I have a lot fewer years ahead of me than behind me. Those in their 20s, 30s and 40s probably wish there was college football throughout the year, as I did at their age. They would be hugely upset if college football went away. But, it's not the game it was when I was their age. College sports, especially football, needs a reset.
Many young adult males who are passionate about the teams they follow will grow to be indifferent. It's a stage of life thing and it's a state of athletics thing.
As a person that supports the players, the players only get what collectives, etc. offer to spend. NIL in practice has not really turned out what it was intended to be. it was supposed to be players profiting from marketing interests so that players could profit from their fame. It wasn't intended for fans of teams to create a collective to create a player pool for all the contributors on a roster and to poach players off of other rosters. I have never heard a player ask for all that. Crazed fans did this, but some want to act like the players did this. The players are doing what most do as employees. Go to the highest bidded offer. If you don't have all the fund raising and crazed offers, the transfer portal reality changes and you would have a model that makes more sense. However, what I see is that we have a lot of fans that want the players to save them from themselves. That is not the responsibility of the players.
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Tabernash. Winter Park / Mary Jane. It was -39 w/o wind chill Monday night in Tabernash where we stayed. Several days below zero on the slopes. It was bearable as the winds were light and no ice. Today was a POW day! Temps were around 15 degrees and 6 inches of freshies! Perfect conditions in the trees (our favorite).
Yeah, it's -10 at my house this morning, probably colder than that up at Discovery, where we do most of our skiing. I don't enjoy skiing when it's that cold. If I were vacationing out here from back east, I'd give it a go, but since I have the option of waiting for warmer days, I'll take it. lol.
I may go out this afternoon and do some snow-shoe hiking in the national forests, though.
For sure. The locals stayed home this week. Zero lines on the lifts prior to saturday. I paid too much money not to give it a go. It was actually a good week. We had some heated gear for our kids.
So your CEO friend doesn’t care enough about the cause of her non-profit to donate herself?? That says a lot about her non-profit.
Wrong! She brings in millions of dollars in donations. She works her *** off securing donations for a great cause. Although a CEO, she is not highly paid and keeps her salary relatively low. She is a single mother with two teenage boys. Her degree and passion is non-profit. She does more than her share.