Would You Consider This?

[HarrisburgDave]

I suppose most people understand that the current direction of college sports is pay for play and nothing will end that.

Given this would any of you enjoy an alternative of an amateur system if schools like Lehigh, Bucknell, Fordham, Delaware, etc. adopted a system similar to NCAA sports in 1940? Would you go if a college nearby offered the alternative? Let’s just pretend the lawyers won’t find a way to kill that.

If some schools just gave up trying to compete and said, “We will give our students an alternative with other like minded schools and be satisfied at that level” would you have interest in going to see them play.?

I doubt this would work at bringing back the old system, thats dead. However, it might appeal to some, at least enuf to provide a market if scaled accordingly.

BTW, has there been any clear and open attempt anywhere in the nation to go to pay for play at the high school level? I have seen pictures of facilities in southern states that are better than many college stadiums and practice facilities.

 

[DaytonRickster]

I suppose most people understand that the current direction of college sports is pay for play and nothing will end that.

Given this would any of you enjoy an alternative of an amateur system if schools like Lehigh, Bucknell, Fordham, Delaware, etc. adopted a system similar to NCAA sports in 1940? Would you go if a college nearby offered the alternative? Let’s just pretend the lawyers won’t find a way to kill that.

If some schools just gave up trying to compete and said, “We will give our students an alternative with other like minded schools and be satisfied at that level” would you have interest in going to see them play.?

I doubt this would work at bringing back the old system, thats dead. However, it might appeal to some, at least enuf to provide a market if scaled accordingly.

BTW, has there been any clear and open attempt anywhere in the nation to go to pay for play at the high school level? I have seen pictures of facilities in southern states that are better than many college stadiums and practice facilities.

I know Ohio HS AA recently OK'd NIL for high schoolers.

 

[BiochemPSU]

It may happen that the truly amateur sports leagues have a place in this world, though I suspect it will look like the natural and the "take as many chemicals as your body can handle" divisions in bodybuilding. And while joe public will never focus on the natural looking guys, they still have a place to go and goals to shoot for.

As for the money we are seeing at the college and HS level, you should see the number of elementary and middle school kids who are "home schooling" simply to focus on sports or other activities outside of school. Or, better yet, look into Mo Vaughn. He is running a "school" that is really an all day baseball program. Unless you somehow gave birth to the next Mickey Mantle, your kid who "tries and works hard practicing his swing after school for an hour every day" isn't going to be making the middle school or HS team over these kids, who went all in at age 2.

My personal theory is that it is a sign of the desperate state of our economy. People have shifted to think school will only doom you to a life of low or middle class income, which is the equivalent of poverty. So why not take a shot at making your kid the next guy to sign for four years, $240 million with the Dodgers. If he fails, he was going to be poor/middle class anyway, so who cares if he knows who Plato is or can subtract fractions in his head? If you are already rich, why not take a stab at sending your kid to the Manning passing camp 24/7? If he fails, kid is still rich; didn't need school to teach him how to stay rich.

 

[HarrisburgDave]

Rich, poor, middle class.

Those of us who are old enough to eat hay remember when people in a three bedroom house, with two cars, and who had kids in private schools were "well to do". It is funny how expectations today have some seeing a lifestyle, that would have had us happy in the seventies, as low or middle income deserving of ridicule.

 

[BiochemPSU]

Rich, poor, middle class.

Those of us who are old enough to eat hay remember when people in a three bedroom house, with two cars, and who had kids in private schools were "well to do". It is funny how expectations today have some seeing a lifestyle, that would have had us happy in the seventies, as low or middle income deserving of ridicule.

I don't think it is being ridiculed, it just isn't seen as good enough any more (and in fairness, it is becoming out of reach for many, many people). I think it is part of the down side of capitalism (there must be winners and losers) when combined with social media: people who have money (or pretend to) are way more in your face about having it and are now even more envied by those that don't have money. And people don't like feeling like losers (see crowd at Beaver stadium post-NW, circa 2025). That 70s family you mentioned probably went to Disney once in their lifetime, and it was probably years in the making to budget for it (guilty). Now, you can see people vacationing in Disney every year, sometimes multiple times a year. People want to feel that they are better than others; just ask the closest woman sitting next to you. Having more money helps you pull that off. So why not take the shot with your kid at playing for big NIL or professional sports money? You can't live that "better than you" lifestyle with a chemistry degree.