(03-31-2012 09:18 AM)ohio1317 Wrote:  One important note: The quotes said division I as opposed to division I-A. Most the football schools are fairly wealthy compared to the non-football ones even from non-AQ ranks.

Either way this works though, I think it will be a good thing. Two things that seem feared that I don't think will happen if the NCAA leads this.

1. I don't think they'll remove teams/conferences from the NCAA Tournament. This is the NCAA's golden goose and they aren't going to risk damaging it. That means that if there is subdivision changes with division I, I don't think they'll go so far as changing the post-season. More likely, the different subdivisions will simply allow for different rules on somethings like scholarships, maybe academic requirements, etc. The teams will continue to play nonconference and in the NCAA Tournament however.

2. If this does include an additional breakdown between I-A and I-AA, I don't think the separation will be as large as between I-A and I-AA currently is. I don't see the games between them decreasing and they'll probably even continue with the same bowls (and playoff :( ) structure. Again you are probably talking different rules with scholarships, maybe a little different academic requirements, etc.

All in all, I think this would probably be good because it lets us acknowledge what is already reality. If the NCAA is leading this, I don't see anyway we go a lot further and ending games between the two subdivisions or separating the bowls/playoff.

Your post and reasoning are exactly on target. I know we are on this site because we love college football, but what many have not considered, and sometimes refuse to add to their vision, is the cloud of financial disaster which surrounds all aspects of our lives.

Your statement about some colleges not being with us in the future is going to become reality sooner than we think. Just look at the State budget of New Jersey and its impact upon venerable Rutgers. Georgia is facing serious higher education cutbacks. Maryland has its woes.

What everyone needs to take a sobering look at is the size of TV contracts. Why so much now? They are sowing us up until they can close the window on self-production of the college sports product. Once the regulations are in place, or the legislation passed, we will get peanuts and then the only revenue stream that could keep some schools operational will dry up. The survivors will be forced to operate almost exclusively on corporate dollars. Corporate money means corporate strings. Bye Bye intellectual freedom. Bye Bye intellectual property.

The state of Alabama retirement systems just published in their latest news letter a list of the ten worst corporate tax avoiders. They are in order: 1. Exxon Mobile, 2. Bank of America (who received a bailout of what is now estimated to be approximately 1 Trillion dollars.) 3. General Electric, 4. Chevron, 5. Boeing, 6. Valero Energy, 7. Goldman Sachs, 8. Citigroup, 9. Conoco Phillips, and 10. Carnival Cruise Lines.

The gory details are available as to why all of these made the list, suffice it to say for space purposes that #10 Carnival made over 11 Billion in NET profit and paid only 1.1% in Federal Tax.

My point is this. Look at the list of leading contributors to the the Romney, Obama, Bush, Gore, and McCain campaigns and who do you find? You guessed it. Throw in Microsoft (NBC), Disney (ABC/ESPN), Time Warner and Fox and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that we are no longer "a government of the people, for the people, and by the people". We are instead a government subsidized of the corporation, for the corporation, and by the corporation. Our information comes from the corporation, and very soon, now that private business is dying and incentives for individual wealth development are drying up, our schools will become indoctrination centers for the corporate way. Sports revenue may be our final revenue stream to preserve academic freedom. Who would ever have dreamed that?

Universities will go through merger and acquisition, and through bankruptcy and closure. There will be fewer and fewer students who can afford high dollar student loans with little prospect for gainful employment. Some will find ways to become selfemployed and others will see no benefit in further education. The middle class will continue to dissipate and the gap between the richest and poorest will rival that of Mexico.

It is not a free enterprise system that taxes its citizens to provide a failing bank with one trillion dollars. Free enterprise means you are free to succeed or fail. Only an alien hybrid type of a government comes up with "Too Big to Fail" and only a corporate state thinks the world can't live without it. This is a warning sign so great how can we ignore it?

During the mortgage crisis something quietly took place that of course is not widely reported. The largest amount of private land passed into the hands of corporate ownership ever and they got us, the taxpayer, to buy it for them.

Why do you think you can't touch your 401K and 403B until your are almost 60? The money in those funds props up the stock values of these companies. They then leverage those shares to acquire more influence, more breaks, and more power. They exist on our money. Their failure becomes an excuse to take more of our money. The votes to do so were bought by them with our money. Their greatest fear is that we will realize that one day and stop supporting them. Their response is to so totally permeate our lives that we can not cease to support them unless we destroy ourselves in the process. Hence, "To Big to Fail."

They already have too much influence in education. They shouldn't get any more! I still believe in "We the People". And, that dream begins with enlightened minds which are the product of academic freedom. Anti-trust laws were once in place to ensure that corporations never became an economic black hole that would consume all life coming in contact with it. It's time we revisit those laws.