they will pay every scholarship athlete a 10K a year stipend. That's a cool 6 million a year. No big deal for them. I assume most of the P-5 schools will match that to "keep up with the Jones". Hopefully, smaller DI schools will agree to not follow suit (although they might have to pay something eventually). If the small schools stick together, not much will change since few athletes pass up a scholarship offer at a P-5 school to play in the Sun Belt, ConferenceUSA, etc. anyway. Regardless, to nature of college athletics is changing drastically, primarily due to the massive amounts of money provided by the TV networks.

(10-22-2014 04:51 PM)mjs Wrote:  they will pay every scholarship athlete a 10K a year stipend. That's a cool 6 million a year. No big deal for them. I assume most of the P-5 schools will match that to "keep up with the Jones". Hopefully, smaller DI schools will agree to not follow suit (although they might have to pay something eventually). If the small schools stick together, not much will change since few athletes pass up a scholarship offer at a P-5 school to play in the Sun Belt, ConferenceUSA, etc. anyway. Regardless, to nature of college athletics is changing drastically, primarily due to the massive amounts of money provided by the TV networks.

The Universities in the P-5 Conferences are now officially becoming professional athletics. I wonder how long it will be before their athletic department's tax exempt status is challenged.

But we keep watching ESPN.

The arms (money) race will not stop here. At the moment we have five money conferences, but there will soon be a push by the really rich schools to distance themselves from the bottom feeders, even in that rarefied atmosphere. Why should Texas share money with Iowa State? And then there is Notre Dame . . .