In Reply to: I think that wd be the death of college sports* posted by TheHappyBurgermeister on December 29, 2025 at 12:54:08
of the end. Something will take the place of college basketball and football as we know it. In fact, that's already happened to some degree. Whatever it morphs into or becomes will be close enough for some. There will be some connection to schools but in all probability it will be an extremely strained connection. For some it will be enough. For others it will be a travesty. I don't think it's going to be anywhere near what it has been and never will be again.
Clearly somethings needed to change. But IMO where they are going is not a good place. There were choices and changes made that IMO are just wrong. Maybe all of this was inevitable and that ball began rolling long ago with no real way to stop it.
I thought long ago that college sports should have gone in the opposite direction - admitting only real students with athletic abilities and then filling their rosters with those real student/athletes eliminating athletic scholarships and only granting academic and needed scholarships. Student/athletes then would legitimately have to go to class and maintain a certain GPA to maintain eligibility and their scholarships.
But there was all that money and all those fans and alums and donors and television demanding better and better entertainment even when those demands had nothing really to do with athletic competition but more to the level of athleticism on view. More and more rules had to be bent and standards had to be lessened and at that point they chose to compete with professional sports and their path was set and herfe we are.