In Reply to: It seems farfetched right now posted by ej on May 27, 2025 at 10:49:52
I think schools want to keep playing on teams limited to students.
A successful team can be a good marketing tool for a school. My daughter only considered attending universities with big-time sports, and that is true for many young people. A successful run in the NCAA basketball tournament often leads to a boost in applications for smaller schools.
Here is how I would argue for limiting participation to students. A tournament can restrict who can enter. There are poker tournaments limited to casino employees. There are basketball tournments limited to players under a certain age. There are seniors-only golf tournaments.
There is no reason that the NCAA tournment and the College Football Playoff can't remain only open to teams of players who are currently college students of the sponsoring school.
Then schools can say they only want players on their teams who are eligible for these tournaments.
There will be lawsuits, and it will get complicated.