In Reply to: the money game - Nakos on $20 million CBB rosters... posted by barrya on May 08, 2026 at 05:54:36
where it will end up. Not a pretty picture. The "NBA-ization" of college basketball and, to a lesser extent, high school basketball will, IMO, be the ruination of non NBA basketball. For me right now, NBA basketball is almost unwatchable.
The old system exploited the players and that couldn't and shouldn't have been continued. But what we have now is rapidly changing college basketball in a negative way IMO. Regulations are needed, but court challenges often make those moot. Long ago (probably almost from the beginning) college sports made a deal with the devil when they decided or allowed student athletes to be treated differently than all the other students.
This is were we ended up. Colleges never should have allowed themselves to become the "minor leagues" for football and basketball, and never counted on big time sports to be the huge money makers they are now. The universities were seduced by the money. The coaches were compromised by "success." The fans, alumni, and donors were blinded by their egos. And the sports were the ones that suffered. All of it ultimately driven by money.
I don't see any of this turning toward anything other than continuing to follow the money to wherever it leads. Eventually, I believe, it will all topple by the shear weight of it's greed.
I don't follow baseball too closely, but from my distant vantage point it looks to me that big time college baseball is comparable to AAA and AA minor league baseball. Both college baseball and minor league baseball seem to be equally legitimate paths to pursue the big leagues. College baseball seems to be populated with players who want, on some level, a college degree while also a desire to play baseball and maybe eventually pro. And although college baseball gets attention it's not to the levels of college basketball and football. I believe that's because the minor baseball leagues have continued to have some importance and legitimacy. For basketball and football, big time college sports are the minor leagues.
Perhaps college baseball is the paradigm to aspire to for college basketball and football. Perhaps only then will we see that big money isn't the only thing that determines football and basketball success. And maybe it's not even football so much as it's college basketball that needs regulations and perhaps a complete overhaul. Right now it's just getting more and more insane.