Anyone see HBO RealSports episode on athletic scholarships?

[henfan]

Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet.

Not surprising though, Billy Packer comes off like a complete, know-it-all tool. I loved his comment that the NCAA doesn't have anything to do with D-I football. He indicated that the sponsor D-II and D-III tournament but not D-I. Idiot.

Rich Rod comes off as completely disingenuous on most accounts, IMO.

[Dane96]

Ummmm....without seeing the episode, but based on the statement you made...if you are referring to DI (FBS version) football then Billy is correct. The NCAA does not sponsor the championship. Now...I believe you meant DI to be all inclusive of FCS and FBS...but let's face it, if they do pay players my first thought was that there will be another seismic shift and we will see a rebranding/renaming of DI. There is NO WAY that teams from the lower dearths of FBS and most, if not all, in FCS could handle and increase in scholarship price which is the proposed method to pay players (a stipend).

The landscape as we know it would be reduced to about 80 teams...if not less.

I still hate Billy.

[henfan]

Ummmm....without seeing the episode, but based on the statement you made...if you are referring to DI (FBS version) football then Billy is correct. The NCAA does not sponsor the championship. Now...I believe you meant DI to be all inclusive of FCS and FBS...

In the context of the discussion, Packer clearly indicated that the NCAA has no involvement at all in D-I football; only D-II and D-III. With that comment, he casually dismissed over 1/2 of the FB programs in D-I (i.e.- the FCS) to make his point, which, of course, was completely inaccurate any way. Now, if he said that the NCAA as an organization doesn't sponsor an FBS postseason or otherwise share in FBS post-season revenues, his statement would have been mostly correct. In typical Packer fashion, he wasn't splitting hairs; he was just being blissfully ignorant.

Jeff Orleans, former commish of the Ivy League, who I thought presented the most sober, level-headed approach among those on the Real Sports panel, suggested that there may eventually be 60 or so of the most profitable FB D-I programs breaking off from the NCAA. Another potential shockwave facing big time athletics is the potential loss of non-profit tax status, which was addressed by Nader earlier.

Clearly, something has to give. The system is broken and out of control.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Jeff Orleans, former commish of the Ivy League, who I thought presented the most sober, level-headed approach among those on the Real Sports panel....

This nearly made me spit out my coffee on they keyboard. Jeff Orleans? The guy who carried the water for 30 years for the Ivy League presidents' hypocritical no-playoffs, no-fun policy for football, fun for everyone else? They guy who wouldn't interview with a member of the press who cares about FCS, ever? They guy who oversaw the steady, steady decline of his football league for the better part of three decades and didn't lift a finger to help?

I'm not saying the system is broken and out of control - it is. But I'm not sure I'd take Mr. Orleans at face value on the matter. Matter of fact, I have my own opinions on the matter.

[Go...gate]

Ummmm....without seeing the episode, but based on the statement you made...if you are referring to DI (FBS version) football then Billy is correct. The NCAA does not sponsor the championship. Now...I believe you meant DI to be all inclusive of FCS and FBS...but let's face it, if they do pay players my first thought was that there will be another seismic shift and we will see a rebranding/renaming of DI. There is NO WAY that teams from the lower dearths of FBS and most, if not all, in FCS could handle and increase in scholarship price which is the proposed method to pay players (a stipend).

The landscape as we know it would be reduced to about 80 teams...if not less.

I still hate Billy.

Ditto that.

[DJOM]

Extremely good episode and highly recommended. Dealt with issue of paying athletes and actual role of coaching staffs telling athletes what to major in and how much time to spend studying and playing football. General thought of panelists was that number of programs that could afford to pay players would be 60 or less.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Resurrecting this thread after reading this review of the episode. I don't get HBO, so I didn't see it, only the free webisodes on the internet:

http://www.6magazineonline.com/2011/03/a-change-aint-gone-come/

The reason I'm bringing it up again is the following:


Now the corruption is no surprise, and neither are these numbers, but they still get your attention.
- The NFL and NBA get 57% of the revenue
- 2009 Texas football made 94 million, if they paid the players the players would have got 630k
- 2009 Duke basketball made 27 million, if they paid the players the players would have got 1.26 million
- 2009 Stanford bball coach made 300k because Nike was the shoe sponsor. Players got $0 for wearing the shoes
- 2009 Bama players would have been paid 500k…if they were paid.
- NCAA makes upwards of 4 billion dollars off of video game licensing
- Top 14 NCAA execs earned an average salary of 425k
- 2008 The top Sugar Bowl official 645k
- 2008 Sugar Bowl winner, Georgia Bulldogs, made 18 million
- 2010 Michigan football made 63 million, had 21 million in expense, profited 42 million
- NCAA makes nothing off of the BCS championships, they are two different entities
- Although they are two different entities, both are headed by the university Presidents
- BCS schools lose 13.5 million on average
- NCAA makes money off of FCS championship football
- 90% of NCAA sports income comes from March Madness

Does anyone who saw the special remember this? Better yet, is there a clip somewhere where I can see that?