Here IT comes

[sandwolf]

I dont have a problem with it, as long as the money that is given to players is equal, across the board. If they start allowing players to make money off of jersey sales and stuff like that, then it is a huge advantage for the bigger programs.

[Tbonewannabe]

I'm for it, but I'm not sure how this will apply to partial scholarship sports like baseball. If it is a $2000 at opened to cover full cost of attendance, then does baseball have 27 scholarships now? Or just the $2k and 11.7?

And I expect the backlash to be only big5 plays big 5. All hard opponents.

This is immediately what I thought of. I would love to have an actual level playing field with LSU and Georgia. This would also change how the World Series and March Madness is played.

[codeDawg]

My main thing about paying players is that it still won't stop the cheating. If it changes tomorrow where the player gets $5,000 on top of what he can get now a year. Great. You'll still have bagmen saying come play for my school and I'll throw a another $50,000, a new car, and a no show job for your baby mama. That's like saying we're going to curb cocaine use by making it legal to purchase 5 grams a day.

I don't think paying players an extra stipend is about curbing cheating. It's about treating people fairly. If the big guys don't start doing something the courts will. It's going to be increasingly difficult to not give the guys doing all the work more money in a world where a TV contract suddenly generates an extra half-billion dollars for a handful of member institutions.

If you all want to be mad at someone for changing college football, be mad at ourselves. We're the ones demanding the SEC network. We're the ones celebrating the extra $30MM in revenue. We're the ones touting our expanded success and popularity. When there is this much money changing hands, it's pretty hard to rationalize not sharing some it with the stars of the show.

[codeDawg]

This is immediately what I thought of. I would love to have an actual level playing field with LSU and Georgia. This would also change how the World Series and March Madness is played.

Absolutely. Polk went about expressing it the wrong way, but he was right. If the point of this limit is to level the playing field for schools that can't devote those resources to a non-revenue sport, then those reasons should go away in the new world. They didn't do what they were intended to anyway.

[Reason2succeed]

I've always been pissed about how the athlete was the only significantly detrimentally punished for infractions. For instance, who did Redmond's suspension hurt more: him or State? Obviously him. He basically lost once in a lifetime playing time that he can never get back. I think that's wrong. If a player wants to talk to an agent he should be able to but the players also need to listen to their coaches about whether to turn pro.

[BulldogBear]

I agree. I don't think this is good.

+660000

[Schultzy]

There has been no rhyme or reason to anything the NCAA has done enforcement wise over the last forty years. Of course players need to be able to consult with an agent and we all know extra benefits have been around since the 1940's.

This type of structure is long overdue....no one trusts the NCAA anymore to function properly, it hasn't for a long time and the juxtaposition of rulings in the USC (Reggie Bush) versus Auburn (Cam Newton) cases was the nail in the coffin in my opinion.

Same exact situations of parents proven to receive the benefits, in USC's case they ruled the parent is the same as the player. In Auburn's case the parent was ruled as a separate entity.

Pat Haden (USC AD, Rhodes Scholar, and Pro Bowl QB for the Rams in the 70's) raised hell about it.

Couple this with the Miami train wreck of an investigation that was plastered on 60 minutes and you have the end of the NCAA.

[Dawgcentral]

It could end up opening Pandora's Box, but I'll stick to what I know will happen instead of the multiple disasters that could occur.

Money under the table will continue, and even expand.

The schools with the greatest number of wealthy alumni and friends with grow stronger, expanding the gulf between the haves and the have nots.

This will only benefit the player who was not as sought after as the 4 and 5 star recruit.

[Schultzy]

It could end up opening Pandora's Box, but I'll stick to what I know will happen instead of the multiple disasters that could occur.

Money under the table will continue, and even expand.

The schools with the greatest number of wealthy alumni and friends with grow stronger, expanding the gulf between the haves and the have nots.

This will only benefit the player who was not as sought after as the 4 and 5 star recruit.

It's been precisely this way for 75 years.

Eta: since the power is being shifted from the NCAA to the conferences, the NCAA can't decide who to investigate or not investigate based on political stature as they have for so many years.

Now, the conferences can operate in their own self interests (which is no one goes on probation) and sweep it all under the rug. It ain't morally correct and all but thats how it is and Slive has proven it to be a good model for the overall health of a conference. The numbers don't lie.

[Dawgcentral]

Power in the exclusive hands of Slive?

So we report to Slive instead of directly to the NCAA like we did during the Cam Newton fiasco. That worked out well didn't it.

Sure the wealth has grown under Slive, but it's the extreme passion of the SEC football fan that has made the conference top notch. I haven't forgotten that Slive came from CUSA. How far did he take them anyway?

[Tbonewannabe]

It could end up opening Pandora's Box, but I'll stick to what I know will happen instead of the multiple disasters that could occur.

Money under the table will continue, and even expand.

The schools with the greatest number of wealthy alumni and friends with grow stronger, expanding the gulf between the haves and the have nots.

This will only benefit the player who was not as sought after as the 4 and 5 star recruit.

So how does increasing universities costs increase the number of athletes getting paid under the table? This is going to increase how much it costs to operate at the newest high level division. If anything it will decrease the players being bought since the people giving money will have to give more to the athletic departments.

[Dawgcentral]

If you say so Tbonewannabe. I consider the under the table trading to be disposable income. I suspect those folks have much more at their disposal. Allowing a person like Slive, or any other individual who has a monetary stake in see the SEC win a national title enforce the rules seems to be conflictive.

Hey, maybe I'm wrong! But it seems to me it's a matter or letting the wolves determine how many calves are allowed in the herd.

[Schultzy]

Power in the exclusive hands of Slive?

So we report to Slive instead of directly to the NCAA like we did during the Cam Newton fiasco. That worked out well didn't it.

Sure the wealth has grown under Slive, but it's the extreme passion of the SEC football fan that has made the conference top notch. I haven't forgotten that Slive came from CUSA. How far did he take them anyway?

Slive didn't decide where the player went to school. I'm not saying it was fair but college football recruiting never will be and it's preferable to having half the conference on probation which is bad for everybody, even the schools not on probation.

And power in the hands of the individual commissioners of each conference is preferable to the behemoth/schizophrenic NCAA.

[Political Hack]

Power in the exclusive hands of Slive?

So we report to Slive instead of directly to the NCAA like we did during the Cam Newton fiasco. That worked out well didn't it.

Sure the wealth has grown under Slive, but it's the extreme passion of the SEC football fan that has made the conference top notch. I haven't forgotten that Slive came from CUSA. How far did he take them anyway?

I don't think that was Slive's fault (totally). It was mishandled terribly by the university. I think they tried to not piss off Auburn, the SEC, or the NCAA and ended up pissing off all three. Then, in my opinion, they fell on a sword a couple of years later to "apologize."