If College Football Paid a Salary? (Skip Bayless idea)

[The Federalist Engineer]

What would be the salary range? How long the contracts? Assuming being a student in the particular college was still a requirement, how much money are we talking about? When does a player become a free agent? It would be a wild free market.

In this Mad Max environment the power teams with the biggest revenue would be tempted to go Indy, not to share. Or they gang-up (Colusion) and make a salary cap.

My first stab into this world is that most players would make a pittance after taxes. Face value tuition and baller accommodations in a Big 10 school would already be a $100k taxable benefit. Boosters would put money into 5-star QBs and the rest who knows. Finally, many schools would go back to D2 and forget the whole thing. End result, fewer teams (consolidation of competition) and the marquee players become teenage millionaires.

[gravedigger]

Exactly why would you still refer to it as college?

[codeDawg]

Everyone knows it will be a complicated transition. Divisions and conferences will change. College football will be different than the way you grew up watching it. It is coming. Get over it.

[dawgs]

There aren't gonna be free agents. Anyone that things college is going to be a pure free market system or even a system resembling pro sports is wrong. Players will most likely receive a stipend for the extra time, just like grad students that spend hours per week doing research and teaching classes and labs for the university.

[Political Hack]

money put into a trust until they graduate. Each conference should have agreed upon "salaries;" however, I believe they should be stipends and the kids should be forced to receive their degree (barring some kind of a rare hardship waiver for special circumstances) before they get their payout.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Grad students are in a free market compared to players...They can withdraw at any time without life-changing penalties, transfer to any school that accepts them, they can attend two schools if they want, they can get a private sector job at any time, they don't have to keep amateur status, schools can haul-in as many students as they can afford, they can have Monster accounts, there is no "eligibility" clock, and they can attend school part-time. Lastly, there is no rule for grad students that limits them to tuition and Romin noodle money, the department could tie a grant to a student's value and pay what-it-takes to get a valuable person.

My question was how much? Lets say Texas pays a $60K stipend as base-pay with top players getting $100K signing bonuses from previously illegal bag-man purses. At $60K for 83 players, it is only $4.9M and less expensive than Nick Saban per season. If you make $109M/season like Texas, I think they could pay $150K average stipends and it's still a bargain with a $12.45M payroll. What kind of stipend will USM pay and how would it be legal to deny a worthy USM player from driving west to play for better paying employer?

[dawgs]

The usm's of the world are going to be FCS level CFB sooner than later. Sucks to be a usm fan, but that's the reality of the situation. If a kid signs with usm, he knows what he's getting himself into. If he wants to transfer, transfer rules still apply. Just like a kid playing in the sec gets more perks than a kid playing at usm. But the idea that there's going to be a free for all "free agency" system is just incorrect.

[Quaoarsking]

The power conference schools aren't going to agree to anything that doesn't keep all the power in the hands of the power conference schools. There will be a strict salary cap or a set player salary. It will change college football, but not in the doom-and-gloom way that some like to predict.