Crowdfunding: Paying College Players

I don't know, but you can still get $20 free pledging cash if you sign up now.

I imagine the site's going to bomb, anyway.

Interesting setup.  I think the NCAA is gonna find any way it can to try to shut this down.  That said, they're not using players' names.  They're essentially holding the money in escrow until the player leaves, at which point they'll get whatever was earmarked.  If they don't reach whatever threshold you set when you donated, it'll be returned back to you.  Smart by fanangel.  Not sure they can use the money they hold for investment purposes, doesn't seem like it.

What's the difference between this and having a college football fantasy league site and adding this feature to it?

I've oftened wondered what there was to prevent paying players after they graduated, just wish I had thought to come up with charging a 9% fee on all money paid to the players.

Not a good idea, especially in this manner.

Fuck that, I'm a struggling Canadian baldhead kid. Let the rich boosters pay them. Or the Athletic Departments.

In order to get the player to stay wouldn't the amount of money in this bucket have to be pretty darn close to what a player thinks they could make in the NFL? 

I believe this system is already in use, it's called the ESS EE SEE.

I kid, I kid.  Kinda.

But seriously, I'm here all week, try the veal....

Pay-to-play is coming, one way or another.  Anyone who says "oooh never, the system is fine, they are students, don't allow anything to change" -- well, the 1950's are calling and they want you back.  Eventually college players are going to get some share of the billions of $$$, one way or another.  Whether college teams morph into something else, or colleges retreat and true NFL and NBA farm systems or minor leagues emerge (like in MLB, hockey, soccer, etc.), remains to be seen.  I mean, NFL and NBA have been making HUGE money off of the NCAA -- in that, they don't have to pay for farm systems, they get kids vetted by coaches, kids get some training, kids get name recognition and built-in fans (e.g., all the UM fans who root for the Patriots), etc.  Why should the NFL and NBA get all that for free, when no other sports league does?

And, frankly, it's American that players get their share.  (Waive flag here.)  You haz mad skilz?  People pay to watch, advertisers pay to broadcast, fans buy your jerseys?  Y u no get paid then?  Oooh, you get college education.  Sometimes.  (Lqqking at you, UNC.)  Yeah, that's...fair.  NOT.  I mean, I rarely root for pro player unions -- they make enough, they aren't victims -- but it's a far cry from guys who make nothing for all the money they generate for the schools.

Sorry if some of us don't want to rock the boat, are too comfy with the system the way it is, feel like a move to economic rationality will perhaps challenge the order of things -- you know, maybe UM won't be prestigious football b/c maybe we won't pay like Alabama or whatever, who knows.  Maybe we will, I dunno.  But pay to play is coming, and it's probably the right thing given all the money the schools make, and I don't care if its crowdsourcing or farm systems or big fat checks.  Just get used to it.

Rant over.

"Make a pledge, for example, that if they win you will give $20?"

How about if some rich booster pledges big money to Braxton Miller player if they lose the Michigan game? How about a couple thousand for a basketball player to score less than their season average in a big time game.

Seems totally legit, they don't get the money until after they graduate.  No one has ever gotten in trouble for this scheme before.

* If I give $100,000 to Jabrill Peppers now, Michigan would have violated NCAA rules (because I meet the NCAA's definition of a "booster."

* If I give $100,000 to Jabrill Peppers after graduation, it could still be considered an NCAA rule violation by Michigan, because I am giving him money in exchange for playing for Michigan.

* If I give $100,000 to Cardale Jones now because I respect his ability to play football, Ohio State can not play him ever again (because he has become a professional athlete) or else it is an NCAA violation.

* If I give $100,000 to Cardale Jones after graduation, it is... just fine.

So what this "crowdfunder" needs to do is ensure that any money I give to them goes to Cardale Jones (or any other non-Michigan player) and that an equivalent amount of money given by a non-fan of Michigan ends up in Jabrill Peppers' hands. 

As long as no school's boosters give more than 50 percent of the money, and the money is given to athletes post-college, there is no violation of NCAA rules.

Seems damn reasonable to me.  Heck, i had no idea they were paying crows anyhow--so why not start Dfunding them birds and give the money to the men and women who sweat and bleed for thier U.