Harbaugh: Players Should Get Revenue Share From New TV Deal

My personal take based on gut feel and nothing else: a percentage of it should be doled out equally to players upon graduation. Different than NIL, everyone gets the same amount. Seems like a good thing to have to start your adult life, especially if you're not going pro. A nest egg, as it were. 

Without a doubt the players should share in the revenue generated from the product they produce.

That said, I don't envy the AD's trying to figure out how to navigate this and make sure the non-revenue sports are funded fully and competitively.  The determination of a fair distribution is going to be a tricky one.

It would also be nice if somewhere in these billions, EVERY varsity athlete regardless of sport at least gets their schooling, medical, etc. paid for as a baseline.
 

Share with players?  Come on now. 7 billion can only go so far…

Hopefully the sarcasm is clear here?

Kevin Warren hinted at something like this. Make the move now bc once universities get comfortable with this cash it’ll be harder to get them to dole it out…. Give it out equally to every athlete with different proportions for different sports.

If players feel they should be paid for playing then this is the avenue they need to go down instead of the Patreon model NIL collectives that are going around.  The alumni and fans have already funded the program through ticket sales, merchandise, cable packages, donations, etc.  

I'd like to see it set up as a partial pay, receive a % while they are in school and some sort of bond for when they graduate or are off to the league.

Not trying to tell folks what to do with their money, but given some of the shitty choices I made in college, not sure making a few million from age 18-22 would have been in my best interest, unless there was a few more million waiting to be paid out as some sort of annuity into the future.

I think some money management classes (actually we should all be required to take these in college imo) should be mandatory as well, such that players can start to set up properly for the future. I know many big time college football schools that send a bunch of players to the NFL are already requiring such courses.

TLDR...."Pay the man his money"....but also prep them with the necessary info to get the most out of it.

Seeing how it gives us a competitive advantage over other conferences,  yes please.  Sooner the better.

This would be super complicated.  What do you do with non conference games?  How do you split that money with other sports, as they all play a part of the TV deal, at least the portion that includes BTN. How do you value the player as compared to the school? I watch Michigan regardless of the player, I have seen all their games even when they were terrible and I am certainly not alone.  So how do you value the player compared to the school? 
 

This is obviously all things that could be worked out, but it is super complicated, especially when compared to pro sports.

It would be nice to somehow be able to do that, but there are a ton of challenges.

The biggest one I see is Title IX

NIL gets around this due to its focus on an individual player and funds, ostensibly, outside the AD. Once that is coming from the University, that pie has to be sliced up a whole lot more.

it would also then bring in other questions, like are these guys now really just employees of the University.

I think that there is a solution somewhere, and I have always been in favor of players and NIL, but it needs to be a level, structured solution across all conferences imo, otherwise, its just more of the wild west happening currently.

The biggest problem I have with the OP making this thread is it's taking up valuable threadspace where we could be having a novel conversation, like whether Cade or JJ should be starting QB.

*sighs*

Everybody starts with the same base according to a sport's revenues. At the end of the season, you dole out playtime bonuses. Where there's a will, there's a way.

How about giving them money for a few more years of school once their playing eligibility is over. It gives them a chance to earn a degree that they can actually use.

I think at a minimum you use some of that lucre to make sure that players' post-school heath care needs are addressed.  NFL has a program (not without its faults, btw) that provides this type of thing.  A kid who gives up health to help make this product as lucrative as it is ought to be taken care of.  Be nice to see some support to help them make sure they graduate as well, along the lines of academic support, funding for internships, etc.  The kind of stuff the more well-heeled schools can afford to do.  For the 99% of them who don't ever go pro, support to make sure they get as much out of college as possible.

What can the NCAA do if the BigTen said x% will be paid to players based on minutes played? Nobody is using their NIL more then the schools/tv. Here is the number and its paid by hoe much airtime you filled with your on field play. Nobody can complain in other sports or anything else. Seriously what can the NCAA do if it is a conference policy?

He’ll probably say anything to divert people’s attention from the QB “situation” (what do you mean “situation” dad?!)

Sotomayor's and Thomas's questions along with Kavanaugh's concurring opinion not only left the door open, it almost encouraged future cases. It's a matter of when, not if.

I did my thesis on this back in 2017. Well, something similar. It was to determine the value of college football players. I modeled it after the NFL salary cap calculations, which are surprisingly opaque. The salary cap would be the biggest thing, in my opinion. School's like Michigan, Bama, ND, etc. rosters are like the equivalent of over 1000 times the salary cap.

For those wondering how I ran my simulation:

-Estimated the NFL salary cap for the next year.

-Determined the B1G equivalent based on the TV deal.

- Ranked players by position based on their 247 composite

- Attached a value to college players based on their position ranking relative to their NFL counterparts and adjusted those numbers according the the salary cap.

- Walk-ons earned the equivalent to the league minimum and pretty much had one year deals for the sake of the simulation. The Glasgow brothers were the best example.

I don’t disagree with it in principle, but there’s definitely a few things they’d need to work out. Including but certainly not limited to:

1) Who decides how the share is split up? Does the starting QB get the same share as the backup long snapper? 

2) Is this paid out immediately, year by year, upon graduation, etc.? I’d like to see some kind of vesting option where players who choose to stay for four years and graduate get a higher pay-out, to try and encourage graduation. Obviously for your superstar players whatever pay out they get from this kind of deal wouldn’t be enough to offset what they’d make in the league, so I’m not sure you can incentivize them much to stay and receive their full vesting. But kids who are on the fence? May be a good incentive for them to consider coming back and finishing their degree. 

Honestly, and this may be silly for a man in his 30s but it's real -- I'm very concerned Michigan will opt out of the new college football game. Videogames are my escape and I've longed for this game for a decade now; if M isn't it that would be a tremendous bummer to me. Here's hoping they realize the recruiting power of being able to tell a 17 year old kid he'll be in a videogame. 

Maybe set up some kind of insurance program for them . Its rough on a body and some players do suffer lifelong ailments because of playing the game . 

Other than that no. They already get a scholarship and can make tons of money with NIL deals .