Chatter from P5 FBS Conferences about NCAA Division Split or New Federation

[LUSportsFan]

I've been seeing a lot of discussion about commissioners of the P5 (Power 5) conferences churning the waters about either further splitting NCAA Division I or taking their toys and forming their own federation. The article below linked from SBNation summarizes positions from three of the P5 commissioners and provides links to articles providing additional detail.

I also included a link to an article discussing the P5 / G5 College Football Playoff split. I think both are related because both have to do with money. Like the old saying, "Follow the Money."

Just wondering what the feeling is about this.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article about College Football Playoff Revenue Split from USAToday

I look at this as the "trickle in the dike".

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bowls/2012/12/11/college-football-bcs-playoff-revenue-money-distribution-payouts/1762709/

Link to SBNation article about some type of split

Looks like the trickle is opening up to a steady flow.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/7/22/4545464/ncaa-football-conferences-commissioners
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see a possible detrimental impact to DI-FCS if other conferences go the way of the B1G...fewer or no "body bag" games.

The other university I support is in a P5 conference. I am strongly against stipends or additional payments to athletes; so much so, that I might reconsider the weighting of my current annual contribution mix to the two. I know it would be a drop in the bucket, but it would be my drop. I would probably have that position if I was not also a fan of an FCS program. I just have a problem with additional "play for pay" arrangements. Personally, the proposition is disturbing and disheartening to me.

[Big T]

If any of this happens it will completely ruin college sports for me. Why the hell would you pay a college athlete more money when you are already paying for his education. I make better grades than 95% of these athletes. I've been on the presidents list 3 times and the deans list 4 times. Yet I am close to $15,000 dollars in debt and still have another three semesters to go. Where's my money? Hell, I'll settle for a full scholarship forget the money. College is not about athletics. Athletics are a side benefit for students and alumni.

I heard someone say this about this subject not to long ago. They were for paying the athletes extra money because they did not have enough time to go out and get a job between the athletics and school work. That is just bull crap. These guys have paid tutors to help them do their school work and they practice only a couple hours a day. A few years back I remember reading a story about a walk on basketball player who paid for all of his own college, had a full time job during the off season, plus did not miss a single practice and then would put in extra time after practice. He did all of that while retaining a 4.0 GPA and he eventually received his scholarship from the school he was playing for. This story completely blows the above reason out of the water. College athletes should not make extra money as most of them are already getting paid $30,000 to $60,000 per year in free schooling depending on what school they attend.

This is just my two very frustrated cents.

[NorthoftheBorder]

I think that you know as well as I do that it will happen and the P5 gang + ND (and few others maybe) will force the NCAA (they will acquiesce or be about as relevant as the NAIA if they let the big boys go out on their own) to seperate into an elite division that takes all the revenue. It will severely change March Madness as the LU's and other schools like them will be left out of the mix come tournament time. This has been in the works for years and they now, just like what we have experienced in our political world, see that the time is right to pull this off and get what they want!!!

[coachacola]

Another article about it from ESPN: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9499740/is-college-football-big-five-conferences-split-ncaa?src=mobile

[eagle eye]

I agree whole heartedly with Big T and LUSportsFan about the idea of paying players. Athletes, the best of them spend their whole lives being given a free pass through school and to pay them when they get a free college degree that they may or may not have earned. I think a full scholarship athlete is being paid. Forget tuition, what about room and board? What about free meals that crush anything most students can afford. Don't think that athletes get a free pass? Then how do you explain a moron like Pac-man Jones getting a degree, or the opportunity for a degree? Yes, athletes bring revenue to their school, if they are part of a program that wins. Losers, maybe not so much. I wouldn't mind an insurance policy for athletes, especially football players because of the potential for devastating injury, I think that's fair to some extent. But this isn't the point of this thread.
Money and leverage is the point. The big boys want to make an exclusive club for themselves where they reap all the benefits without any sacrifice. Free trade is a good thing but when the quest for money overshadows the greater good of the endevour it becomes a bad thing. College athletics is supposed to be, like Big T said, an extra curricular activity not the driving force of a college. The pristine nature of college sport is a twisted and perverted shell of what it once was. The notion of the "super conference" is for money. All the links posted by LUSportsFan and Coachacola are all about money. Money and not for the good of the sport for everyone. It would be a shame if the P5 clique renders the NCAA impotent because with all their warts the NCAA is a good organization.

[LUSportsFan]

I sent an email to the Office of the President and Director of Giving at the other university I support (P5 Conference university) expressing my feelings. I realize it won't have a lot of impact since I'm just a very little fish in a very big pond, but at least the opinions of one dissenting person have been expressed. I just can't picture a world of fully professional collegiate athletics. I think such a concept is contrary to the vision, goals, and purpose of any academic institution.

I usually just grumble to myself or grumble to close family members about things. I feel so strongly about this subject that I think open discussion and expression of opinion is warranted and a necessity. It seems to me that the pursuit of the dollar in "big time" sports is taking over the reason some universities exist in the first place. I love college athletics. I would hate professional college athletics. I think there is a place for college athletics. I also think there are many benefits for a university's participation in college athletics. On the other hand, I think professional college athletics crosses the line and tarnishes a university's purpose.