Originally Posted by Gazoo
The only answer here I think is:
1. The NCAA blows up. In it's current form, it dies. The farce is over. It was good while it lasted.
2. The NBA D league develops into an honest minor league. The baseball model is there. Something not the same, but kinda similar.
3. College sports becomes roughly the level of the current 200 level RPI teams on down as everyone else will be under contract and ineligible.
4. I have no idea how this sorts out for college football, since it's too much $ to die and yet if the dominoes really fall I don't see how it survives.
I don't see how it makes any sense for a school like UD or Alabama football to "sponsor" a team of professionals who don't attend classes. And I don't see players who are collecting hundreds of thousands of $ ever attending a class. So that is just a different farce and pointless.
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I'm not so pessimistic about the future. I do think the NBA shares part of the blame. They know all this is going on too. The "League" needs to invest in a real minor league system that includes atleast two levels below the NBA.
College baseball and MLB have a good model that can be replicated if the NBA chose to set it up. You can get drafted out of HS but if you decide to go to college, you are there three years.
Long term, I'd like to think this will be good for all involved. Kids that don't want to go to college can get drafted and start in the minor leagues. No more charades about being a student athlete. After a few years where HS "phenoms" see the "phenoms" from 3 yrs ago making $50K or already washed out, I think fewer will take that route--water will reach its natural level. Less glad handing AAU coaches. A school like UD COULD actually do well in this new environment since UD (relatively speaking) attracts true student athletes.