The SEC and the economics of college sports
I lost interest in football after high school. Although college athletes were ostensibly amateurs, the perks they enjoyed, above and beyond full scholarships, made them more like professionals than your average college student. And there were regular recruiting scandals to back up that perception. Now that all that financial compensation is above board, those “student-athletes” are basically professionals.
I attended SEC schools for college. Indeed, I competed as a varsity athlete my freshman year. But cross country wasn’t a scholarship sport at Vanderbilt, and Vandy came in last at the conference meet in Tallahassee that year. Our coach was a surgeon who happened to also be a long-distance runner. But other SEC schools like the University of Tennessee—where I transferred after my freshman year—did have scholarship athletes on their CC/track teams.
“The SEC now pays its players three times more than any other conference. SEC quarterbacks are paid an average of $1 million per year.”
Something tells me that CC/track athletes aren’t seeing that kind of money.
college athletes and pro salaries
I attended SEC schools for college. Indeed, I competed as a varsity athlete my freshman year. But cross country wasn’t a scholarship sport at Vanderbilt, and Vandy came in last at the conference meet in Tallahassee that year. Our coach was a surgeon who happened to also be a long-distance runner. But other SEC schools like the University of Tennessee—where I transferred after my freshman year—did have scholarship athletes on their CC/track teams.
“The SEC now pays its players three times more than any other conference. SEC quarterbacks are paid an average of $1 million per year.”
Something tells me that CC/track athletes aren’t seeing that kind of money.
college athletes and pro salaries
It’s possible NIL will be a major pivot point in a bad way for major college sports. That plus the transfer portal truly makes athletes professionals. I think it will be another 15 years or so, but not sure that today’s superboosters are going to be easily replaced from the ranks of fans who know that their teams were just professionals and further will start to recognize that the competition is significantly inferior to the NFL and NBA. I know as anecdata my nephew in his early 30s is exactly there already. No time for college basketball anymore as every single game is at a lower level than the Wizards/Magic game on Thursday. He is similarly inclined on football, too.