Thereās been chatter in the VIP thread and elsewhere on the internet I guess, that prices have gone up.
Have they? Thereās so little price transparency in the market that Iām not sure how anyone would know with any degree of confidence. Feels like folks are basing this on anecdata and Evan āIām making the data do too much workā Miya. (And the front office suite seemed kinda limited in what info gets shared)
To the extent prices have gone up, my guess is thereās some upward pressure at the top of the market but thereās probably a lot more upward pressure from more teams in that 30-60 area of teams getting their rev share numbers up to where they can be.
Which really goes to the real evergreen question around here ā āWhy are other teams allowed to cheat but we are not?ā. What this post presupposes is, Eli Cash style, what if theyāre not?
I feel like I was the last cap / CSC believer, but if media entities can pay players directly, then there really is no point to the cap.
The cap would really only apply to arena ticket revenues.
If this Amazon thing is legit, then why wouldnāt conferences just say to ESPN/ Fox, etc āpay players directlyā . Maybe there are details to work out, but I suspect they can be worked outā¦
I donāt know if this the right thread, and Iām too lazy to go back and look, but I have a question.
If Duke players are enrolling at Duke, and then taking Community College Classes, how is this not a thing? I get that Jay Billas doesnāt want it out there, but damn, if itās true it should be a BIG media story in the sports media.
In todayās day and age, there has to be a young Nick Shirley on the sports beat that can expose this. I feel like a 2nd year with a wealthy Dad and some resources can crack the code!
I remember this story from the ā90s, I think. That Dook players were taking classes at the community college and transferring them to Dook. I think itās been exposed, and ESPN and the other powers looked at it and shrugged because they were making so much cash off marketing Dook as an Ivy that plays basketball.
So it isnāt a thing because the media doesnāt care - it doesnāt fit the narrative.
Itās not community college, itās NC Central.. but yeah my understanding is that all their athletes are pretty heavily funneled into the classes they can take there.
Think itās one of those things that theyāre not really hiding, so itās not really a scandal.
If I were a young college student and working in sports, Iād be all over this. Itās a scandal that hasnāt been uncovered yet. If I were looking to break into sports media, I would be all over this story. Itās basically the Minnesota fraud aka āLearing Center.
As far as I canāt tell, our players go to UVA. If Duke players take classes elsewhere, I would be very attentive if I was looking to break into the media.
Taking classes online is different. Athletes travel a lot to play games so they have to take classes online, or at least partially. If they are taking classes at a community college, and playing for a different university. Thatās a problem. I feel like 60 Minutes needs to get involved in this right now.
I mean players era was already doing that, taking the TNT money and paying it out as NIL. I wouldnāt be surprised if NIL gets cut into the next round of conference tv deals
Without more details this could be, and likely is, about several other things:
decreased international student visas reducing enrollment and average tuition revenues
$100k cap on borrowing for grad school
mass reduction in research funding given out to universities because of wokeness or whatever
(not to mention my personal pet one that is some of these expensive northern colleges are in big trouble because SEC honors colleges are now offering the same prestige and exit opportunities but with a markedly better student experience and weather)
I just donāt think the athletics stuff has much to do with academic program consolidation.
The big, existentially threatening factor is the demographic cliff, which is affecting the Northeast and Midwest the most.
Each school in that post has slightly different story:
Clemson went on a poorly-timed building spree.
Most of the 93 programs cut by Syracuse had zero students enrolled, so this is housekeeping thatās perhaps anticipating the demographic cliff.
UNC is a research funding/state funding story.
Duke is a research funding story/using it as a useful excuse to restructure.
Indianaās situation is the product of state policy aimed at cutting programs that donāt have very many graduates and tying programsā existences to their gradsā financial outcomes.
TRIGGER WARNING FOR YOU OVERSENSITIVE TODDLERS WHO THROW YOUR BINKY WHEN THERE IS ANY DISCUSSION OF DUKE 
Conference Realignment - The Reawakening