going4roses said:

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Who is this you speak of ?

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gardenstatebear said:

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concordtom said:

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BearlyCareAnymore said:

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They used to joke that Alabama got caught cheating so Little Sisters of the Poor got sanctioned. Governance of college sports has always been of, by, and for the elites. The system works for them and they will fight any major change. Especially any change that creates competitive balance.

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I had a philosophy prof in college who lectured that if you examined the great thinkers throughout history, you know the names, they were either arguing in favor of or against the current power structure - it only depended on if they were on the ins or the outs of said power base.

In other words, you're very right!

Regarding the last sentence (Especially any change that creates competitive balance.), how have the pro leagues (nfl, nba, at least) accomplished parity?

Maybe the fact that they have only 30 companies that work together to maximize their industry profits together, rather than 120 companies who are all competing against each other. In the latter, there are powerful entities who cheat in various ways (under the table payments, lobbying) or simply have uncompetitive advantages (huge donor class, revenue).

A study - NCAA board vs NFL/NBA boards.
Maybe that's already been done in secret and that's the current plan being executed: whittle down 120 to 40 (SEC+B1G).

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Probably the difference is that the NFL is one entity; college football is composed of multiple entities (conferences) who are only loosely united, who decide their own membership, and who negotiate their own TV contracts. The single greatest thing that Pete Rozelle did as NFL commissioner was to insist that all of the teams would share TV revenue equally no matter how many times they appeared; the MLB didn't do it that way. The result is that there is little differential between "large-market" and "small-market" teams in the NFL as there is in baseball.;

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calumnus said:

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gardenstatebear said:

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concordtom said:

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BearlyCareAnymore said:

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They used to joke that Alabama got caught cheating so Little Sisters of the Poor got sanctioned. Governance of college sports has always been of, by, and for the elites. The system works for them and they will fight any major change. Especially any change that creates competitive balance.

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I had a philosophy prof in college who lectured that if you examined the great thinkers throughout history, you know the names, they were either arguing in favor of or against the current power structure - it only depended on if they were on the ins or the outs of said power base.

In other words, you're very right!

Regarding the last sentence (Especially any change that creates competitive balance.), how have the pro leagues (nfl, nba, at least) accomplished parity?

Maybe the fact that they have only 30 companies that work together to maximize their industry profits together, rather than 120 companies who are all competing against each other. In the latter, there are powerful entities who cheat in various ways (under the table payments, lobbying) or simply have uncompetitive advantages (huge donor class, revenue).

A study - NCAA board vs NFL/NBA boards.
Maybe that's already been done in secret and that's the current plan being executed: whittle down 120 to 40 (SEC+B1G).

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Probably the difference is that the NFL is one entity; college football is composed of multiple entities (conferences) who are only loosely united, who decide their own membership, and who negotiate their own TV contracts. The single greatest thing that Pete Rozelle did as NFL commissioner was to insist that all of the teams would share TV revenue equally no matter how many times they appeared; the MLB didn't do it that way. The result is that there is little differential between "large-market" and "small-market" teams in the NFL as there is in baseball.;

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Part of that is 162 games for each team. There is no national demand for that much content from non-local teams, so all the teams have local media deals and big market teams (NY and LA) make the most. Baseball teams generally own their own stadiums and ticket revenue is far more significant. MLB does have revenue sharing, but it more like paying taxes in a free market system with some going to SNAP benefits to keep some from starving than the NFL's communist "equal share of revenues for all and everyone is rich" model.

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/baseball/2025/los-angeles-dodgers-revenue-billion-1234874930/

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