socaltownie said:
There are way too many people that think this is tied to tangible marketing returns. It is about consortiums of donors that give 6 figures to athletic departments cutting out the middle man. Don't think Nike, this Uncle Bob's Used Cars of Tuscon. I
Agreed. I think the dividing line will be which schools have big bucks donors who think splashing cash on potentially one and done players is a good use of their money. I would suspect Cal might not have that many boosters with those kind of priorities. I have loved Cal sports all my life, and been a small donor for much of that time, but even if I had big Bucks, it would be difficult for me to justify throwing cash around on a "pay to play" basis to individual players.
I guess that's why the consortium idea is probably a good one, as it can sell donors on the idea of making an ongoing commitment to the program, rather than counting on billionaires (Like at Miami) to toss six figure deals at recruits and transfers. It will be interesting to see what will happen with those kind of donors if someone they "sponsored" flames out dramatically. Might have a chilling effect on future payouts.
One thing is for certain, the next couple of years will be like the Wild Wild West, and it seems unlikely the NCAA will be doing much, if any, "enforcement."