I think your points would be very solid pre 1980. before endorsements, TV contracts, and commercialization of the sport. It's a different world today. Many college programs in the Big4 conferences involve more expensive facilities, more expensive coaches, and more expensive tv contracts than some NFL franchises. every person involved with this BILLION $$$ industry, from the ad execs down to the sideline chain gangs are receiving pay checks. everybody except for athletes, the very engine that drives this goliath, money printing machine. I can't reconcile these realities in my mind.
We'll never agree. it is what it is.
tl;dnr The players don't matter and shouldn't get paid.
This conversation is over and done, but I'm a tuck that worked all day and I just now had the chance to read this thread and I wanted to toss in my two cents.
I firmly believe that the value and popularity of college athletics is based on the institution, not the players. K-State basketball is the perfect example of how little the individual players matter. Look at the last season under Wooly compared to the Huggins season.
Under Wooly, we averaged about 7,000 people per game, we were mediocre and our biggest goal was to make the NIT. Under Huggins, Bramlage was sold out in August, donations were thru the roof and the expectation was a berth in the Dance.
Q: What changed?
A: The coaching staff.
Our facilities were unchanged. Our TV contracts were unchanged. Our lineup was essentially unchanged.
05-06 main players: Cartier Martin, David Hoskins, Akeem Wright, Dramane Diarra, Clent Stewart, and Lance Harris.
06-07 main players: Cartier Martin, David Hoskins, Akeem Wright, Clent Stewart, Lance Harris, and Blake Young.
Bill Walker would have been a big contributor, but he got hurt after sitting out the fall semester and playing in like 4 games over winter break. The only real difference between the two years was that Huggins replaced Wooly. And yet the fan interest was exponentially higher.
I say the players have very little incremental value... It doesn't matter who the players are. We care about the program: the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. I was a die-hard long before Jake Pullen played for us, during his career and long after he's gone. Ditto Collin Klein, Michael Bishop, Michael Beasley and Darren Sproles. If those guys weren't big stars for us, it would have been someone else. I would have still bought tickets and made the required donations and bought purple t-shirts, etc, etc.
