Great game. Great athletes. And did you know they are JUST college students?
If you are not a sports fan, this is the inaugural year that College Football introduced a "playoff" system to determine a national Champion.
Last night Ohio State became the first such Champion Defeating the Oregon Ducks.
In the Semi-Final over 28 MILLION People watched (about 111 Million People watch the super bowl). Suffice to say more certainly watched this game.
ESPN aired the game and reports are that Ads were for about 1,000,000 a slot. This is a win for ESPN.
The students won the game. I suppose they can look forward to their new semester. They probably get books free? Board. Food.
They certainly should as ESPN paid a tidy 7.3 BILLION dollars for the right to air.
That would pay for the Mona Lisa about 10 times over (insured for 750 million). Or about a third of the worth of the Louvre's 350,000 works (valued at a low end of 35 billion).
Suffice to say I hope those books are valuable.
So let's congratulate these students. But seriously, let's discuss the gross unfairness taking place.
As mentioned ESPN is fetching 1 million an Ad in adding an extra game to create it's college super bowl. Tens of millions of people tuned in.
The money is getting so large it is getting embarassing to think that these are "Student Athletes".
Consider the money paid for other sports rights. The largest deals allegedly are
10. Comcast NHL 200,000,000 (less obviously)
9. TNT NBA 400,000,000 a year (I am assuming less)
8. Disney (ABC) NBA 485,000,000 year
7. Fox MLB 500,000,000 year
That is just to put some perspective.
Let's look at about how much the Big Ten OSU's conference and the Pac12 (Oregon's) get.
1) Each conference will receive $300,000 for each of its schools when the school’s football team meets the NCAA’s APR for participation in a post-season football game. Each independent institution will also receive the $300,000 when its football team meets that standard.
(300,000)
(2) Each of the 10 conferences receive a base amount. For conferences that have contracts for their champions to participate in the Orange, Rose or Sugar Bowl, the base combined with the full academic performance pool will be approximately $50 million for each conference. . . .
(100 Million to the Pac12 and Big10)
(3) A conference will receive $6 million for each team that is selected for the semifinal games. There will be no additional distribution to conferences whose teams qualify for the national championship game. A conference will receive $4 million for each team that plays in a non-playoff bowl under the arrangement (in 2014-2015, the Cotton, Fiesta and Peach Bowls).
(12 Million Combined for reaching the Semifinals)
(4) Each conference whose team participates in a playoff semifinal, Cotton, Fiesta or Peach Bowl, or in the national championship game will receive $2 million to cover expenses for each game.
First, well sounds like a poor deal even though talking millions and only looking at the two final teams affected.
Second, I just read that, yes neither OSU's Conference Nor Pac12 receive anything more than the 6,000,000 because they made it to the semifinal, nothing for making it to the final . . . I think I am reading that right. (So nothing goes to them and ESPN stands to benefit astronomically in it's "gamble" to air the game that only 50 million people will watch).
Suffice to say will the Billions, as Bill Plaschke put it "this is the day CFB turned pro" (not the players).
it will indeed not only be the most viewed sports event ever, but one of the richest. The bucks will flow from the $7.3 billion that ESPN paid for a 12-year privilege of televising the title game and the six bowl games that will rotate as national semifinal games. Perhaps a better verb is "sprays," because it touches seemingly everyone.
How much of those Millions Billions go to the players?
With tuition, room and board, the Oregon players get as much as $45,000 per year and the Ohio State athletes as much as $38,000 per year.
Really though that's not a realistic argument. I assume very few people pay full tuition. Either way it is not an out of pocket cost. OSU nor Oregon I mean are paying 45,000. They simply aren't collecting it (from some).
I should mention that the players got a FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR STIPEND! For expenses.
I am glad the players seem to be taking notice and are fed up.
There simply is no rational argument to call D1 programs like this "amateur". Money ended that.
Ohio State offensive lineman Darryl Baldwin can't help but wonder where's some of that money for the players.
"Having this playoff is going to make a lot of money," Baldwin said while acknowledging the NCAA's new unlimited food plan has helped players. "To put it simply, us not getting any, I mean, it's nothing new, but it's unbelievable. You would think they would make a change about it, but they haven't."
Over the past two weeks, CBSSports.com spoke with participants in the inaugural playoff about paying players. More than 30 players were first asked one simple question: "If you could change anything about the NCAA or college football, what would it be?" The overwhelming response: Let players get some money.
"We put a lot of time and effort into what we do and the football program brings in a lot of money to the school," Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner said. "It's pretty much our job throughout college. We're up early, we go to bed late with meetings and practices. Coaches get a big bonus in their check. It would be cool to get a little piece of the earnings."
By reaching the CFP championship game, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer gets an additional $50,000 bonus and reached his on-field bonus maximum of $400,000 for the year. Ohio State's nine assistant coaches will accumulate almost $1.3 million for performance bonuses.
This is the epitome of corporate America. One Player nailed it:
Buckeyes wide receiver Evan Spencer -- the player Meyer raves about as his team's MVP -- likes the training. He also notices the money increasing in college sports. Spencer reads reports that most states' highest-paid employees are college coaches while recognizing the contrast when witnessing some of his teammates send scholarship money home to care for their families.
Spencer doesn't pretend to have the answers -- "some bright minds need to come together to figure it out" -- but he believes a tipping point is coming.
"Some things are going to happen soon. They've got to," Spencer said. "I'm not saying it has to be in the form of a salary, but there should be more money given out. It's a perfect business model. You've got all these public officials, all these upper guys in the NCAA making millions upon millions, and their employees make nothing. Best business scheme ever."
I am sure some people, alum, like the idea of students singing the fight song. But, let's get real. They generate more money than the MLS I'm sure, maybe some of the NHL. The Semi games were more watched than the NFL playoffs.
Sorry, I am tired and this issue is getting almost laughable to me.