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Just for fun/discussion, especially after the SEC and B1G alliance last Friday, how would you structure the salary cap for college football? It is also making some news in college basketball with Rick Pitino saying there is a need for it, but for now, let's stick to football.
For some context, I am mainly just focusing on the SEC and B1G for this discussion, as those 2 conferences are the only ones guaranteed to keep surviving and are going to be making the most money. For the most recent payouts, the SEC paid out their member schools roughly $50 million, while the B1G paid out $60 million.
Using a similar model as the NFL, where it is a roughly 52/48 split from TV revenue, my initial thoughts were a 55/40/5 split. 55% to the school, 40% to the players, and 5% to insurance and retirement for the players. Now, since these two conferences have different payouts, this is going to see the B1G schools actually earning a larger amount, although with the new additions to both conferences, the payouts should eventually come closer together and may eventually be one single agreement like the NFL.
But, for now, since the SEC is paying out less, they would set the limits for the salary cap. Using the 55/40/5, the salary cap per school would be $20 million/school, and the insurance/retirement amount would be $2.5 million/school.
If we say a maximum roster size is 100 players (easy round number), that would give an average salary of $200K (there would also need to be a minimum roster size, and for that I will just say it stays at the current 85 scholarship limit). However, I would say the minimum salary would be something like $75K, which would be enough to cover the cost of tuition at any (or at least most) of the schools, plus some extra money. Using that base salary, there would then be $12.5 million to spread out over the remaining players (assuming a full 100 man roster).
Some of my other ideas/thoughts:
1. Contracts of 1-4 years
2. Eligibility still works the same (i.e. 4-5 years depending on redshirts with a few exceptions of extending - injuries)
3. Player still must remain in good standing at school. Failing to do so results in "fines". Minimum GPA and other academic requirements TBD.
4. Contracts can be renegotiated based on different criteria/provisions like the NFL (injuries - can allow player to retire but still collect money - but opens up a roster spot, faster/slower development, breaking rules, etc.)
5. By signing with a school, the player temporarily relinquishes their NIL rights to the school in order to not give any further incentives to choosing one school over another (i.e. one school can match a salary, but another has boosters willing to give larger amounts of money).
6. School breaking contract results in paying out the remaining contract (contracts guaranteed, unless broken by player) + loss of roster spot for the duration of that contract (cannot reallocate that base salary to other players - put into some "pool" for TBD use)
7. Player breaking contract results in forfeiting remaining contract money and losing 1 year of eligibility if transferring schools before contract expires.
a. New school that signs a player who broke a contract must pay prior school all previous money paid to that player + penalty fee TBD + loses 1 roster spot for the next class (cannot reallocate that base salary to other players - put into some "pool" for TBD use).
The schools would still obviously get the larger portion of the money as they would still have to pay coaches and staff, host events/games, renovations, player nutrition, recruiting, etc.
Thoughts?
For some context, I am mainly just focusing on the SEC and B1G for this discussion, as those 2 conferences are the only ones guaranteed to keep surviving and are going to be making the most money. For the most recent payouts, the SEC paid out their member schools roughly $50 million, while the B1G paid out $60 million.
Using a similar model as the NFL, where it is a roughly 52/48 split from TV revenue, my initial thoughts were a 55/40/5 split. 55% to the school, 40% to the players, and 5% to insurance and retirement for the players. Now, since these two conferences have different payouts, this is going to see the B1G schools actually earning a larger amount, although with the new additions to both conferences, the payouts should eventually come closer together and may eventually be one single agreement like the NFL.
But, for now, since the SEC is paying out less, they would set the limits for the salary cap. Using the 55/40/5, the salary cap per school would be $20 million/school, and the insurance/retirement amount would be $2.5 million/school.
If we say a maximum roster size is 100 players (easy round number), that would give an average salary of $200K (there would also need to be a minimum roster size, and for that I will just say it stays at the current 85 scholarship limit). However, I would say the minimum salary would be something like $75K, which would be enough to cover the cost of tuition at any (or at least most) of the schools, plus some extra money. Using that base salary, there would then be $12.5 million to spread out over the remaining players (assuming a full 100 man roster).
Some of my other ideas/thoughts:
1. Contracts of 1-4 years
2. Eligibility still works the same (i.e. 4-5 years depending on redshirts with a few exceptions of extending - injuries)
3. Player still must remain in good standing at school. Failing to do so results in "fines". Minimum GPA and other academic requirements TBD.
4. Contracts can be renegotiated based on different criteria/provisions like the NFL (injuries - can allow player to retire but still collect money - but opens up a roster spot, faster/slower development, breaking rules, etc.)
5. By signing with a school, the player temporarily relinquishes their NIL rights to the school in order to not give any further incentives to choosing one school over another (i.e. one school can match a salary, but another has boosters willing to give larger amounts of money).
6. School breaking contract results in paying out the remaining contract (contracts guaranteed, unless broken by player) + loss of roster spot for the duration of that contract (cannot reallocate that base salary to other players - put into some "pool" for TBD use)
7. Player breaking contract results in forfeiting remaining contract money and losing 1 year of eligibility if transferring schools before contract expires.
a. New school that signs a player who broke a contract must pay prior school all previous money paid to that player + penalty fee TBD + loses 1 roster spot for the next class (cannot reallocate that base salary to other players - put into some "pool" for TBD use).
The schools would still obviously get the larger portion of the money as they would still have to pay coaches and staff, host events/games, renovations, player nutrition, recruiting, etc.
Thoughts?
