I Finally Figured Out How to Pay Players Without Hurting the Little Guy

For a long time I have been conflicted about paying college athletes. On the one hand, there are truck loads of cash generated, so much so that even MAC coaches can make 7 figures. There will be a major college coach that makes 10 million per before 2020. There are even assistant coaches in the 7 figure club. It’s all relative and if the coach is making 10 million, while a college education is great, not really fair. So I want the players to wet their beak a little more than they are getting now.

However, there are two giant obstacles.

One, if you pay players they cease to be amateurs. Even at factories like Ohio State and Alabama, they would just be minor leaguers at that point. Baseball gives us a glimpse of the future. While taking the kid to the minor league park is a great way to enjoy a sunny afternoon, minor league baseball is no cash cow. Not nearly in the same ball park as college football. The NFL has been praying for this to happen, as the TV viewers will flock to the best pro football.

Second, as us in MAC land are well aware, most football programs lose money. Average students are given fees to keep the programs alive. In any pay to play scheme, the little guy will be relegated.

I have said many times I would be ok paying players IF it didn’t screw the little guy and IF college football somehow retained their quasi-amateur status.

My solution. Paid All-Star teams. Most of us that played little league baseball are familiar with the concept. Our parents threw a few bucks out, we got cheap uniforms, and we played on rock covered diamonds. We battled our friends for supremacy and proclaimed a league champion. The best of us got selected for traveling teams. The original team didn’t matter as the All-Star team was going to compete. The Best of the Best, it wasn’t just a fancy title. They had fancier uniforms and got all the broads and probably make millions right now. I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t selected even though I had a .550 average and zero errors as a right handed first baseman. Luckily I am not bitter 32 years later, North Columbus Athletic Association.

Back to the other NCAA. My proposition. Since there isn’t enough money to really spread it around, have conference All-Star teams, which is a paid position. These teams then go on to play the other conference All-Star teams. Along with bragging rights, the winning conference gets to host the “regular” playoffs the following season. Could you imagine how awesome it would be to watch the 4 bestish teams in college football in Detroit in January? That would be lit, but not as lit as me on a beach somewhere, but that’s not the point.

So how, pray tell, does that help the MAC? The MAC also gets an All-Star team. Obviously they wouldn’t get their own. Like the Rider Cup model, where it’s US vs. Europe, they would team up with the Fun Belt and another G5. The “6th” power conference can have the remaining G5 for their partner. If one of these G5 conference teams wins the All-Star playoffs, not only do they get to host the playoffs, the G5 is guaranteed a spot.

Boom, drop the mic, I solved college football’s biggest problem outside of extensively long replays and the general ineptitude of the NCAA.

While thank yous are always appreciated, I accept cash and company cheques.