THE DAILY FEED 3.29.11 // Baseball News, Football News, and More

but if universities stopped giving sports grants-in-aid, by law or by agreement, I think college football would become more like college baseball.

1. almost certanly, the NFL would create a developmental league – probably with a spring schedule and a supplemental draft (which may or may not become the real football draft), If you were a top football athlete … say the equivalent of a 4 star … you’d be confronted with a choice – college or the developmental league. Unless getting a degree was really important to the young man, or his family could afford college, then I think most would go to the developmental league.

2. There’d probably still be some payola to lure a kid away from the developmental league to the CFB ranks, but probably not anywhere on the same level as it is today. Who knows. I can envision some schools competing with the developmental league, dollar for dollar.

3. A few NCAA schools, both FBS and FCS, might drop football but most would still play football. The teams would be smaller and less athletic – on the whole – than “before”. with perhaps a smaller percentage of African-American players – again, on the whole – than “before”.

3. Schools with stronger academic reputations would start to be more competitive … think back to the 30s-50s, when academic powerhouses were the kings of football. Using grant money, financial aid and other incentives. Traditional powerhouse programs (think Bama) would still do well. But the talent gap between the haves and the have-nots wouldn’t be so great. Coaching would be even more critical.

… I think that’s a mistake. It may work for a lot of athletes, but some parents don’t care much about their kids, and/or spend their money on stuff like drugs and alcohol. Unless they get an academic scholarship, or risk a loan, I don’t see how a significant number of athletes would afford college. By the way, what’s the difference between a full academic scholarship and a full sports scholarship?