Cui Bono - part the second

Well, the NYT (via The Athletic, which while 'together' in print doesn't show up on the NYT web site?), reports on the Tennessee/Virginia suit to unfetter the NIL scam; mostly benefiting Red State Schools foobah and hoops programs.

Which brings us to the title's question: who'll benefit from openly paid athletes (not, anymore, student-athletes)? The suit is brought on behalf of those two states' public universities, as one might expect from Red State administrations. On the one hand, some small portion of these foobah and hoops kids can get rich. On the other hand, if this case is upheld and national (which the reporting says it would be) in scope, then we'll see the destruction of most inter-collegiate college athletics. Why MAD? Simply because all those Billy Bob's with extra moolah from their carwashes and other endeavors will pile money into the Power Conference teams, and leave the rest with no way to compete for above average athletes. And the rich will get richer, just because these schools will, inevitably, be the beneficiaries of post-season tournament largesse as well since they will be winners in conference play.

Corruption in a wannaBePresident Huey Long 2024 universe. Just what we need.

But there is, may be, a positive to all this corruption. The have nots - smallish state schools and private schools, will in due time finally realize that pouring money into arenas and coach salaries and the other festoons of semi-pro athletics is a complete waste. They can then go back to treating inter-collegiate sports as the dessert of academia, and not the entree. And, in doing so, will turn out graduates who rightly value learning and brains over touchdowns and dunks.

Kind of win-win: the dummies waste four or five years deluded into thinking StateU sports will turn them into multi-million dollar draft picks, while the graduates of schools that shun the bait-and-switch scam turn out graduates who actually know something of value. Blue states crush Red states, just like the First Civil War. There's a reason Boeing can't get a working 787 out of South Carolina. he he he

And, of course, should this unfettering of NIL be upheld all the way to the Supremes, there'll be a knock-on effect in professional sports, foobah and hoops in particular. Professional sports organizations widely enforce revenue sharing and salary caps. Those will be held to be, as well, in violation of antitrust laws. And, once again, cui bono? As before, the rich will get richer, the poor die off. The so-called small market teams will wither and die, as they should since they never should have been created in the first place. Many, if not all, will, again in due time, be replaced by additional teams in large population centers just as was true before the 707.