The Wit and Wisdom of Annie Apple

[BuckeyeNation27]

Your argument for players getting to let their family travel for free was based on, "these kids do all the work while the higher up's get rich off of it". I made the same comparison in another field to show how ridiculous of a thought that is. I apologize in advance if I find the idea of family getting free travel for CCG's and bowl/playoff games as an over the top benefit. I'm old fashioned in the sense that I think if you want to travel to see that, you use your own money.

In the end this will likely never be allowed for a variety of reasons, and yes, the most obvious is cost. I will let you carry on raging on how unfair it is and that I am a cold hearted fascist!

And I'm sure somewhere somebody else thinks getting a free education, plus every other perk a college football player gets is an over the top benefit. But some people are willing to look at things from a different angle and say "You know what...that's kind of messed up that you're adding a conference championship and possibly a second bowl game, and you expect the family to either figure it out financially or tough titties."

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

How's this... allocate flat amt.. say $3000 per bowl game/playoff game per player plus up to 4 tickets
and player decides family members that can use it

As far as trying to be fair .. school vs school
take a look at facilities, training depts, food tables
ain't like all schools are equal now
so we ain't gonna fix the fairness issue

 

[bigdog3300]

And I'm sure somewhere somebody else thinks getting a free education, plus every other perk a college football player gets is an over the top benefit. But some people are willing to look at things from a different angle and say "You know what...that's kind of messed up that you're adding a conference championship and possibly a second bowl game, and you expect the family to either figure it out financially or tough titties."

Agreed - there are many that think that is the case and you bring up a valid argument....my retort would be that FCS, DII, DIII, etc. play up to 16 games so I don't think it's kind of messed up to have these young men play up to 15 games and those parents find a way to make it work, if they so oblige to travel to the games. Serious question; all of those I mentioned have some form of TV contract, do you extend the same travel to those schools participating since the NCAA is also profiting from them? All their travel, a portion? High school playoffs are always aired in Ohio which the OHSAA no doubt profits from, should they get gas money?

 

[Taosman]

In the NCAA Basketball Tournament, do parents get stipends/money to go see their kids play in every game?
Or any?

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

Geez.. I'm only interested in tOSU vs Alabama (and Rutgers)
I don't think any of the other schools should have it

and scUM...
oh, that's right.. they're not going anywhere... my bad

 

[BengalsAndBucks]

So as I try to follow this clusterfuck of a thread, I still haven't seen anyone write a rational argument for why the NCAA should preclude someone (be it the bowl game, the school, boosters, etc.) paying for the parents/families travel. I get that people may not agree with it for a number of reasons, but why should the NCAA be precluding it altogether?

 

[kujirakira]

No, I don't want to feed every family that works for McDonalds, but thanks for asking. That seems like it really matters in this discussion.

The gold pants are relevant because you made it seem like it would be the worst thing in the world if only the playoff bound teams had family expenses paid for. I'm sorry....but I don't think somebody's parents should get flown out to the Idaho Potato Bowl, and I don't think there's anything wrong with telling them that. Yes, this is a perk for the 4 teams who are playing for it all.....kind of like gold pants are a perk for the kids who WIN The Game.

In this line, it's also worth noting that while there are no additional payouts for going to the final, there is a $2mil/game travel allowance.

Why the hell not? Because not every school could afford it. So it's unbalanced. Unless any school could offer it, it wouldn't be appropriate.

So we should cancel all bowls until Youngstown St. can go. Everyone should get bowl practices too, regardless of record.
What is this participation award nonsense?
There's different rules and different tiers of competition with different benefits. Life isn't "fair".

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Agreed - there are many that think that is the case and you bring up a valid argument....my retort would be that FCS, DII, DIII, etc. play up to 16 games so I don't think it's kind of messed up to have these young men play up to 15 games and those parents find a way to make it work, if they so oblige to travel to the games. Serious question; all of those I mentioned have some form of TV contract, do you extend the same travel to those schools participating since the NCAA is also profiting from them? All their travel, a portion? High school playoffs are always aired in Ohio which the OHSAA no doubt profits from, should they get gas money?

I went to a D2 school, so I'll use them as an example. Bloomsburg played 2 games out of the state of Pennsylvania. One in North Easton, MA and the other in Athens, WV. Travel expenses for the year are pretty minor. Checking their roster shows me there are 7 kids not from PA....5 from NJ, 1 from NY, and 1 from MD. For the D2 playoffs, games are still played regionally until the Championship. I'm going to assume it's like that for most D2 and D3 schools. Obviously high schools have minor travel expenses outside of those powerhouses that travel across the country. Hopefully those parents get to those games because they are a big deal....but that's still one game out of a season. With Ohio State we're talking about games all over the place, plus Indy, plus Sugar Bowl, and hopefully plus Dallas. Can we please stop purposefully muddying the water?

There are 4 teams that are playing for the National Championship, the pinnacle of still "amateur" football. Any level below is heavily regional and any level above can be paid for by the athlete.

 

[bigdog3300]

I went to a D2 school, so I'll use them as an example. Bloomsburg played 2 games out of the state of Pennsylvania. One in North Easton, MA and the other in Athens, WV. Travel expenses for the year are pretty minor. Checking their roster shows me there are 7 kids not from PA....5 from NJ, 1 from NY, and 1 from MD. For the D2 playoffs, games are still played regionally until the Championship. I'm going to assume it's like that for most D2 and D3 schools. Obviously high schools have minor travel expenses outside of those powerhouses that travel across the country. Hopefully those parents get to those games because they are a big deal....but that's still one game out of a season. With Ohio State we're talking about games all over the place, plus Indy, plus Sugar Bowl, and hopefully plus Dallas. Can we please stop purposefully muddying the water?

There are 4 teams that are playing for the National Championship, the pinnacle of still "amateur" football. Any level below is heavily regional and any level above can be paid for by the athlete.

There's no muddying the waters; if you say it should be done because people are making money off of their games, the same can be said for those other divisions.

Let's just look at FCS who has a good chunk of their playoff games televised. Sam Houston St. traveled to Alabama, Pennsylvania, and then to North Dakota. That's a lot of travel and airfare for those parents. Their playoff is not regional in the least.

Then how about D1 baseball? Basketball? I'd imagine Title IX would have a field day with this.

 

[MaliBuckeye]

The money in the playoff bowls/ New Years Six, or whatever you want to call them, are always going to be sell outs.

Well, not totally true... much to the chagrin of the folks out here in Pasadena. FSU fans aren't traveling at the level that we've seen in the past, and a lot of people seem to be saving their money for the (possible) trip to Dallas the week following.

What's interesting about this new system is that you'll get some fans money twice (two game events), some fans money once (lose first round), and some fans won't add any into the pot at all. We'll have to see if the folks who pay twice will be able to make up for those who save for a final and don't go... probably so, because final tickets will be more expensive. But it's not like the bowls are sharing revenue among themselves, right?

I believe that they should have gone Oregon/Ohio State (Traditional Rose, midwestern team that travels well) and FSU/Bama (home-ish game for both). But, as it is, I'll probably be able to get tickets for the first CFB Playoff Rose bowl at well under face value on the first. Wheee.

 

[kujirakira]

I went to a D2 school, so I'll use them as an example. Bloomsburg played 2 games out of the state of Pennsylvania. One in North Easton, MA and the other in Athens, WV. Travel expenses for the year are pretty minor. Checking their roster shows me there are 7 kids not from PA....5 from NJ, 1 from NY, and 1 from MD. For the D2 playoffs, games are still played regionally until the Championship. I'm going to assume it's like that for most D2 and D3 schools. Obviously high schools have minor travel expenses outside of those powerhouses that travel across the country. Hopefully those parents get to those games because they are a big deal....but that's still one game out of a season. With Ohio State we're talking about games all over the place, plus Indy, plus Sugar Bowl, and hopefully plus Dallas. Can we please stop purposefully muddying the water?

There are 4 teams that are playing for the National Championship, the pinnacle of still "amateur" football. Any level below is heavily regional and any level above can be paid for by the athlete.

A large part for the outrageous $5000/game estimate for just lodging/travel/tickets also has to do with the price gouging. Tickets to the Sugar Bowl will be significantly more expensive than any DIAA/II/III playoff game. As will lodging and travel.
Personally I wished the bowl system wasn't used for playoffs ... but it's become too lucrative for tourism.

 

[BUCKYLE]

Yeah because I'm sure a Mt. Union v Wisconsin Whitewater Championship just rakes in the dough comparable to tOSU v Alabama.

 

[Buckeye86]

Well, not totally true... much to the chagrin of the folks out here in Pasadena. FSU fans aren't traveling at the level that we've seen in the past, and a lot of people seem to be saving their money for the (possible) trip to Dallas the week following.

What's interesting about this new system is that you'll get some fans money twice (two game events), some fans money once (lose first round), and some fans won't add any into the pot at all. We'll have to see if the folks who pay twice will be able to make up for those who save for a final and don't go... probably so, because final tickets will be more expensive. But it's not like the bowls are sharing revenue among themselves, right?

I believe that they should have gone Oregon/Ohio State (Traditional Rose, midwestern team that travels well) and FSU/Bama (home-ish game for both). But, as it is, I'll probably be able to get tickets for the first CFB Playoff Rose bowl at well under face value on the first. Wheee.

Just imagine the demand for tickets when they start expanding the playoff field!

Since I assume a vast majority of bowl revenue comes from television, it will be great when they say "tough shit" to everyone who can't afford to travel and we get to watch 1/3 full stadiums with zero atmosphere on our nice televisions.

 

[scarletmike]

A large part for the outrageous $5000/game estimate for just lodging/travel/tickets also has to do with the price gouging. Tickets to the Sugar Bowl will be significantly more expensive than any DIAA/II/III playoff game. As will lodging and travel.
Personally I wished the bowl system wasn't used for playoffs ... but it's become too lucrative for tourism.

Yep, the insane price increases due to the events inflate realistic costs by at least double. I would bet that if the bowls were to provide travel compensation that they wouldn't be paying that massively inflated retail amount.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

There's no muddying the waters; if you say it should be done because people are making money off of their games, the same can be said for those other divisions.

Let's just look at FCS who has a good chunk of their playoff games televised. Sam Houston St. traveled to Alabama, Pennsylvania, and then to North Dakota. That's a lot of travel and airfare for those parents. Their playoff is not regional in the least.

Then how about D1 baseball? Basketball? I'd imagine Title IX would have a field day with this.

There's no muddying the waters, but you dropped the idea of D2, D3, and High School already....bringing up baseball and basketball in their place.