I have avoided using the internet to express my concerns over the state of UK basketball but my concerns are there for sure.
The problem with the internet is all the lies and falsehoods being published everyday no matter the subject. You really do not know what is true and what is not.
If all these $$$ figures being reported are true, I do not see a sustainable future for college sports with this as their model. Just do not see it.
I know there are many who post on here who know and understand financial accountability. Spending this kind of money for the return on what is being spent will not hold up.
You figure all these teams spending upwards to 30 million and not win a title, boosters will find other avenues to support their schools. At some point I see a fight on the horizon with government and quite frankly, the public coming.
You see all these politicians posting 'free college education" and then having schools starting to cut programs because of all this NIL money needed to buy a team now, it is only a matter of time before s**t hits the fan.
You can disagree with me all you want and that is OK, but the fan base of college sports is dying as much as it is growing. Younger fans do not mind all this NIL and buying a new team every year but coaches hate it and older fans are being turned off by all this.
I read more and more where fans are not watching games like they used to. It seemed it was a sin to miss a game but today, people are finding other things to do with their time.
One could say us older fans not watching these days while younger fans being OK with all this will even itself out, well this is where I disagree. Most younger fans do not spend the money to travel the way older fans travel nor do they give to the school the way older fans give.
I cut back on what I donate and buy when it comes to UK due to the Sharpe situation a few years ago and then this year with JQ.
My wife just bought me a whiskey bottle for the 1978 Championship team that cost over $1500. I had looked at buying one for a long time but did not want to spend that on a bottle anymore because I just feel all my UK stuff will mean nothing in a few years to a younger generation. I was thinking about buying another gun for my collection instead.
The sad part of all this is, most of the players getting millions in NIL will never make a dime in the NBA. So we are basically paying all this money to watch kids play college sports.
We are going thru a phase in college sports right now that is just not sustainable financially. Just not. The return has to be greater than the investment or the smart money will dry up.
It was nothing for me to spend over a $1000 to get two tickets for a game in lower level to watch a game a couple times a year with my grandkids. Not anymore. It is just not the fun it once was.
I wonder how many who post on here bashing Coach Pope were cheering him in Rupp when he was hired. He is the same guy who was cheered for his passion while wearing that UK jersey when he was hired now call him weird.
Just saying.