Kentucky to spinoff Athletic Department as a separate LLC Company

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Why wouldn't any element of this LLC now be taxable? Will it have to pay property taxes? Will it have to pay taxes on any profit it makes?

[edwin drood]

Why wouldn't any element of this LLC now be taxable? Will it have to pay property taxes? Will it have to pay taxes on any profit it makes?

They could be designated as a non-profit either through their articles of incorporation or perhaps by the state legislature, being a subsidiary of the University. But even if "for profit" there's plenty of accounting techniques to reduce or eliminate taxes, a la Tesla, Amazon, FedEx and many other companies paying zero federal income taxes, leaving that chore to schmucks like you and me...

[hullie]

Do student athletes still have to meet certain academic standards? Never hear much on that anymore

[Bob39]

Really, I don't know how much more down this road college football and basketball can go before I'm just completely turned off by it. I've been a Mizzou fan since about 1980. I've enjoyed following the players as they go through the four years at the school, or two years after junior college even. But it's getting harder and harder to care much about them. This whole rent-a-player for a year thing just doesn't allow that kind of involvement with the players and by extension the team. Players moving on because they don't get immediate playing time, or even worse, because they can get more money somewhere else or think they can, is becoming a turnoff.

But it hasn't quite reached that point yet. I think we are so used to being fans of the college team that it hasn't quite sunk in that their relationship to the college itself is getting more tenuous all the time. When was the last time anybody mentioned academics? When was the last time we had to be concerned that a player might not make adequate grades and be declared ineligible to play? When was the last time we even mentioned a player's major? Are these guys even bothering to attend classes anymore?

I was all for NIL at the beginning. I envisioned it as local businesses paying players some cash for a few commercials and appearances, and players getting some royalties off the college selling merchandise with their or the team's name on it. Not 7 figure salaries for half the team with no actual contracts to stay for two years or more and play in every game they were available to play. Heck, all it is now is paying kids huge sums of money to render their services for a year. And having to pay more huge sums of money if they turn out good enough that you don't want them being poached after the first good year.

This is almost exactly how I feel. At this point, I kind of wish all the guys who want to make big money would just create their own league and make a go of it. The Universities will still have plenty of guys who may not be quite as talented but will play compelling contest. To be honest, what we all enjoy is the tradition, the atmosphere, the feeling of being at Farout or Mizzou arena with thousands of friends and the game on the line. That feeling will be there whether the guys on the field are the best players on earth or not. They could get the frat guys to make a team and as long as the teams were competitive with each other we would all still watch.

[ex-submariner]

So where did y'all think NIL and seismic conference realignments would end anyway? The barn door is wide open, the horses are long gone, and there is no going back. Stay tuned.

I'll still watch the games, most others will too I reckon.

[Kenny Boy]

So where did y'all think NIL and seismic conference realignments would end anyway? The barn door is wide open, the horses are long gone, and there is no going back. Stay tuned.

I'll still watch the games, most others will too I reckon.

Welcome to minor league pro football.

[rezero]

So where did y'all think NIL and seismic conference realignments would end anyway? The barn door is wide open, the horses are long gone, and there is no going back. Stay tuned.

I'll still watch the games, most others will too I reckon.

I think this will happen in three phases.

The first is the NIL phase where we break all the paradigms about paying players. This is near complete.

The second will be the LLC phase where all athletic departments split from the universities. This will allow them to operate without the university bureaucracy and decouples the players with having to be students. This is when the NCAA officially collapses.

The third is when private equity firms will swoop in and start buying the LLCs for $500M to $1B based on a multiple of the current TV contract and marketability. Many teams collapse and drop out in this phases and the new sports leagues begin to operate.

[ex-submariner]

So where did y'all think NIL and seismic conference realignments would end anyway? The barn door is wide open, the horses are long gone, and there is no going back. Stay tuned.

I'll still watch the games, most others will too I reckon.

I think this will happen in three phases.

The first is the NIL phase where we break all the paradigms about paying players. This is near complete.

The second will be the LLC phase where all athletic departments split from the universities. This will allow them to operate without the university bureaucracy and decouples the players with having to be students. This is when the NCAA officially collapses.

The third is when private equity firms will swoop in and start buying the LLCs for $500M to $1B based on a multiple of the current TV contract and marketability. Many teams collapse and drop out in this phases and the new sports leagues begin to operate.

That sounds about right to me.

[Rvrartst]

So where did y'all think NIL and seismic conference realignments would end anyway? The barn door is wide open, the horses are long gone, and there is no going back. Stay tuned.

I'll still watch the games, most others will too I reckon.

I think this will happen in three phases.

The first is the NIL phase where we break all the paradigms about paying players. This is near complete.

The second will be the LLC phase where all athletic departments split from the universities. This will allow them to operate without the university bureaucracy and decouples the players with having to be students. This is when the NCAA officially collapses.

The third is when private equity firms will swoop in and start buying the LLCs for $500M to $1B based on a multiple of the current TV contract and marketability. Many teams collapse and drop out in this phases and the new sports leagues begin to operate.

But...by the end of phase 2, there will be no difference between the "college" basketball teams and the NBA G League. Who watches the G League games? How many of them are on national TV? It is the tie-in with the universities that bring the majority of the fans; the quality of the basketball is at least as good in the G League. When the tie-in becomes that tenuous, will the fans start moving away? And if that happens, the TV contracts start fading. In football it's different; the colleges are the ONLY real developmental "leagues". I could see college football remaining popular enough to keep those TV contracts coming, though I suspect that even football will fade a bit in popularity. But basketball is going to be in trouble.

[Rojo Johnson]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

[rezero]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

[Rvrartst]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

Maybe. But this is just one facet of the disconnect between the teams and the universities. The players become one year rentals with free agents status after the one year. They have no ties to the university other than the name on their uniform. Fans would no longer be invested in watching them develop for four years. It becomes purely about the money, because the players would not be required to attend classes, so scholarships become meaningless. And the very idea of bidding wars for high school kids will eventually become a turnoff. I can't see this going anywhere but a huge loss of fans, loss of money for the universities, and then the TV contracts get a lot less lucrative. The way I see it ending up is the universities cutting ties completely with the teams, and going back to something close to the way it used to be with scholarships along with rules for attending classes, and maybe NIL the way it was originally envisioned, with a bit of revenue sharing on team merchandise and ticket sales, and allowing local businesses to hire the kids for some appearances and advertising. What happens with the former university teams? Who knows?

[rezero]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

Maybe. But this is just one facet of the disconnect between the teams and the universities. The players become one year rentals with free agents status after the one year. They have no ties to the university other than the name on their uniform. Fans would no longer be invested in watching them develop for four years. It becomes purely about the money, because the players would not be required to attend classes, so scholarships become meaningless. And the very idea of bidding wars for high school kids will eventually become a turnoff. I can't see this going anywhere but a huge loss of fans, loss of money for the universities, and then the TV contracts get a lot less lucrative. The way I see it ending up is the universities cutting ties completely with the teams, and going back to something close to the way it used to be with scholarships along with rules for attending classes, and maybe NIL the way it was originally envisioned, with a bit of revenue sharing on team merchandise and ticket sales, and allowing local businesses to hire the kids for some appearances and advertising. What happens with the former university teams? Who knows?

I agree. My hope is somewhere along the way, a true service agreement contract become standard that locks a player to a team.

[Kenny Boy]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

Maybe. But this is just one facet of the disconnect between the teams and the universities. The players become one year rentals with free agents status after the one year. They have no ties to the university other than the name on their uniform. Fans would no longer be invested in watching them develop for four years. It becomes purely about the money, because the players would not be required to attend classes, so scholarships become meaningless. And the very idea of bidding wars for high school kids will eventually become a turnoff. I can't see this going anywhere but a huge loss of fans, loss of money for the universities, and then the TV contracts get a lot less lucrative. The way I see it ending up is the universities cutting ties completely with the teams, and going back to something close to the way it used to be with scholarships along with rules for attending classes, and maybe NIL the way it was originally envisioned, with a bit of revenue sharing on team merchandise and ticket sales, and allowing local businesses to hire the kids for some appearances and advertising. What happens with the former university teams? Who knows?

I agree. My hope is somewhere along the way, a true service agreement contract become standard that locks a player to a team.

That'll never happen. Lawyers will never let the kids go backwards. College student-athlete sports will soon be a thing of the past.

[edwin drood]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

Maybe. But this is just one facet of the disconnect between the teams and the universities. The players become one year rentals with free agents status after the one year. They have no ties to the university other than the name on their uniform. Fans would no longer be invested in watching them develop for four years. It becomes purely about the money, because the players would not be required to attend classes, so scholarships become meaningless. And the very idea of bidding wars for high school kids will eventually become a turnoff. I can't see this going anywhere but a huge loss of fans, loss of money for the universities, and then the TV contracts get a lot less lucrative. The way I see it ending up is the universities cutting ties completely with the teams, and going back to something close to the way it used to be with scholarships along with rules for attending classes, and maybe NIL the way it was originally envisioned, with a bit of revenue sharing on team merchandise and ticket sales, and allowing local businesses to hire the kids for some appearances and advertising. What happens with the former university teams? Who knows?

I agree. My hope is somewhere along the way, a true service agreement contract become standard that locks a player to a team.

That'll never happen. Lawyers will never let the kids go backwards. College student-athlete sports will soon be a thing of the past.

I don't agree. These players are, now, essentially pro athletes. Players in other pro sports all sign contracts and can't jump teams every year. I think very soon we'll see teams demanding, in exchange for $2-3 million, an agreement to stay for 2-3 years. Just because players are entitled to enter the transfer portal doesn't mean that teams can't ask the to agree not to.

[Kenny Boy]

Why would I watch a league primarily made up of players who aren’t good enough to play pro and who don’t have any ties to my Alma mater? What would compel me to do that? This will never work if that’s where it’s headed. What would the point be? Some of you haven’t thought this out very well. Without the school affiliation, there is no reason to exist.

Rojo, they will still have the University name which will keep the linkage there for people to feel connected to their alma mater. Let me ask you this, if none of the Mizzou football players were actually students would you care? The current University of Kentucky model now has their athletic department as a separate legal entity than the university. Technically the athletes now work for a different business than the University, so will that matter to the fans? My guess is the answer is No. The same as if that separate legal entity is owned by a private equity.

Maybe. But this is just one facet of the disconnect between the teams and the universities. The players become one year rentals with free agents status after the one year. They have no ties to the university other than the name on their uniform. Fans would no longer be invested in watching them develop for four years. It becomes purely about the money, because the players would not be required to attend classes, so scholarships become meaningless. And the very idea of bidding wars for high school kids will eventually become a turnoff. I can't see this going anywhere but a huge loss of fans, loss of money for the universities, and then the TV contracts get a lot less lucrative. The way I see it ending up is the universities cutting ties completely with the teams, and going back to something close to the way it used to be with scholarships along with rules for attending classes, and maybe NIL the way it was originally envisioned, with a bit of revenue sharing on team merchandise and ticket sales, and allowing local businesses to hire the kids for some appearances and advertising. What happens with the former university teams? Who knows?

I agree. My hope is somewhere along the way, a true service agreement contract become standard that locks a player to a team.

That'll never happen. Lawyers will never let the kids go backwards. College student-athlete sports will soon be a thing of the past.

I don't agree. These players are, now, essentially pro athletes. Players in other pro sports all sign contracts and can't jump teams every year. I think very soon we'll see teams demanding, in exchange for $2-3 million, an agreement to stay for 2-3 years. Just because players are entitled to enter the transfer portal doesn't mean that teams can't ask the to agree not to.

Coaches break contracts all the time. I think that was part of the transfer portal argument...if the coaches can do it, why can't the players? Heck, they might even have buyouts too. It probably won't be long before you'll never even see a "college" football or basketball player on campus. Once the players are no longer students, I see no reason to root for the college team.