Re: NBA & Transfer rules are killing college sports
Posted: Fri May 21, 2021 4:04 pm
I think we all (or most of us at least) understand the NFL and MLB set the rules that benefit college football and baseball in terms of when a player is draft eligible. And for whatever reason the NBA has not instituted a similar rule.
For the NFL it makes total sense as there is no minor league system or legitimate other option. You've heard stories of kids getting kicked out of school and playing in the Arena league or in Canada until eligible but those are so few and far between I can count on only one hand the instances I remember off the top of my head. NFL benefits from a healthy college football system and so they'll do everything they can to continue that.
MLB however doesnt really need college baseball as it already has a great minor league system. So while the 3 year rule it enormously beneficial for college baseball, why does the MLB care? Why do they have the rule in the first place? If Kumar Rocker decides to go to college, has an unbelievable freshman year, why does the MLB care if the guy stays in school? If Kumar changes his mind and wants to go pro I'm sure there would be plenty of teams willing to draft him. So while we always say "the 3 year rule is an MLB rule, the 3 year rule is an MLB rule", I have to think the NCAA and college baseball has had some major influence on keeping that rule around. I don't know what the relationship between the MLB and NCAA is like. For all I know maybe the NCAA pays MLB to keep this rule instituted. Or is it actually beneficial to the MLB in some way I don't fully understand? On one hand I'm sure they love having another training ground, one in which they don't have to pay for. But again with players like Kumar, I think they'd rather have kids like that in their own system if the kid chose to leave school early.
Now tying this all back to the NBA, they are somewhere in between the NFL and MLB. They have their own "minor league system" unlike the NFL but it isnt nearly as expansive as the MLB's. So I would think the NBA would still benefit from a really healthy college basketball league. And while I do think the optics may look bad for the NBA if you had a bunch of freshman and sophomores wanting to leave college with the NBA saying they have to stay(I dont think the NFL suffers from this as much as the NBA would), I also think the optics should look bad when you have tons of underclassmen leaving college early only to not get drafted and now are stuck with no degree and no pro career. However I think the NCAA bears the brunt of those bad optics when really I think the NBA should suffer more. The NBA almost feels like they should be in this sweet spot where they a big enough D league (Or G-League or whatever it is called) that they'd have enough room to attract the top high school athletes right out of college. But the D league isnt big enough where they don't still need a healthy college basketball league. It still seems too beneficial for the NBA to have a successful college league that is developing young players and exposing the busts (at a totally free cost to the NBA no less). Obviously, as stated above, the NCAA could never keep a kid for 3 years if they chose to go somewhere other than the NBA (euro leagues, other minor league pro systems in US, etc...). But similar to college football players, I don't know that tons of kids would leave college basketball to do so. As much as people talk about how unfair the college system is for athletes, it still is a pretty awesome deal. Free education, free housing, free food, free healthcare, hot girls everywhere, parties all the time.... it's a pretty sweet deal. Seems like the NBA and NCAA should be able to work out a deal that is beneficial for both parties.
For the NFL it makes total sense as there is no minor league system or legitimate other option. You've heard stories of kids getting kicked out of school and playing in the Arena league or in Canada until eligible but those are so few and far between I can count on only one hand the instances I remember off the top of my head. NFL benefits from a healthy college football system and so they'll do everything they can to continue that.
MLB however doesnt really need college baseball as it already has a great minor league system. So while the 3 year rule it enormously beneficial for college baseball, why does the MLB care? Why do they have the rule in the first place? If Kumar Rocker decides to go to college, has an unbelievable freshman year, why does the MLB care if the guy stays in school? If Kumar changes his mind and wants to go pro I'm sure there would be plenty of teams willing to draft him. So while we always say "the 3 year rule is an MLB rule, the 3 year rule is an MLB rule", I have to think the NCAA and college baseball has had some major influence on keeping that rule around. I don't know what the relationship between the MLB and NCAA is like. For all I know maybe the NCAA pays MLB to keep this rule instituted. Or is it actually beneficial to the MLB in some way I don't fully understand? On one hand I'm sure they love having another training ground, one in which they don't have to pay for. But again with players like Kumar, I think they'd rather have kids like that in their own system if the kid chose to leave school early.
Now tying this all back to the NBA, they are somewhere in between the NFL and MLB. They have their own "minor league system" unlike the NFL but it isnt nearly as expansive as the MLB's. So I would think the NBA would still benefit from a really healthy college basketball league. And while I do think the optics may look bad for the NBA if you had a bunch of freshman and sophomores wanting to leave college with the NBA saying they have to stay(I dont think the NFL suffers from this as much as the NBA would), I also think the optics should look bad when you have tons of underclassmen leaving college early only to not get drafted and now are stuck with no degree and no pro career. However I think the NCAA bears the brunt of those bad optics when really I think the NBA should suffer more. The NBA almost feels like they should be in this sweet spot where they a big enough D league (Or G-League or whatever it is called) that they'd have enough room to attract the top high school athletes right out of college. But the D league isnt big enough where they don't still need a healthy college basketball league. It still seems too beneficial for the NBA to have a successful college league that is developing young players and exposing the busts (at a totally free cost to the NBA no less). Obviously, as stated above, the NCAA could never keep a kid for 3 years if they chose to go somewhere other than the NBA (euro leagues, other minor league pro systems in US, etc...). But similar to college football players, I don't know that tons of kids would leave college basketball to do so. As much as people talk about how unfair the college system is for athletes, it still is a pretty awesome deal. Free education, free housing, free food, free healthcare, hot girls everywhere, parties all the time.... it's a pretty sweet deal. Seems like the NBA and NCAA should be able to work out a deal that is beneficial for both parties.