Why doesn’t The Ohio State University go professional?
I wrote a longer article about what I would do if I were President of The Ohio State University, but much of that article is about the professionalization of college athletics, which initially sounds ludicrous except the NFL is making billions from Ohio State players, and Ohio State receives donations in the form of table scraps, and now that athletic financial compensation is legal, I just don’t understand why Ohio State doesn’t go all the way.
Seriously, why doesn’t The Ohio State University get with Alabama, Michigan, USC, and sixty four powerhouses to create professional teams to play on Sundays, so theoretically Ohio State [Semi-Amateurs] could play Michigan on Saturdays and the pro-teams could play Michigan on Sunday. With all those smart people at the University of Michigan, The Ohio State University, Notre Dame, and University of Alabama, you would think these universities would create their own professional sports teams using the same facilities, playing in the same stadiums, but playing on Sundays or Fridays or any days they want to play. I don’t understand why OSU is letting talent and millions go out the door. The SEC and Big Ten could make the NFL obsolete, because the new leagues wouldn’t need to market the stadium and facilities, which they already own. It’s literally a win-win for the universities and bankruptcy for the NFL monopoly.
The truth is we need more professional adult leagues for socialization and to keep physically fit, because the number one killer of American’s is obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. I see a world where city and state universities multi-purpose facilities in order to keep their students and alumni in athletics. The mass media athletics is dying out, because people don’t care about the NFL or NHL or MLB. People want more teams, so everyone can make something off local professional athletics. Why can’t Ohio University and Bowling Green have local professional teams? A third of the original NFL was from Ohio, because Ohio had professional teams everywhere, which spread wealth through out the state. Are you seeing where I am going with this? Universities have the opportunity to capitalize from local professional athletics. Why can’t Athens, Ohio have a professional team?
If students signed with universities, and the universities covered tuition, rent, food, etc, then the university would get paid like agents or guilds as a percentage of the students income, so an Ohio State English major and creative writing minor washing dishes at the VA or an Ohio State political scientist major would only be paying Ohio State a percentage of their income, so if they have no income, OSU makes no money, because the university invested in tuition, books, room and boarding in the student; whereby incentivizing university to ensure graduates make good money. Theoretical, every Ohio State students’ tuition, books, room, and board would be covered by the university in return, the university would make X percent of the students income, because it’s only time before large corporations like Amazon, Nationwide, and ChaseBank develop their own universities. I mean, why doesn’t the NFL have its own university? It probably should, because the NFL could become obsolete if it doesn’t. There’s an unlimited number of majors the NFL could offer from sports medicine to physical therapy to business marketing and law.
I’m not saying every sport or every college should have professional athletics, but there is no reason college basketball can’t replace the NBA and WNBA, because the WNBA especially is a dumpster fire. I think about things like combining professions with post-graduation athletics. Why can’t an OSU nurse play on the OSU’s women’s professional basketball team? It would be like how high school football coaches teach and coach, but nurses and athletes and or coaches. The point isn’t for athletes to make millions of dollars; the point is to create more teams to spread the wealth and incentivize health. The WNBA isn’t profitable, because they play in NBA arenas and have multi-million dollar broadcasts. With contemporary camera equipment and live streaming, professional athletics doesn’t need the expensive broadcasting equipment. However, most universities do have the equipment, and they are not being used most of the time, so use the camera equipment and use the facilities.
The American Education system gives our youth hopes of becoming not just professional athletes but professional sports journalists, and yet, we see the same garbage arguing about who is better LeBron James or Michael Jordan. Who cares? I want to see local broadcasters talking about local athletes. What does arguing about LeBron and Michael do for the people of Ohio? I want to see professional volleyball players who are nurses or physical therapists, which is why I will be attending Columbus Fury matches to put my money where my mouth is. The point I’m trying to make is Ohio State journalist majors aren’t going to make money with monopolized athletics just like film and theater majors don’t make money with monopolized Hollywood and Broadway, so make Buckeyewood and the Buckeye Theater. Why aren’t Ohio State film majors signing contracts? Why is ESPN or Fox Sports doing Ohio State broadcasts and not The Ohio State University doing Ohio State broadcasts? Why is Kirk Herbstreit working of ESPN instead of the Ohio State or Buckeye Network? Why can’t The Ohio State University alumni and board of trustees see outside [The Shoe] box?
