The changing landscape of college football

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The NCAA's mission statement is as follows: "Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount."

It is clear that the NCAA has lost sight of their mission statement. In the last few years, the NCAA has gone from questionable to despicable. The best interest of the student-athlete is not a priority.

With that said, going to a pay-for-play system will mean certain death for college sports as we know it. Remember, this is not a matter of simply paying football players. Because of title IX regulations, schools would be required to match the funds that they give to male sports to female sports as well.

Ultimately, both male and female sports will have to be cut because schools simply can’t afford to pay players. Budgets across the collegiate landscape are already struggling to fund sports.

Look no further than Temple University, which recently announced they were cutting five men’s teams and two women’s teams for the 2014-2015 season. Last month the Board of Trustees decided to keep men's crew and women's rowing. However, baseball, softball, men's gymnastics, and men's indoor and outdoor track and field will still be cut after the completion of this school year.

Temple is not alone. This is a growing trend in college athletics and “pay-for-play” would mean only the very elite could sustain the financial blow without major consequences.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that it is just the lower tier schools that struggle to fund their programs. University of Miami president, Donna Shalala, Recently stated, "Our athletic program at the University of Miami is...

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...012 season. Boise State wide receiver Geraldo Boldewijn was forced to miss four games that season because he borrowed a 1990 Toyota Camry with 177,000 miles. He was required to pay a charity $700 for his violation.
Boise State, on the other hand, brought in 14.5 million dollars to their school last year and paid their coach 1.6 million dollars. The NCAA continues to suspend players for irrelevant issues.
In the end, none of this will likely take place. Instead, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 10, Big 12, Pacific-12 and Southeastern Conference will be granted autonomy from the NCAA current rules or they will break away from the NCAA and form their own league. Allowing them to institute whatever system of compensation they desire.

In the end, one-way or another, college football as we know it will be obsolete and a new system will be in place in the near future.

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