[su_spacer size=”20″] Many college football fans assume that if there were a free market for college football player services the school offering the most cash would sign the best players. That assumption is based on fundamentals of economics, right?
[su_spacer size=”40″] The problem lies with the failure to account for some important economic fine print. The kicker when economists predict human actions based on the most fundamental laws of economics (supply and demand) is the phrase “other things being equal.” We are about to discover if, in the minds of high school seniors and their parental units, the education and experience represented by offered scholarships are viewed as being of equal value. In other words, are all scholarship offer equal? If they are, top talent should flow to the schools with the highest cost of attendance.
[su_spacer size=”40″] If you have not been paying attention lately, beginning this fall Power5 conference schools (including the SEC) will begin paying each athlete an amount equal the it’s cost of attendance (CoA). CoA numbers are produced by each university under federal mandate as a means of alerting parents to costs other than tuition, room and board. NCAA member adopted CoA as the means to begins making cash payments to players. And what should I do you got it open okay I’m pretty fast though I can broke get there
[su_spacer size=”40″] [su_quote style=”modern-light” cite=”AL.com” url=”http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/04/sec_wants_transparency_with_co.html”] At Tennessee ($5,666), Auburn ($5,586), Louisville ($5,202) and Mississippi State ($5,126), COA will provide student athletes with more than $5,000 in extra spending money each school year. Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Higher Education estimates that Boston College ($1,400), USC ($1,580) and Syracuse ($1,632) are three of nine schools where athletes will receive less than $2,000 from the new NCAA legislation.
[su_spacer size=”10″] The COA numbers at Kentucky ($2,284), Georgia ($2,598), Texas A&M ($2,706), Vanderbilt ($2,780) and Alabama ($2,892) all rank in the bottom 30 of the 65 Power Five schools.
[/su_quote] [su_spacer size=”40″] Will higher CoA payments rake in top athletes or do athletes assign differing values to the education (both academic and football) at the various schools? As Senator Blutarsky points out today, Georgia’s current recruiting ranking suggests that recruits are defying stereotypes.