The Big Ten's former commissioner didn't want to reach this day.
Colleges will now pay their athletes directly. Football players are expected to get most of the money.
At schools like Ohio State and Michigan, the student-athletes are more like professionals than ever before.
Jim Delany, in 2013, suggested that if this day ever came, the Big Ten's schools might drop to the Division III model of college athletics.
"It has been my longstanding belief that the The Big Ten's schools would forgo the revenues in those circumstances and instead take steps to downsize the scope, breadth and activity of their athletic programs," Delany wrote in 2013. "Several alternatives to a 'pay for play' model exist, such as the Division III model, which does not offer any athletics-based grants-in-aid, and, among others, a need-based financial model. These alternatives would, in my view, be more consistent with The Big Ten's philosophy that the educational and lifetime economic benefits associated with a university education are the appropriate quid pro quo for its student athletes."
When you're back from your laughter, welcome.
This clearly didn't happen.
Ohio State's football team reportedly cost $20 million in NIL value in 2024 en route to the national title.
Michigan's had plenty of high-end, payable talent the year before when it claimed the natty.
The game has changed, and the Big Ten is right there with the SEC at the forefront of it.
Ohio State won't be playing Mount Union anytime soon.
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