Name, Image and Likeness

[Oracle]

Lots of assumptions.

Why would Midwest teams, with huge athletic dept budgets, opt to join the EIWA? If need be, they could start their own qualifier right where they are.

The ACC is not joining the EIWA. Ever. The have 6 really viable programs.
Pac 12 teams will qualify out west somewhere.
Big 12 teams will qualify in the midwest somewhere.
Teams that migrate to the SEC may, in fact, end up qualifying thru the SEC. Why not?

It's the Ivy League that will suffer, IMO, due to lack of outside competition. I hope Lehigh drops them and replaces them with more ACC and SoCon teams.

The EIWA will suffer as well and recruiting will be impacted with the true elites. IMO.

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>>> One of the biggest NIL challenges for the large schools that want to control the process and actually pay athletes is Title IX. If a school controls NIL the money will have to be spread over bot women’s and men’s sports.

It’s better, imo, for Lehigh wrestling to keep NIL separate and simply direct the NIL funds to the key wrestlers and recruits that are true AA caliber.

[Oracle]

Welcome back, Capt. Obvious!!!

[Justafan]

Lots of assumptions.

Why would Midwest teams, with huge athletic dept budgets, opt to join the EIWA? If need be, they could start their own qualifier right where they are.

The ACC is not joining the EIWA. Ever. The have 6 really viable programs.
Pac 12 teams will qualify out west somewhere.
Big 12 teams will qualify in the midwest somewhere.
Teams that migrate to the SEC may, in fact, end up qualifying thru the SEC. Why not?

It's the Ivy League that will suffer, IMO, due to lack of outside competition. I hope Lehigh drops them and replaces them with more ACC and SoCon teams.

The EIWA will suffer as well and recruiting will be impacted with the true elites. IMO.

Of course, that is a lot of assumptions. That's a prefaced and ended the post that I was thinking outside the box.
The sands are shifting at an accelerated pace. Who would have thought that the powerful Southwest Conference or the Pac 10 would dissolve. Who predicted that the West Virginia would join a Midwest Conference like the Big 12 or Stanford would be playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Old rules don't necessarily apply anymore. Gonzaga, a school, the size of Lehigh is in talks to join the Big 12 in all sports except football. I have no idea where that will go.

Florida State and Clemson are suing the ACC because they feel that they cannot be competitive with the large TV contracts enjoyed by the Big 10 and SEC. Adding the fact that those 2 conferences may now pay athletes to play there and more teams will choose to leave.

Again, I am only thinking outside the box

[JAD77]

Lots of assumptions.

Why would Midwest teams, with huge athletic dept budgets, opt to join the EIWA? If need be, they could start their own qualifier right where they are.

The ACC is not joining the EIWA. Ever. The have 6 really viable programs.
Pac 12 teams will qualify out west somewhere.
Big 12 teams will qualify in the midwest somewhere.
Teams that migrate to the SEC may, in fact, end up qualifying thru the SEC. Why not?

It's the Ivy League that will suffer, IMO, due to lack of outside competition. I hope Lehigh drops them and replaces them with more ACC and SoCon teams.

The EIWA will suffer as well and recruiting will be impacted with the true elites. IMO.

Of course, that is a lot of assumptions. That's a prefaced and ended the post that I was thinking outside the box.
The sands are shifting at an accelerated pace. Who would have thought that the powerful Southwest Conference or the Pac 10 would dissolve. Who predicted that the West Virginia would join a Midwest Conference like the Big 12 or Stanford would be playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Old rules don't necessarily apply anymore. Gonzaga, a school, the size of Lehigh is in talks to join the Big 12 in all sports except football. I have no idea where that will go.

Florida State and Clemson are suing the ACC because they feel that they cannot be competitive with the large TV contracts enjoyed by the Big 10 and SEC. Adding the fact that those 2 conferences may now pay athletes to play there and more teams will choose to leave.

Again, I am only thinking outside the box

I think that Justafan is correct in stating, basically - who the heck knows whats coming? It's completely feasible that Oracle's assumptions are correct (after all, he is the Oracle - for good reason), but it's also feasible that Justafan's assumptions are correct. The NIL landscape is changing faster than the weather.

[George Porgie]

Recent article from CBS Sports titled:
SEC, Big Ten developing plan to share revenue with players in potential landmark change to college athletics

Not sure how that would affect wrestling, as the vast majority of the money would go to football players, and secondly to BBall players. But even a small portion of the potential future revenue being directed to wrestlers could really tilt the balance in favor of the Power 4 Conferences even further.

Maryland and Rutgers went to the Big Ten because there is a ton more money in it for them particularly with the TV money. It won't take a large percentage of this money redirected to wrestling to tip the scales irreparably.

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>>The same comment about money tipping the scales for UMD or RU wrestling cane be said about every B1G school

However, only one B1G school, psu, has tipped the scales and that is a direct reflection of the coach, not money.

If conf media money was the prime determining factor for wrestling, ACC schools like VaT and NCSt would not at their current level.