All this talk about paying players got me thinking, what if all the Division 1 teams were part of a league and not affiliated with a school. Would it be anywhere near as popular as it is today? I maintain it is the school that creates that value more than the players. The school is what causes people like me to attend games and follow the team. They need to have good enough players to be competitive, but if not for the school I would have no interest. If George, Monte and the rest of our team played for a Des Moines team, I would have little to no interest in attending those games. There would be some interest from Des Moines residents, but I doubt you would get people from all over the country interested, like happens with a college team. People with Iowa State ties all around the world follow the team. The only reason I like George Niang is because he wears an Iowa State jersey. I'm paying to watch Iowa State. I'm not paying to watch Georges other than the fact he is representing Iowa State.
