Game Over: NCAA allows athletes to profit from name

[ThreatMatrix]

They should of just created a minimum pay scale and they could have avoided this. Too many very poor kids have been chewed up through the years by these programs without anything to show for it. Read Ray Lewis’s book. He showed up at UM with $20 a pair of jeans and three t-shirts dropped off by his grandmother. Yes he made it but for every Ray Lewis there has been hundreds tossed aside.

This will quickly get out of control. Every college athlete from every sport will look to cut a deal and will monetize their social media. How you going to monitor that? Lose a big game or get benched and the salacious rantings will blow up so they can get clicks and get paid.

Absolute disaster.

Free room, board, food and a college education.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

I always felt things started moving faster towards professionalism when the traditional bowl games were abandoned in favor of the college football playoff championship series. It made the championship the all or nothing goal. Now if you lose a couple of games you're out of the running for the championship and your season is essentially over. Take, for example, Auburn this season. They started out ranked very high and were in the running for the championship. They lost to us and then to LSU. They are not going nowhere except to a meaningless bowl game. Their season is over. Before this bowl championship series was put into effect the Auburn fans would be thinking we've got a pretty good team. We've lost two games, but we still have a lot to play for. If we win out, beat Bama and go to a New Year's Bowl game we've had a really good season.

The same thing could happen to us if we lose to Georgia. Our season would essentially be over. We would just go through the motions of playing out the season. We would go to a meaningless bowl game. If we beat Georgia we're still in the running for the championship and our season still has meaning. The bowl championship series really changed the meaning of college football at least as far as I am concerned. It caused all of the marbles to be put in one basket. It started more intense recruiting. It's led to the ridiculous salaries of football coaches. It's not good enough to have a beloved coach anymore. There's no room for a Bobby Dodd or a Ray Graves any more. You've got to have Nick Saban or Urban Meyer. Hired guns. There was a time when even Bear Bryant said he did not want to be paid more than the college President. Used to a state school tried to recruit primarily from within its own state's boundaries. Now look at these rosters today and you have players from all over the nation on one team. It's just less more about rah rah college football and state pride and more about professionalism.

The proliferation of corporate sponsored bowl games has also been a factor in diluting the meaning of the college football season. This new movement of paying players extra for their name, image, and endorsement will only speed up the drive to professionalism in college athletics. I know that the one constant in life is change and I don't entirely live my life in the past, but there does come a point when you get so old that there seems to be nothing worth a grown man's time anymore. Change is always with us, but change is not always for the good.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Free room, board, food and a college education.

 

[Gator Fever]

So, if a Clemson or Bama booster offers a $100,000 guaranteed likeness deal for every year the 5* player is enrolled and on the team, it's perfectly legal. At least we won't be getting into any bidding wars.

We will never win a championship again if that is the case. There are some schools our boosters will never match.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Yeah, if you parlay that into a job at Outback I guess it isn't worth much.

 

[gingerlover]

An equal share of what?

Overall revenue. The cookie jar is now open and that is what they are really coming for. If they weren’t then the figures wouldn’t be consistently cited in every argument for them being paid. Once the top guys start getting stuff the other sports will come for the rest.

 

[gatorev12]

So you can't think of a single elite athlete in College football that had a career ending injury during college football? Really?

Look I get all the arguments against paying college student athletes. I selfishly would like things to stay the same to enjoy college football. I suspect this will only harm college football. But there are definitely instances where elite college football players lose millions of dollars by not making an NFL roster due to suffering a substantial injury at the college level.

It happens on occasion...but let's not pretend this is the only available solution to combat that problem.

Insurance policies can be taken out as-is now; just put aside some of the billions of dollars that college football generates into an insurance fund.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Let me be the first to say I'm willing to pay for the signatures of all five stars and high four star kids who sign with Florida.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Let me be the first to say I'm willing to pay for the signatures of all five stars and high four star kids who sign with Florida.

You post here too much to make that type of cash. But, I like the sentiment.

 

[SeabeeGator]

Let me be the first to say I'm willing to pay for the signatures of all five stars and high four star kids who sign with Florida.

No your not, cheap (swamp) ass.

 

[YLGator]

Why am I not surprised that the NCAA folded like a cheap suit. Absolutely ridiculous. College football as we know it is no more. It’s gone. All gone. This is a sad, sad day.

 

[KronoGator]

SMU is going to be really good again.

They are currently 8-0 and probably cheating again, this won't change a thing.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

You post here too much to make that type of cash. But, I like the sentiment.

They don't take Oxbux?

 

[oxrageous]

Why am I not surprised that the NCAA folded like a cheap suit. Absolutely ridiculous. College football as we know it is no more. It’s gone. All gone. This is a sad, sad day.

You must be "old and white".

 

[Gatorraid81]

Well we should be able to at least start beating the Noles and Scum in recruiting now.

 

[oxrageous]

Well we should be able to at least start beating the Noles and Scum in recruiting now.

Based on what? UF isn’t known to be big spenders.

 

[stephenPE]

Who is Jason?

Off the top of my head in reply to Ox's gnashing of teeth. Money CHANGES everything. Like Ox, these athletes want to make money off of sports. They are HEAVILY invested putting their bodies on the line. You have elite athletes moving very fast with large bodies in space. Injuries, at times severe, put their bodies at risk. I find it amusing how in some areas we denigrate the value of college but in here it is the perfect reward and answer to the athlete's need for more.

 

[stephenPE]

Unionized college athletes...

I think Carlos Alvarez may have mentioned this back in 1970 regarding athlete rights. He went on to
be a prominent attorney in Tallacrappy.........

 

[alcoholica]

NCAA: Athletes can profit off names, likenesses

The board members said in a release Tuesday that all changes should make sure student-athletes have the same opportunities to make money as all other students, maintain the priorities of education and the collegiate experience, and ensure that rules are "transparent, focused and enforceable" and do not create a competitive imbalance. The board wants each division to implement new rules by January 2021.

1. It appears pretty obvious that there will be minimal restrictions on how the athletes will be able to make money, so long it is from a legal source. Heck, Duke had a student who was a pornstar, so the quote above leaves a wide interpretation. UF needs to go ahead and hire a team to focus on marketing for players. YouTube channels, whatever. Find creative ways to support athletes in generating money for themselves. There is actually a lot of money to be made as an influencer.
2. This is going to be chaotic. Everyone is focusing on what's going to happen to bring kids into a program, but what's going to happen, when a kid is a bust? You'll have a bigger issue with the transfer portal, but there could be a sleeping epidemic here. You're talking about giving an 18 y/o kid tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. How many of those kids are going to run up credit cards or other credit facilities? Then what if he's a bust and the money dries up? Or if he's just an average player, who doesn't continue to get the money he had? Lots of rabbit holes when you give an 18 y.o. a lot of money that's not guaranteed. This is without going into drug proliferation.
3. For those who think the Universities provide nothing and only take advantage of players...it's more than room/board and tuition. They get some of the best training to prepare them for football and life in most cases. Dietitians, S&C staff, physical therapy, healthcare, tutors (which cost more than the tuition), life coach (Terry Jackson), and father figures that most didn't have growing up. But yes a degree matters, and very few could get accepted to a P5 school on there own merit.
4. The athletes need the Universities more than the Universities need athletes...as a whole. Imagine that instead, someone created a semi-pro team or the NFL created a farm league. Who would care? But consider UF/UGA with lesser players, but in the same talent stratus. We would all still say F UGA and watch and cheer and buy merchandise. No one cares about a development league for the NFL, because no one really cares about the NFL. But alumni and fans will always care about their school.

I really think the NCAA missed on seeing where the leverage lies. The universities have leverage because they will always have the fans. They are built in. Some fans may be clamoring for player payment, but what happens on gameday? They suit up and cheer. Personally, I wouldn't care if everyone was player with walk on talent, so long as that was the measure. We'd still be focused on championships. I really believe this rule is going to cause a lot of harm.

 

[URGatorBait]

I think it's a mistake.

And if college players can be paid for their likeness like pro athletes, I see no need for athletic scholarships anymore. They should live by their means just like the pros.