While schools, coaches and EVERYBODY else makes money off of the actions of college ‘student’ athletes?
They get rules that penalize them for getting a free meal….
Something seems VERY wrong in this ….
Pressure has been building against this seemingly ridiculous ripoff of the young players for years…
Now?
With Congress and even the Nation’s highest court saying something has to be done to change this inequity….
Several state’s are forcing the issue for the college sport association to change…
Florida and four other states are poised to allow players to make endorsement deals starting this summer, and with universities in other states anxious about losing recruits, the N.C.A.A. is moving anew toward extending similar rights to college athletes across the country.
In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, the N.C.A.A.’s president, Mark Emmert, said he would recommend that college sports’ governing bodies approve new rules “before, or as close to, July 1,” when the new laws are scheduled to go into effect in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and New Mexico.
The changes together promise to reshape a multibillion-dollar industry and to test the N.C.A.A.’s generations-long assertions that student-athletes should be amateurs who play mainly for scholarships and that college sports appeal to fans partly because the players are not professionals.
“When I was playing college football, my priorities were girls, football and then school,” said Mark Richt, who led the football programs at Georgia and Miami before he retired from coaching in 2018. “Now it’s going to be money, girls, football, school.”
Under a proposal that has been before N.C.A.A. members for months, student-athletes could be paid in exchange for use of their names, images and likenesses by many private companies. The plan, which could take effect on Aug. 1, would also let players earn money through advertisements on their social media accounts.
“We need to get a vote on these rules that are in front of the members now,” Emmert said.
The current proposal would give colleges and universities the power to block some agreements if they conflict with “existing institutional sponsorship arrangements,” meaning that an athlete might not be able to strike an endorsement deal with Adidas if his or her college already has one with Nike. Other possible restrictions include bans on promoting sports betting and on hiring agents “to secure an opportunity as a professional athlete.”…
image…: Cameron Crazies and fans of the Duke Blue Devils cheer prior to their game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 18, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 99-94. by Lance King/Getty