NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - Printable Version
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NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - washingtonismoney - 09-08-2016
https://twitter.com/JonSolomonCBS/status/773958758183698436
Re: NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - ColoradoTree - 09-08-2016
You can get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a government due to swimming success. But if you get paid endorsement money by private companies due to swimming success? That sin is unforgivable.Â
I mean, I understand why the NCAA is OK with medal awards and that medal awards don't raise the same amateurism concerns as paid endorsements--and I'm glad the kids get to keep that money and still compete collegiately--but when a kid can keep $750K but you suspend a different kid for a coach paying the kid's mom's rent for a month, you have a weird system.Â
It's a tough balance, I admit. I think Stanford is the college sports ideal, where the education that student-athletes receive is very valuable. And I cringe at what college sports (and really, mainly college football and basketball) would become with unfettered money flowing to the players. But I also find it disgusting how much money is made in college football without the players realizing the benefit of that (aside from the marginal indirect benefit of more lavish facilities, etc.). And while it wouldn't feel right for Katie Ledecky to be able to swim for Stanford while buying herself an off-campus mansion with endorsement money, it also doesn't feel right for her to have to choose between swimming for Stanford and cashing those checks.Â
It just seems to me that there is a frustrating lack of creative thinking surrounding how to square this circle. Why can't a big chunk of football revenues be redirected toward a pension or future healthcare for the players that helped generate it? You're not paying the kids now, but you're recognizing the value they create and you're setting something aside for them in the future. Why not let Katie Ledecky sign endorsement deals but be restricted from accessing the bulk of the cash until she leaves college or exhausts eligibility, or similarly put into trust for her retirement? You could also strictly limit the time she can spend for photo shoots or required appearances that are related to those endorsements, or require school approval (not to be unreasonably withheld) to ensure that the endorsed product doesn't conflict with a preexisting relationship the school may have with a competing business. Same thing with Olympic gymnasts, who have to choose between endorsement deals and college eligibility, and who have a much shorter timeframe where they can cash in on their fame.Â
If Texas A&M wants to sell jerseys with Johnny Manziel's number or "Johnny Football" on it (not that they're doing that anymore), then he ought to get a cut of that--not while in college, but someday, and in some form.Â
Re: NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - 2006alum - 09-08-2016
Why couldn't they permit creating trusts in which all earnings would be placed, with no access until after the student athlete graduates or turns "pro"? Costs of agents, etc., could come out of that fund, but the athlete could not personally reap the benefits while still competing. I think one argument against allowing athletes to make money is it would also lead to an arms race for professional trainers, physios, etc. If I'm a college basketball player making $10m a year, do I want to share the physio with the rest of the team? Probably not. But then that actually might give a material advantage to those who are truly amateurs. Seems like a trust would be a compromise that would allow the Ledeckys of the world to pad their retirement accounts without accruing undue benefits while competing against true amateurs.
Re: NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - Phogge - 09-08-2016
The NCAA office is manned by people similar to the Park Service. It's all about their authority over other people. I've worked for both and would never do it again.
Re: NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - ColoradoTree - 09-09-2016
Pat Forde chimed in on the issue here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-the-ncaas-president-could-force-olympic-medalists-to-abandon-college-athletics-184217183.html.
His take, summarized: This is classic NCAA meddling; it would be ridiculous for the NCAA to essentially chase elite Olympians out of college sports; the norms for college football and basketball players don't fit Olympic sports, as there isn't a NFL or NBA for most Olympic sports, as pro careers in those sports are few and far between; hopefully Mark Emmert is muzzled by NCAA members and Olympians get to keep their medal bonuses and stay in school.
He also noted that there's something troublingly xenophobic about Emmert saying we don't have a problem with Americans getting $25K per Gold or $15K per Silver, but when Singapore gives national hero (and Texas Longhorn) Joseph Schooling nearly $750K, now the rules need to change. (Forde doesn't mention this, but the rules were explicitly xenophobic for several years before that, as this was the first Olympics where non-Americans could keep their medal bonuses and retain college eligibility, while American medalists have had that benefit since 2001.)
Re: NCAA to Olympic swimmer: Stop being so good at swimming! - ThePassionOfTheChryst - 09-09-2016
(09-08-2016, 01:36 PM)ColoradoTree link Wrote:You can get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a government due to swimming success. But if you get paid endorsement money by private companies due to swimming success? That sin is unforgivable.
The USOC receives no public funding afaik. So the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Olympians receive for being good at swimming comes from sponsors, private donations, etc.