09-09-2016, 01:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2016, 01:13 PM by ColoradoTree.)
Pat Forde chimed in on the issue here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-the-nca...17183.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.)
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.)