10-01-2019, 05:45 AM
It sure is amusing seeing how people want to impose their ideals on others when it comes to compensation. The only reason for anyone to be against athletes being paid is that doing so will disrupt their ideas of what college sports should be.
As it is right now, there is rampant corruption and pay to play going on in college sports. The NCAA doesn't adequately enforce its rules and looks the other way all the time when it comes to cheaters from large institutions. The only reason college hoops programs are being hit now is because the FBI and Justice Department won criminal cases that required resources and authority the NCAA doesn't have.
The NCAA was created to address injuries and deaths in college football. It morphed into a gigantic bureaucracy that exploits young athletes and has brainwashed many people about its holier than thou "student athlete" nonsense.
The notion that universities - including Stanford - are going to give up sports so they don't have to deal with professional athletes, is sheer folly. There is simply far too much money at stake, and far too much alumni pride baked into sports for them to ever go away on college campuses. When push comes to shove, the schools will acquiesce as Stanford has by already announcing a Dept. of Athlete Endorsements.
The NCAA is gonna lose this battle. I've said many times I think each sport should have a CBA for its athletes that sets standards of compensation for anyone on scholarship. But it may be that just this small evolution for athletes to get paid for their NIL, may be enough to satisfy athletes. As it is, they do get scholarships, room, board, etc. that they know has value. Moreover, it will take a lot of engineering to create the systems through which athletes get paid.
It sounds like by setting up a department, Stanford is effectively telling its would be athletes that they won't have to bother finding an agent, because Stanford will provide those services for them. Should be fascinating to see how this all plays out, at Stanford in particular because it has so many Olympic and individual sports stars, but also the Pac-12, and how other states and even Congress responds.
As it is right now, there is rampant corruption and pay to play going on in college sports. The NCAA doesn't adequately enforce its rules and looks the other way all the time when it comes to cheaters from large institutions. The only reason college hoops programs are being hit now is because the FBI and Justice Department won criminal cases that required resources and authority the NCAA doesn't have.
The NCAA was created to address injuries and deaths in college football. It morphed into a gigantic bureaucracy that exploits young athletes and has brainwashed many people about its holier than thou "student athlete" nonsense.
The notion that universities - including Stanford - are going to give up sports so they don't have to deal with professional athletes, is sheer folly. There is simply far too much money at stake, and far too much alumni pride baked into sports for them to ever go away on college campuses. When push comes to shove, the schools will acquiesce as Stanford has by already announcing a Dept. of Athlete Endorsements.
The NCAA is gonna lose this battle. I've said many times I think each sport should have a CBA for its athletes that sets standards of compensation for anyone on scholarship. But it may be that just this small evolution for athletes to get paid for their NIL, may be enough to satisfy athletes. As it is, they do get scholarships, room, board, etc. that they know has value. Moreover, it will take a lot of engineering to create the systems through which athletes get paid.
It sounds like by setting up a department, Stanford is effectively telling its would be athletes that they won't have to bother finding an agent, because Stanford will provide those services for them. Should be fascinating to see how this all plays out, at Stanford in particular because it has so many Olympic and individual sports stars, but also the Pac-12, and how other states and even Congress responds.