[needle]

https://sports.yahoo.com/north-carolina-...34451.html

A UNC tennis player filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA amateurism restrictions.  Given the current state of collegiate sports, I think it is farcical that a football player can collect a six-figure NIL check, while a golf player cannot collect any money from playing in a non-NCAA tournament.  As the suit notes:

“Over the last three years, tens of millions of dollars have flowed with the NCAA’s knowledge and acquiescence, to mostly male student-athletes in the Power Conferences from third-party, booster-funded and operated collectives that are associated with virtually all NCAA FBS-level athletic departments and which sprung up in 2021 in the wake of the NCAA’s temporary suspension of its rules prohibiting name, image and likeness payments.

“While these tens of millions of dollars have been paid to student-athletes under the guise of acquiring rights to utilize their NIL, the vast majority of the money is in reality ‘pay-for-play’ compensation to student-athletes that has little or no relation to the actual market value for the supposed NIL services that the student-athletes must provide ‘in exchange’ for that compensation.”

(emphasis mine)

Of course, the solution is to actually regulate NIL so that
1) NIL deals are transparent with a public database
2) NIL deals are actually for a player's name, image, or likeness
3) NIL deals are for fair market value for that name, image, or likeness
4) NIL deals are not contingent for a student-athlete's playing for a particular team
5) NIL deals cannot be negotiated or signed until after a player enrolls in a school
6) "Collectives" that funnel donor money into NIL deals are prohibited
7) NIL deals are only tax deductible to the extent that any other marketing payment can be a write-off

But, nah.  Nobody will want to give up on an under-the-table pay-to-play scheme and thus, the judge will, appropriately determine that NCAA athletes are approximately professional, and thus that restrictions on prize money are thus an illegal restraint of trade.  So, we will have elite golfers and tennis players fitting in college and collegiate events during breaks in their professional schedule.

BC

The NCAA truly faces annihilation. Smart university leaders should band together to scrap the NCAA concept and instead come up with a new organization similar to, I don't know, maybe the World Fair Trade Organization. Member schools would pay for and allow independent auditors unfettered access to review athletic department processes to ensure student welfare. Would that be a farce? Probably, so I'd be open to other ideas. My main point is the NCAA is on its last legs, and universities should be prepared for other forms of accountability that at least preserve a modicum of common sense when it comes to how college sports should be governed.

[needle]

https://sports.yahoo.com/north-carolina-...34451.html

A UNC tennis player filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA amateurism restrictions.  Given the current state of collegiate sports, I think it is farcical that a football player can collect a six-figure NIL check, while a golf player cannot collect any money from playing in a non-NCAA tournament.  As the suit notes:

“Over the last three years, tens of millions of dollars have flowed with the NCAA’s knowledge and acquiescence, to mostly male student-athletes in the Power Conferences from third-party, booster-funded and operated collectives that are associated with virtually all NCAA FBS-level athletic departments and which sprung up in 2021 in the wake of the NCAA’s temporary suspension of its rules prohibiting name, image and likeness payments.

“While these tens of millions of dollars have been paid to student-athletes under the guise of acquiring rights to utilize their NIL, the vast majority of the money is in reality ‘pay-for-play’ compensation to student-athletes that has little or no relation to the actual market value for the supposed NIL services that the student-athletes must provide ‘in exchange’ for that compensation.”

(emphasis mine)

Of course, the solution is to actually regulate NIL so that
1) NIL deals are transparent with a public database
2) NIL deals are actually for a player's name, image, or likeness
3) NIL deals are for fair market value for that name, image, or likeness
4) NIL deals are not contingent for a student-athlete's playing for a particular team
5) NIL deals cannot be negotiated or signed until after a player enrolls in a school
6) "Collectives" that funnel donor money into NIL deals are prohibited
7) NIL deals are only tax deductible to the extent that any other marketing payment can be a write-off

But, nah.  Nobody will want to give up on an under-the-table pay-to-play scheme and thus, the judge will, appropriately determine that NCAA athletes are approximately professional, and thus that restrictions on prize money are thus an illegal restraint of trade.  So, we will have elite golfers and tennis players fitting in college and collegiate events during breaks in their professional schedule.

BC

The NCAA truly faces annihilation. Smart university leaders should band together to scrap the NCAA concept and instead come up with a new organization similar to, I don't know, maybe the World Fair Trade Organization. Member schools would pay for and allow independent auditors unfettered access to review athletic department processes to ensure student welfare. Would that be a farce? Probably, so I'd be open to other ideas. My main point is the NCAA is on its last legs, and universities should be prepared for other forms of accountability that at least preserve a modicum of common sense when it comes to how college sports should be governed.