So a new era in college athletics started at midnight. Already, Bo Nix and Shaun Shivers have announced sponsorship deals with Milo's and yokegaming respectively. In scanning the bookfaces last night, I saw a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, saying this would be the apocalypse for college sports. My reaction was finally they've abolished the ridiculous and archaic rule of not allowing student athletes to earn an income while playing sports. Up until today, if the starting long snapper wanted to moon light at Mellow Mushroom to make a little extra cash bussing tables, he was SOL. As part of the Supreme Court's opinion, Justice Kavanaugh said the NCAA has been doing what no other enterprise in America would be allowed to do, and they're not above the law.(para.)
The NCAA has always held that something like this taking place would threaten the spirit of amateurism. That it would be open season on impermissible benefits being funneled to players. News flash. That ship sailed decades ago. If you ever get a chance to see ESPN's documentary on Marcus Dupree, a stud RB from way back in the 80's, it will blow your mind. Does anyone think Logan Young brown bagging $150K for an overweight D-lineman from Memphis was an isolated event? Puhlease!!! Did Auburn pay the purported $180K to get Cam? You betcher ass we paid something for him. Best money we ever spent. As long as they keep score and there are billions flowing through the sport, it will always go on in some fashion.
Things will change. We're going to quickly start hearing about deals and sponsorships that will make some of these young men and women pretty damn well off. So what's wrong with that? Only a tiny percentage of student athletes will actually make a living playing a sport after college, so why shouldn't they be able to cash in on their hard work now? What is college for anyway?
I don't think this ruins college athletics. It will somewhat change the landscape and how we perceive it. The bigger threat right now is the transfer portal and the way that's turned college athletics into open free agency. The opening of Pandora's Box will be revenue sharing, which IMO will kill all college athletics. But that's another story for another time.
What say you?