Uncertainty remains with new rules in college athletics

As a sports writer, I’ve mostly been in a bunker while waiting for the storm that’s upended the world of college athletics to pass.

When I emerged last week, I learned of a new concept called NIL (name, image, and likeness). That means college athletes can now be paid for making endorsement deals, appearances, and signing autographs.

PetSmart announced an endorsement deal with Arkansas receiver Trey Knox. That’s carrying-around money for Knox and a few extra treats, I suppose, for his dog Blue. Auburn quarterback Bo Nix struck a deal with Milo’s Sweet Tea, which prompted some Alabama fans to pour their tea from Milo’s down the drain.

I’m still waiting for someone to endorse something completely off-the-wall like Chico’s Bail Bonds, worn proudly by those little rascals in the movie Bad New Bears.

How about it?

Anyone?

Anyone?

There’s so much we don’t know about the new rules, but a new era has obviously begun that could lead to straight up pay-to-play for college athletes. So, how do you feel about that?

I had a conversation about pay-for-play in 2018 with basketball legend and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he spoke on the University of Arkansas campus.

“I think players should get paid,” Abdul-Jabbar said at the time. “All the coaches are wealthy. The ones who don’t make a lot of money are the young people who create the revenue, and that’s wrong.”

OK, I countered, but if you pay the basketball and football players in college sports who create all the revenue, you must also provide for the women’s teams, for instance, that don’t draw a lot of fans. It’s the law. Title IX says so.

Abdul-Jabbar concluded that money generated from sports should go into a pot and dispersed among all the athletes on campus. I understood that to mean a reserve on the girls soccer team would get just as much as the star quarterback on the football team. But the first step with the NIL strongly suggests players should market themselves and make their own deals.

So, does that mean star receiver Treylon Burks can eat at Doe’s Steakhouse on Dickson Street three times a week while the backup receivers at Arkansas still clip 2-for-1 coupons from the school newspaper? Wonder how that’s going to go in the locker room or, worse yet, in the huddle if a quarterback with a large endorsement deals starts yelling at the mere mortals on the offensive line to block better?

Not well, I supposed.

I still firmly believe a free education with room and board are a pretty good deal for scholarship athletes. Just ask anyone who’s still paying off student loans long after they’ve graduated. But I also realize something needed to changed, especially with college coaches being paid ridiculous salaries off the backs of hard-working athletes.

So, here we are with a new rule that went into effect on July 1. The agreement allows athletes to work with agents and make deals with boosters, which used to be the quickest way for an athlete to be suspended and a school to be placed on probation.

If you think I’m overreacting to the changes headed our way, please be aware that Matt Corral, a quarterback for Ole Miss, is asking to be paid $10,000 an hour to show up at a football camp or for a speaking engagement.

Hopefully, everything will work out and the strong winds I fear are coming won’t leave much damage across the landscape. But guys like Matt Corral are the reason I’ve decided to crawl back underground for now.

I’ll emerge again in October when we’ll have a clearer understanding of what is happening. In the meantime, I’ll stock up on more SPAM for life in the bunker.

How about it, Hormel Foods? Sounds like an endorsement deal to me.

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