The Ohio State University is quickly back in the news after months of allegations and investigations into its football program.
After the “scandal” of OSU players trading their jerseys for tattoos, coach Jim Tressel came under fire before resigning last week after news broke that he violated NCAA policies for not reporting violations by his players.
Now, star quarterback Terrelle Pryor is leaving Ohio State to go to the NFL after finding himself at the center of the university’s transgressions—namely for selling his own memorabilia with his own autograph, and trading his own memorabilia for tattoos (never mind the fact that there are probably better things to trade for).
It’s a mess, and one that could have been avoided. But, Rules is rules after all. These people go in knowing the rules, and they shouldn’t break them.
On the other hand, a lot of the rules surrounding college football are broken, serving the monetary interests of the NCAA while leaving coaches and administrators in a tough spot and exploiting college athletes.
College football is a cash cow for schools and the NCAA, and as such they keep a tight hold on what players (and coaches) are (and aren’t) allowed to do. Simply, college athletes cannot, under any circumstances, receive money for being a college athlete.
I can sympathize with this on a “purity of amateur sports” argument, but this is simply false.
Schools sell their players jerseys, but the players themselves can’t sell—or in Ohio State’s case, trade—them. Schools receive royalties when one of their “generic” players graces the cover of a video game, but the actual player who bears a striking resemblance to the player on the cover gets nothing.
I’m all right with not paying college athletes, per se. Most already get extremely generous scholarships and preferred housing. Besides, academics would be pushed aside even more.
But it’s a matter of simple liberty (with a sprinkling of free-market principles) that players receive the fruits of their labor. The schools and the NCAA make millions (even billions) off these kids, the least they could do is send some royalties the players’ way when their jerseys are sold, or allow them to endorse products.
As it stands, players are being forced out for trading their own jerseys, and coaches and administrators keep getting fired for dealing under the table in an effort to keep up with a corrupt system made all the more corrupt by the rules that ostensibly try to eliminate it.
Meanwhile, the NCAA makes another trip to the bank.
