With the official announcement that the University of Hawai‘i is bolting from the Western Athletic Conference coming in the same week that Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was awarded the Heisman Trophy despite his father’s profiteering attempts, the line between amateur
With the official announcement that the University of Hawai‘i is bolting from the Western Athletic Conference coming in the same week that Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was awarded the Heisman Trophy despite his father’s profiteering attempts, the line between amateur athletics and business continues to get blurrier.
Hawai‘i made its decision to join forces with the Mountain West and Big West conferences because it was in the best interest of the program moving forward.
Translation: It gives UH the potential to make more money.
Please don’t read that as a negative. There is nothing wrong with having that goal. UH, like any collegiate institution, should always be on the lookout for ways to improve its viability — academically, athletically and financially.
Yet the very players who create the product these schools sell to fans are often held to higher standards than those receiving the paychecks.
Take coaches, for instance. These days, high-profile football coaches often move around quite a bit. For every Joe Paterno, there are about five Lane Kiffins — coaches who don’t stick around very long and are always seeking that next offer. Again, that’s not to say that attitude is wrong, but it flies in the face of what the NCAA attempts to hock as an “amateur” product.
Let’s be real. There is nothing amateur about college football, especially in the major conferences. Saturday network television is dominated by millions of viewers watching college football in packed stadiums that often hold twice as many fans as the NFL.
The only thing “amateur” about college football is Les Miles’ clock management.
So when a college football coach decides to head for greener pastures and leave his previous program in the rearview mirror, there is typically little outrage or backlash — unless it’s a loudmouth like Kiffin who hasn’t ever actually won anything.
Now, if a player decides that a situation with one school is not for him and opts to transfer to another program, the NCAA pulls the “we can do anything we please and you can’t” card, saying that player must sit out for a full year of their precious eligibility. Athletes usually only have four years to work with, so losing 25 percent of their time on the field can be a huge detriment to their professional ambitions. It’s not as if they have a whole lifetime to showcase themselves.
Yet coaches can jump ship whenever they please with no repercussions. While sometimes immoral, I still can’t say there is any other way to operate in a free-market system. But players deserve a similar level of freedom, especially when what they receive is not money, but playing time.
Newton’s Heisman victory comes as no shock, since he was clearly the most important player in the country. His father tried to capitalize on his talents by selling him to Mississippi State in exchange for $180,000. When that didn’t work out, he went to Auburn for free.
Hmm.
Seems like there’s something missing in that logical progression. I don’t see many ads in the classifieds that read “Brand new truck for sale: $50,000. If nobody offers the $50,000, I’m giving the truck to my buddy for free.”
On the surface, it appears likely that Newton will face a similar fate to Reggie Bush sometime down the road, but he has not been found to have broken any rules to this point.
Does it seem a little bit wrong to think that a college paid a kid six figures in addition to a free education? Yes. But I wonder if we’ve been conditioned to think that way.
After all, if Auburn had paid Newton anything in the area of what his father asked Mississippi State for, it would now be looking like an incredibly strong investment, even just for one year. Participation in a national title game generates millions for the school, in addition to the $18 million it splits with conference members.
I don’t know what the right answer is, but it certainly isn’t the current system. People have trouble feeling sorry for anyone who receives a scholarship, but there really are a large number of players who have no money coming in and little opportunity and time off the field to work.
If the NCAA wants to continue this “amateur” charade that it so brazenly spouts, it needs to put its money where its mouth is and discontinue any payments from networks for broadcast rights, drastically slash ticket prices, disincentivize top finishes with cash and have coaches be paid consistently with other school administrators.
Short of that, let’s figure out a way to cut the kids and their families in on the act in an open, transparent system that can work for all involved.
