The monster that is college sports is beginning to rear its ugly head, which for a long time has been hiding behind a veil of amateurism.
This summer college football, just one of the many faces of the college sports monster, has been masquerading behind news of conference expansion and possible realignment.
But that façade was smeared by sanctions resulting from improper benefits received by athletes and investigations of possible rules violations regarding illegal contact with agents – all because the NCAA doesn’t pay its athletes.
It’s getting out of hand, really.
First, there were the sanctions handed down to Southern California by the NCAA regarding its findings that former Heisman winner Reggie Bush and his family accepted nearly $280,000 in improper benefits, as did former Trojans basketball standout O.J. Mayo.
Just last week, news surfaced that the NCAA is investigating UNC’s football program, coached by Butch Davis, for possible rules violations. In the wake of that report, South Carolina also announced it was being probed by the NCAA for potential rules violations, with multiple outlets claiming the allegations revolve around Gamecocks tight end Weslye Saunders.
While the NCAA has not officially disclosed what each of those investigations is about, it is believed that both of them also deal with improper benefits and illegal contact with sports agents.
When ESPN’s Pat Forde reported Monday that UF was also under NCAA investigation for allegations surrounding former offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey possibly receiving $100,000 in benefits from an agent, the issue seemed to come to a climax and the makeup continued to run down the monster’s face.
If found to be true, all of these allegations are serious and should be dealt with appropriately. However, this wouldn’t even be an issue if college sports weren’t treated as amateur athletics.
It’s time the NCAA lifted the veil of amateurism that has been draped over the face of college athletics and revealed it for what it truly is: professional sports in a college setting.
These athletes made it to where they are because they were gifted with a certain skill set, but more importantly, because they worked hard and dedicated themselves to that skill to be as good as they are.
It’s a travesty that what they do at universities brings in ample money to their institutions – especially the larger sports like football, which practically fund the athletic programs – yet these student-athletes don’t get paid for it.
Sure, you can argue that they get a full ride through college with their athletic scholarships, but hey, plenty of people earn scholarships that help them through college, myself included.
Just like athletes on scholarship, I use my scholarship money to pay for fees, books and food. The same goes for plenty of other college students out there.
The difference though, is that while I work and get paid in order to supplement my funds, these athletes – for whom training, practice and games take up most of their time – aren’t getting that same extra cash for the work they are doing on the field.
To say that college athletes aren’t professionals is a sham, because they are training year-round and putting in the work to better themselves and their team, all while bringing in more money to the schools they represent.
The fact that these players don’t get paid because of the way the system is formatted doesn’t excuse any possible violations regarding improper benefits, but the NCAA needs to stop kidding itself and pay its athletes.
Of course, the logistics of payments due to the athletes is a whole other issue, particularly with Title IX requiring women’s sports to be given the same funding as the men’s programs.
Figuring out how much payment to allot to each sport, and more specifically, to each athlete, could pose quite a problem for the schools, and for the NCAA. Coming up with a solution to that issue, though, is better than having the NCAA misrepresent college athletics as amateurism.
It needs to face reality and accept college athletics for what it truly is, instead of presenting it as something it’s not.
It’s time for the NCAA to remove that veil.
