At this time, the athletes know they’re at the dawn of their athletic careers. Plenty of time to make NIL deals. They have their parents and paid advisors helping them to manage and possibly invest their $$$. What would concern me today is not how much I make, but how much I get to keep. Gross earnings are nice, but net earnings pay the bills and takes care of the family members you choose to cover.
Everything about the prior situation was murky, incoherent and absurd. The privilege given to amateurism has the most dubious provenance. The later developing concern about point-shaving and other anti-competitive elements made a little more sense, but was never a cogent view of college athletics. The primary anti-competitive element is the perverse demand for the illusion of amateurism itself. Get rid of that in order to preserve competitiveness. And if anyone thinks scholarship students shouldn't have any other income out of fairness or any other similar twaddle, they should ask why students outside the athletic department's purview face no such restriction.
My understanding is (was), signing with an Agent was the disqualifying factor-not committing to a pro contract or team.
Suggest we consider where NIL could lead and how this would affect UConn. Having lived in SEC country for many years, the southern schools in particular are starting to facilitate multiple $1M+ offers to the top high school athletes. Some schools have developed programs where every member of certain teams get NIL funds. This is more than just payment for their image and marketing. At some point, UConn will not be able to compete financially.
It could indeed lead to a good deal of turmoil at lots of programs, not just UConn. But the existing situation, before NIL, just seemed immoral to me. I don't want to see my favorite team disrupted, and the appeal of a challenging program that builds character and culture may not be enough of a lure in the future. But I cannot care more about that awful possibility than the moral and legal bankruptcy that has always shadowed the NCAA and under which too many athletes have suffered.
And then Women’s College Basketball becomes Bastardized ( sorry Husky Nan) and I stop giving a $h**, err.,,,crap. Like my ‘fandom’ for the NBA, NFL, NCAA Football ,NCAA mens hoops (except for tourney).
It's a tough situation for me too. I want to watch my Huskies without a care in the world other than will Azzi score 20 tonight, or Caroline, or Lou, etc. But when I turn my mind to this NIL stuff, all I can think of is that it's simply just, and I should support it whatever the cost to the NCAA. Perhaps all I can do is hope that things don't go to any extreme, and the conferences remain more or less the same despite the changing legal terrain.
Players can have Agents. Aliyah Boston and A’ja Wilson have the same agent.
40 hours/wk is way too much for full time students, which all of these kids must be. I don’t know exactly what limits the NCAA specifies. But to give a sense of what is considered appropriate for students generally, workstudy hours are usually capped at 10-12/wk.
Travel, practice and game time for two road games in one week can far exceed 12 hours per week. How about a three game nov/Dec tournament?
I imagine you’ll find that all those hours are carefully distinguished from all team activities. Also, just for clarity’s sake, I only quoted the number 10-12 as an indicator of what is generally considered appropriate for all students to spend on activities connected to their financial aid packages. I don’t know what the rules are. But, as a college professor, I’d be very concerned if my school had any scholarship activities that required 40 hrs/wk unrelated to academic work.
I said “capped at 40 hours.”