The NCAA is looking into some potential rule changes regarding the payment of student athletes. What would these changes mean for college football?
This is usually a slow news cycle for the NCAA across the board. Students are home before summer workouts, the NBA takes center stage on talk shows, and no one really keeps up with the ins and outs of college sports. That is, until the NCAA dropped a bombshell the other day.
The NCAA is launching an exploratory group to research a solution to the issue with unpaid college athletes. This group will not work on the NCAA paying the athletes, but they will try to find a solution in terms of allowing the players to earn money based on their name, image, and likeness.
This could potentially open a lot of doors for student athletes. Many have been suspended in the past for breaking these rules, and it has always been an issue that the NCAA has faced. With the one-and-done era of college basketball almost over and NFL development leagues sprouting up, the NCAA has to do something to keep these college players in their system.
The rules would basically open up a free market for athletes. If they are liked, they can make money off of their likeness. They wouldn’t be able to see a profit off of some of these, but that’s not the final goal of this potential rule change.
Here are some of the ways this rule could change the landscape of college football.
Jersey Sales
For years, schools haven’t been allowed to sell jerseys with student’s names on the back. Recently, they couldn’t even sell jerseys with specific numbers. The way the laws are in place, an Alabama jersey with a number 13 is clearly supposed to be Tua, and that’s not okay to sell without Tua seeing profit.
If this potential rule change goes into effect, schools and the NCAA could sell that same jersey with a Tagovailoa stamped on the back, and everyone could profit from it. Now, most people have to get their sales from foreign websites. If they changed the rule, people would by jerseys licensed by the NCAA. Everyone wins.
Autographs
Many players have been suspended for getting paid to sign autographs. Todd Gurley and Johnny Manziel come to mind. If they changed the rule, these acts would be perfectly legal. Players already sign plenty of autographs, so they might as well get paid for doing so.
I honestly don’t see why this isn’t already a thing. There’s no reason a player should be suspended for signing his name and making a few hundred dollars.
Commercials
I’m not sure if this would be allowed, but it has to be a possibility. Right now, Heisman Trophy winners aren’t allowed in Nissan Heisman House commercials until they go pro. Now, they could be in a commercial as soon as they win the trophy. This would also expand to any product. If the player has time to do a commercial or sponsor a product, why not?
This might open a can of worms, though. Players currently can’t have agents, so that would have to change. They’d also need time to do these commercials outside of classes and games. Also, would a player that plays for a Nike-sponsored team be allowed to become an Adidas athlete? These are the questions the committee will have to answer.
NCAA Football 21
Okay, this is the one everyone cares about. Players used to play as themselves in video games without seeing a dime of the revenue. Then, they played as themselves, but the player was called “QB #13” instead of “Tua Tagovailoa”. If the players were allowed to be paid, EA Sports would happily do so. In fact, the athletes could even do advertisements for the games. Cover athletes wouldn’t have to be players that were no longer in college. They could even work harder into making the players in the game like the ones in real life. When you looked at Madden vs. NCAA Football 14, it was clear that Madden worked harder to make the players look and act like who they really were. With the way the technology has advanced in the past few years, the level of play would explode.
Some fans still play NCAA 14 on their old consoles. They want a new game. The players want a new game. EA Sports definitely should want a new game. It only makes sense that this happens.