Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Editor, Times-Union:
Watching NCAA football the past few days it seemed to me we are watching the new NCAA from which there is no turning back.
In past years, if a scholarship Division I football player grew dissatisfied with his lot in life, he simply left the school at the appropriate time, enrolled elsewhere and sat out the next season before he could jump into the pool with the others. No more. Oversimplified, with the advent of the Transfer Portal, he puts his name on the lists and waits for offers to roll in from athletic directors. Bingo, he is all but automatically on a new team.
What’s more, those same football players can now get paid through sponsorships and product endorsements, just like the big boys in the NFL. Something like that.
The argument has always been “these athletes are responsible for earning universities millions of dollars in ticket sales. They need to be compensated.” It is likely true that football, and to a lesser degree basketball, programs provide tons of ready cash for the school for whom they play. In many cases the football program funds other school sports for male and females. So, if the player is watchful and has a go-getting agent in the wings he can be nearly a millionaire by the time he shoves his Bachelor’s Degree in his hip pocket and moves on to a lush life.
To be fair, players who get the most in contracts are those marquee lads also getting the headlines. The halftime talking heads and sportswriters, in my view, are largely responsible for this major change in how things operate. After all it has given the Fourth Estate much more to question and write about, no doubt about that.
My copilot tells me this: “Only 1.6% of all NCAA college football players get drafted into the NFL. Division I (FBS + FCS) players make up the overwhelming majority of those drafted and those who make NFL rosters. There are 70,000+ Division I players across all classes. The NFL drafts only 300–350 players per year. Total NFL roster spots number 1,696, and most are filled by veterans, not rookies.” The elite of the elite. These are hard facts. So, in truth the new system in general benefits to a large degree only the elite players, the 1.6%.
Times have changed, we are told. “If Olympic athletes can get sponsor and endorsement deals, why not other sports?” And, so it goes. There are not many amateurs anymore in the headline sports in this nation. I think that is a sad fact. I didn’t like it when the IHSAA changed prep basketball to class ranking.
Hoosier Hysteria is gone, too.
DeVon C. "Dan" Lee
Warsaw, via email
