As the University of Georgia’s Heisman caliber running back Todd Gurley currently finds himself indefinitely suspended for signing autographs for a Georgia memorabilia dealer, the debate over whether or not college athletes should be able to profit off of their likenesses has reopened. Before broaching this issue, let me first say if it is proven Gurley did what he is accused of doing, then he should be suspended for however long Georgia or the NCAA sees fit. With that being said, I think the rules currently in place are ludicrous and very hypocritical on the part of the NCAA.
The NCAA states its overall goal is to “safeguard the well-being of student-athletes and equip them with the skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom and throughout life.” Does safeguarding the well-being of student athletes equate to not allowing them to use their own name to make money? What harm is it doing to Gurley by signing his name on a jersey or a picture. Gurley won’t ever be able to replace his junior season at Georgia if he is suspended for the rest of the season.
Gurley isn’t the first player to succumb to issues with signing autographs or selling his football-related items for profit, as past high profile college football players Johnny Manziel, A.J. Green and Dez Bryant all faced similar situations while they were in college. In particular, Green, another Georgia player, got suspended for four games for selling his own personal bowl jersey for $1,000. You know what’s really funny though? On Georgia’s athletic website at the time, you could buy Green’s generic Georgia No. 8 jersey for $110. You know what else is funny? The NCAA at the time did the exact same thing up until 2013 when it shut down its online store, citing the idea of it having a store as a “mistake.” At the end of the day, the only people not making anything in this scenario are the individuals who have worked their entire lives to compete at such a high level. The level of absurdity surrounding this rule is mystifying.
What’s ironic is that as the debate rages on about whether or not student athletes should be compensated, that issue could be possibly put to bed if the NCAA would give up on trying to regulate players profiting off their names. If the NCAA would banish this rule, it would create something of a meritocracy, where the market would decide who makes what based on their play on the field rather than everyone getting payed equally. No one would complain about the hypocritical approaches of the NCAA or the university making millions of dollars off its student athletes because these same student athletes would be making money, not from the universities, but in this case from outside sources. Whether it be endorsements or autographs, there is enough money out there potentially for the entire landscape of college sports to change without having to do anything too dramatic. Sadly, the NCAA will likely stay stubborn in its ways and go down with the ship of its present practices.
For being a nation that values individual freedom, the system the NCAA has chosen to implement does a pretty good job at limiting basic common sense liberties most people in everyday life have the choice to engage in willingly. We have to remember some of the athletes that make it to these big-time college football programs, in some instances, did not grow up with much. If you were in their position, wouldn’t you be pretty tempted to make some money, especially if you knew it could help out your family or just get you though the year? It in no way makes breaking the rules permissible, but it’s easy to see why so many of these athletes continue to break them, knowing there is a chance they may get caught.
In the end, there is entirely too much money being made by both the NCAA and these universities to not allow student athletes to make anything off the name their parents gave them. In Gurley’s case, according to multiple reports, he only made a grand total of $400 dollars for 80 items. If $400 dollars cost Gurley the entire season and hurts his draft status, thus losing him millions of dollars that he can make legally, then I propose the multi-millions of dollars that the NCAA and Georgia made last year should cost them so much more.
