In a Changing College Football Landscape, Protect the Players

As college football inches ever so closer to becoming the official minor league of the NFL, it is time to move beyond any pretenses of student athletes. In this day and age, conferences sign TV deals worth billions of dollars and coaches sign multi-million dollar contracts. Any illusion that this is not a business is going the way of CD’s, a quaint notion of the past.

Yet with all of these changes, no one has thought to address the need to change the view of the student athletes (or some would say indentured servants), who are the ones enriching these universities and conferences to the tune of billions of dollars. They are the ones that provide the most value, yet have the least amount of rights.

There are two major areas over the past year where these players have been most affected, and I think it is fair to explore changes to these rules. The first is a student’s ability to transfer to another school, and the second is paying the athletes.

I can understand the desire of coaches to not allow their players to transfer, but this rule needs to be altered. In a day and age when coaches arrive for one year, recruit kids that fit their system and then leave, college athletes should be able to make a choice as well.

The NCAA, BCS or ESPN, whoever is running college football these days, needs to allow these athletes in football and basketball to transfer one time in their college career without sitting out or losing a year of their eligibility. I don’t like to use the phrase unfair, but holding these athletes to the whims and pleasures of the coaches offers the potential of preventing them from possibly developing the skills needed for the next level.

The students need to be responsible and accountable for their actions, which is why there would only be one transfer allowed during someone’s playing career. I do think that a coach should be able to block the transfer to one, and only one school. Meyer is not about to let his QB transfer to Michigan but other than that, since there is no restriction on where the coach can go (yes, Meyer could go from OSU to Michigan without having to sit out a year), then there should be less of a restriction on where the athletes can go.

The other great controversy regarding players, payments and violations has been “should the players get paid?" talk. For many, the answer is no with reasons such as budgets won’t allow it, they do get paid with a scholarship, Title IX prevents it and the view that payment to college players might cheapen the sport. These are all good points and in truth, I don’t advocate paying college athletes either.

The only two groups of athletes this applies to are Division I football and basketball players. There are no other athletes that bring in the amount of money these two groups bring in. Alabama football and Kansas basketball often pay off the Olympic sports so Mr. Gymnast, accept your place in the pecking order and get over it.

I don’t think that the universities or the NCAA should pay these athletes. I think this would cheapen the game a bit. I do think that these athletes should be able to profit off of their talents and fame.

Treat the athletes like pro athletes! Let them sign sneaker and other promotional deals, let them profit from sales of their jerseys. Let them do promotional events or sell their game day jerseys and keep the profits. And when the new college football or basketball video game comes out and uses their likeness, they get a royalty from that for the rest of their lives.

America is supposed to be a free market economy, so give these kids the chance to earn their value through the free market. If Terrelle Pryor wants to make money or trade merchandise for tattoos, let him. It does not need to be a violation.

No one would restrict the SEC from renegotiating its TV contracts when their brand value goes up. No one would restrict Nick Saban from leaving Alabama for a new position for more money. No one would restrict creating a conference that spans the entire country (Big East) but offers no strategic sense other than more money. However, if a player wants to get a free tattoo or make some money off of his game day jersey, we condemn them as being corrupt, chasing money and ruining the game.

Hit me up on twitter @matt.f.rogers