Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
The Tiger Mailbag is sponsored by Dubbs Coffee. Click on the image above to shop their products online.
KWMizzou asks: The concept of paying student athletes has been and will be a topic of debate/discussion. I am all for it. One thing I have not seen mentioned is...advertising on jerseys/uniforms similar to how the NBA does patches or logos this year. Could that be an option? And have some of that advertisement money allocated to the players? An additional source of revenue and possibly an attractive sponsorship opportunity for local corporations/businesses - like Enterprise or something. Thoughts?
GD: So, the commission headed by Condoleezza Rice came out with its recommendations on Wednesday morning (all 60 pages of them). Here is one of the things the report said: "The goal should not be to turn college basketball into another professional league."
I mean, that sounds good. But let's be honest: College football and basketball are little more than a minor league with "unpaid" labor and have been for a long time. They're businesses. It sounds nice and Utopian to say "it's amateur sports" and throw around the phrase "student-athlete" but it's also naive and not something that anyone who spends much time following college sports really believes. If the NCAA wants to double down on amateurism and stress that the main purpose is for players to get an education, so be it I guess, but it's whistling past the graveyard at best.
Your proposal is something. I've thought players should be able to deal with agents and if the agents deem them good enough to sign with them and get advances on their professional earnings (that's one thing the committee recommended as a possibility). I think players should also be able to capitalize on their likeness. If the school wants to sell your jersey, you get a cut. If you're a big enough deal you can make money on your autograph, feel free. I'm not in favor of flat out paying them a salary, but I think there should be ways they can earn some extra money while they're in college...particularly if you're going to continue to force them to be there for at least a year, which you shouldn't be able to do (again, this is an NBA rule, not an NCAA rule).
Bottom line: there are plenty of options and they need to be looked at.
