There was recently a settlement between the NCAA and the House of Representatives which allows for direct payment of student athletes via “revenue sharing,” in a decision that seems to be the natural outcome of the post-NIL (name, image, likeness) world. There are harsh realities, however, that come along with the seemingly great decision by the Supreme Court in the form of harsh roster caps. In my case, as a cross country and track and field athlete, these limits are 17 and 45 spots.
In some cases like the Southeastern Conference (SEC), these limits are even harsher, limiting their cross country spots to only 10. This totally eliminates the possibility of walk-ons, and means that people who have been at their schools and on their teams for years are cut, all to essentially pay student athletes like they are professionals.
There is absolutely no reason to opt into this settlement. The NCAA is not meant to be a professional league. Individual NIL is all well and good, something I am completely in favor of. People should be allowed to create their own brand deals and make money off their own image. That being said, when the school itself is making payments to its student athletes, rather than recycling that money back into the school, and cutting athletes in order to pay for it, that is where I draw the line with NIL.
There have been wild rumors going in both directions as to whether UMaine is going to opt in or not. No one is sure what’s going to happen. I, likely along with every other athlete in sports that are getting the short end of the stick (swim and dive gets it the worst, as does any sport with a large walk-on presence), implore the University to opt out. College sports are quickly becoming more and more like minor league, developmental leagues rather than a supplement to one’s education.
Schools like UCLA, Stanford and UC Berkeley are joining the Atlantic Coastal Conference in whirlwind conference shifts all in a massive grab for cash. Not only do we need to opt out, we need to make student athletes STUDENT athletes again. We need to worry about how the best college sports experience can be delivered to students, rather than which ones we need to cut in order to pay the ones that give the school the most press.
