Sports
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HOOVER, Ala. — It is not one big back-slapping sing-along among jocks. The football players who attended the Southeastern Conference “media days” in Hoover, Alabama, were not entrenched behind the lawyers for former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon, who is suing the NCAA and its member institutions for players to have marketing rights and a bigger share of the billion-dollar pie that is college athletics. There were no pompoms or rallying cries or “Free Ed” T-shirts and clamor to join the free market.
“I personally wouldn’t be into that,” said Matty Mauk, the Missouri quarterback when asked if he would like to market himself and make some money on the side while still in college.
“I wouldn’t work a camp just to make money,” said Evan Boehm, the Missouri center when asked about selling his skills as a blocker to high schools during the summer.
“It’s too political for me,” said Trey Flowers, a defensive end at Arkansas.
“I really don’t know too much about it,” said La’el Collins, an offensive lineman from Louisiana State. “I would be excited whatever comes my way.”
You would think players already had visions of all-you-can-eat buffet (off campus) and checks to cash to go to a movie and a little something in their bank accounts. After all, the thrust of the O’Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA was that Division I schools and the conference commissioners and TV executives have monetized the games and are raking in huge salaries while some players cannot afford to even drive home.
It was evident talking to current players at the SEC event that the landmark O’Bannon case has not filtered down to their level … yet. O’Bannon has been out of school almost 20 years and he sued the NCAA because he saw his image being used on the cover of a video game. The current players do not identify with him, for now.
Don’t they understand this legal struggle is for their own good?
“I haven’t personally followed it,” said Brey Cook, the University of Arkansas offensive guard. “I have focused on football. There is nothing more important than going out and playing the best ball that I can. Anything else outside of that is a distraction.”
The culture of college athletics has been for coaches and administrators to demand that athletes toe the line and, sure enough, the players at the SEC event stayed on message, for the most part. They talked about their team and the coming season. These are 19- and 20-year-old young men who are accustomed to being coached and told what to say and what to do. They do not stray off a certain path. Johnny Manziel, the former Texas A&M quarterback, strayed and was ridiculed for it, especially when it was alleged he pocketed money for selling his autograph.
Since the O’Bannon lawsuit was filed against the NCAA other former athletes have joined the chorus for more pay and benefits for athletes. The multibillion-dollar deal between the networks and the Division I conferences galvanized some athletes who felt the moneymaking by the NCAA businessmen at their expense had gotten out of hand. But many of those athletes who have been vocal about receiving compensation are out of school and in the “real world” and have a wider view.
Flowers, the Arkansas defensive end, was pressed for an answer about making some extra money while still in school. He first said it was too political, but when he thought again about working a football camp as a teacher and getting compensated he said, “Who doesn’t like getting paid?”
This was the first summer the NCAA allowed college football players to work camps and be paid a wage, but most players at SEC media days did not seem to know about the rule change.
It is not as if Flowers has not thought about the issue of paying players. He said he has talked to students on campus who have told him players should be cut into the multibillion-dollar bonanza and make more than the scholarship and room and board.
Chris Conley is a wide receiver from Georgia and the SEC representative on the NCAA’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Even as part of the student-athlete hierarchy pushing for athlete welfare reform, Conley said school studies and his college career have kept him from dissecting the O’Bannon case.
“It’s a pertinent issue and one that needed to be raised,” Conley said. “The fact they are working on that and trying to answer those questions is progress.”
Asked about a market economy being extended to college athletes, Conley said, “I can’t say that I disagree. When you look at a market economy some of those things just balance themselves out. For people coming up, those questions need to be answered.”
Les Miles, the head coach at Louisiana State, is uneasy about the idea of college players being able to suddenly market themselves and rake in thousands of dollars.
“There needs to be a way to allow the student-athlete an opportunity at extra income, I see that,” Miles said. “But if you take somebody like an Odell Beckham [former LSU wide receiver] and he finds a way to sell his number for $200,000 and there are 10 other guys who don’t have that opportunity, that’s a problem. There has to be a collective view.
“If there is a marketing wing of a school that knows how to make it work, I have a significant advantage in recruiting now. Equity in college athletics becomes an issue then.”
Mark Richt, the Georgia head coach, said if players are able to market themselves – do used car commercials, etc. – it could go from “odd” to just a normal everyday occurrence in a matter of time.
For now, some athletes want no part of the debate. They are content.
“I don’t think it is a good idea,” said CJ Johnson, a defensive end at the University of Mississippi when asked if athletes should have the right to capitalize on their fame while in school. “Maybe cost of attendance should be a little higher, but as far as what we get right now as far as scholarships and being able to go out and compete and play for great fans that is pretty much rewarding itself.”
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