Holdouts
It doesn’t take much to ruin a good thing. Today’s example—paying college athletes.
Athletes are allowed these days to be compensated for use of their name, image or likeness—NIL—in commercial undertakings. Seems only right that the ones generating the revenue for the colleges and universities get to share in the wealth. But things have quickly gotten out of hand, and the top stars now command top dollar…and apparently, also inherit an attitude that comes with fame and fortune at a young age.
Witness the University of Tennessee, which guaranteed their quarterback between $8 and $9 million to play there. Two years in, the quarterback said he was holding himself out of spring practice, because he wanted a better NIL deal…to the tune of another $2 million. This is no different than pro players under contract who “hold out” in hopes of getting a better deal—even though they had freely and legally agreed to the previous one.
What’s another couple million to big schools these days, right? But this took a turn, when the Tennessee coach said no player is bigger than the program, and essentially told the quarterback to the hit the road.
It’s actually a fantastic move for Tennessee, and it will teach a much better lesson about maturity and honor than anything that player learned in a classroom—presuming he went to class.
And to no one’s surprise, the quarterback is set to sign with UCLA—because if you can play, there’s always someone willing to pay.
But this is the sort of thing…along with massive off-season moves by players in the transfer portal…that has taken the fun out of college sports. They never were as pure as we would have liked. But we really don’t need yet another example of “I’m getting mine” or “What can you give me” on the public stage like this.
So here’s to a chorus of Rocky Top for the folks at UT. We’ll see how much they’re willing to pay their next star quarterback.
