Congratulations, Georgia. You invented socialism.
On Thursday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill allowing for student-athletes in the state to profit off their name, image, and likeness. Sounds great for the labor and those long wanting for them to get paid, right?
Wrong, pal. Do you think politicians traffic in altruism or something?
The bill allows wiggle room for schools to snag up to 74.99% of athletes’ third-party revenue, providing those colleges the option to then distribute the wealth to other areas.
You know, socialism. I’d say this is shocking, but it’s not. Everyone dislikes socialism until it takes more from the have-nots (who might already have next to nothing) to give to other people and inanimate objects.
The irony is lost on absolutely no one who isn’t blindly loyal to a man because of the letter preceding his name on a ticket.
Starting with the most jarring aspect of it first: Holy shit! That’s essentially leaving the student-athlete with only 25% of what they made on their own. An argument can — and probably should — be made about schools getting a cut, as the level of program could bolster an athletes’ earning potential.
Then again, this is why the NCAA, conferences, and schools should have evolved and progressed before the government got involved, as they were always in the best position to shape the policy in their image.
Depending on what happens in other states — for now, pretending a federal NIL bill never happens — this will result in crazy recruiting wars, putting schools within Georgia’s borders at a sizable disadvantage.
Top Recruit A can go to a Georgia-based school, potentially losing out on 75% of their earning capability.
OR!
Top Recruit A can go to another program in a state that isn’t forcing socialism into the equation.
Universities using sportsball money to fund the academic side of things never bothered me. The troublesome aspect was always the pretending labor had no value in order to exploit them.
Gov. Kemp is now admitting — to a small degree — athletes do provide value, but schools in the state need to get their cut.
“If you’re getting paid eventually, student-athlete,” whispered some already rich cuckold. "Then we’re going to find a way to make sure we get a cut of the money we claimed you were never worth by pretending we’re on your side.”
End scene?
An important note worth inserting even though it’s a hard stop: Schools in Georgia will NOT have to take all 74.99% of the athletes’ NIL money. They are just allowed to if they want, which will thicken in-state recruiting war plots.
There’s a chance the NCAA (remember from Monday’s post; the NCAA is just a catch-all term) can put forward their own NIL policy that might satisfy enough politicians to stop each state from taking action. There’s also the probability of federal legislation pushing through if the governing body chooses not to act.
Basically, with states going on their own for the time being, when/if the dust settles, there will — for heaven’s sake, at least SHOULD — be a uniform policy sprawled across the country.
If not, it’s going to be even more a shit-show than it currently is, which leads me to an obvious question: Is “shit-show” one word, two words, or does it need the hyphen?
Keep An Eye On Vermont And The AEC
"This is not a trend. Rape and rape culture — I don’t know of a time when it hasn’t been a thing," said a Vermont student. "That’s really scary."
There’s no way to discuss this in detail without more information than what’s currently available. Plus, given the subject matter, conjecture and speculation are wildly inappropriate. In turn, I’ll be brief.
Roughly two years after a swimmer at Vermont went public with allegations that the school — more specifically, the athletic department — steered her wrong after she went to the university for help after allegedly being raped by a men’s basketball player, a bigger movement is now happening on social media.
Some have shamed the woman — the reason why I won’t be linking to the original story or the tweets — to protect the player, implying she’s a liar now that the alleged rapist’s name has become public since he’s a “big name.”
(In the original story, the reason she gave for not giving his name in 2020 was to avoid the “she’s doing it because he’s a big name” backlash)
Moreover — again, at least on social media — there’s a growing rumbling that there’s a horrific track record at Vermont of similar happenings, with the supposedly progressive AEC in on the entire debacle.
The only opinion I currently have on this matter is more of a question. If a student at a college goes to the school alleging another student raped them, why is anything other than “calling the police right fucking now” an option? Cynically, the answer is obvious.
Anyway, I do not like presenting information such as this without a citation, even if I’m terrified where fans might go with it. Still, it otherwise reads like a strawman post. So, I’ll leave this. Nevertheless, for you fans of Vermont and/or the AEC, I’d keep an eye on this story.
Joseph Nardone covered college basketball for nearly a decade at various outlets. He’s now writing fiction because he’s a fucking idiot and a glutton for punishment. Twitter is @JosephNardone. If you say mean things to him, he’ll just yell at his ceiling.