For the sake of America’s student-athletes, President Trump must do something to save college sports from the corrupting influence of greed.
America’s college athletics programs should aspire to be more than farm leagues for the pros. Unfortunately, the era of unlimited name, image, and likeness or NIL compensation has perverted the goals, incentives, and motivations of a generation of athletes — and college administrators.
As a former professional athlete, I’m the last one to stand in the way of a young person’s dreams. If you want to go pro, then by all means go pro — but do not destroy college sports for the love of money.
I speak from personal experience when I say that a college degree is worth a heck of a lot more than a professional sports contract. It’s been almost 20 years since I collected a paycheck from an NFL team, but my degree is still paying me to this day. I estimate that when all is said and done, my college degree will be worth at least 1,000 times as much as all my NFL contracts put together.
Athletes who neglect their education virtually always come to regret it — but those who put in the work to finish their degree never do.
During my time in the NFL, I was a captain on three different teams. It’s not because I was the most talented player on the team — I wasn’t — but because I took on the mantle of locker room leadership that every winning team needs. Leadership isn’t just about patting guys on the back when they make a big play, but also helping them out when they need a hand, including off the field. Because I had taken my education seriously, earning both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees before going pro, my teammates often turned to me for help managing their lives and finances.
Every single time a guy came to me with an issue, it was a guy who never completed his college degree.
This isn’t an individual problem, either. Short-term thinking prevents athletes from setting their families up to achieve the American Dream. They get a golden opportunity to create a pathway to prosperity for their children and their grandchildren, and they squander it.
I fear that unlimited compensation for student-athletes teaches them exactly the wrong lesson, setting them up for failure in their lives after sports.
None of this means you can’t pay college athletes; in fact, I’m an avid supporter of the idea. But the way you pay them matters.
The two highest priorities when compensating student-athletes should be long-term health care and disability coverage (to address one of the biggest risks that any collegiate athlete faces) and extending their scholarships so that they can complete their educations after their playing careers are over. College athletics are enormously time-consuming, and not every athlete will be able to complete a full course load while keeping up with practices, games, and other team activities.
There’s a place for stipends and direct payments, too, but compensation should be limited so there is not a financial incentive for student-athletes to pursue money over an education.
Colleges have a role to play here, obviously. Administrators must remember that they are running educational institutions, not minor league sports franchises. If you’re encouraging young men and women to prioritize short-term profit over their futures, then you’re doing a disservice to student-athletes, their families, all the other students working hard to earn a degree, and the country at large.
With only a handful of exceptions, such as Hillsdale College, every institution of higher learning in this country, public or private, receives some form of financial support from the federal government. Whether it’s in the form of research grants, federal student aid, or direct subsidies, Division One colleges and universities are supported in part by taxpayer money. The entire system is based upon the premise that colleges are providing a public good by educating the next generation of leaders. If they’re failing in that mission because they’re distracted by greed, then they're letting the whole country down.
We’ve already seen graduation rates steadily decline over many years, especially for student-athletes. If we don’t impose common-sense limits on compensation for college athletes, the problem is going to get much worse.
That’s where Trump comes in. Recently, there have been rumors that he’s planning to issue an executive order that limits the amount student-athletes can earn from NIL deals. Some people have urged him not to sign it, arguing that he should leave free-market capitalism to its own devices.
I’m as avid a capitalist as anyone, but this argument misses the whole point. The “market” in sports is in the pros. Colleges are places for learning that also facilitate their students’ development through extracurricular programs including athletics.
So on behalf of student-athletes and their families I implore Trump to sign an executive order as soon as possible to limit the amount of money student-athletes can be paid while they are in school.
Jack Brewer played in the National Football League from 2002 to 2007. He played college football at Southern Methodist University and the University of Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees.
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