By Ken Lass
August is finally here. To you, it might mean the end of summer, the beginning of school. To me, it will always mean the return of football! I love college football. I love college football players. I am not sure, however, how I feel about college football players trying to sell me a car.
Ken Lass, Tribune columnist
By now, you probably know that college athletes have been granted permission to personally profit off of their own name, image, and likeness. No one seems quite sure how that is going to change the game, but the only folks who seem happy about it are the players themselves and their agents.
We fans are not naive. We all know there is, and always has been, a shadowy underbelly to the college football process. Does everybody cheat? Probably not everybody, but some do, and any program that is successful will surely be accused of it. Most of us prefer to just pretend this dark side isn’t there and concentrate on enjoying the product.
It’s kind of like eating a hot dog. You know that wiener is made of nasty stuff, but you choose to ignore it and focus on how good it tastes. Regardless of what may or may not take place during the murky recruiting process, we adopt our team into our hearts loyally and completely. These are our guys out there fighting for the glory and the honor of the good ole alma mater. We buy the jerseys, the hats, the coffee mugs, and the foam fingers, knowing full well the university gets a cut of all the profits. Maybe we buy them because of that. It’s our way of supporting the program, both physically and financially.
But it’s a different world out there now. Players can market themselves individually. I’m not sure how I feel about putting money directly into the player’s pocket, instead of to my school. You can readily see how it’s quickly revolutionizing the culture. Universities and their alumni groups are already forming foundations whose purpose will be putting together financial opportunity packages to offer potential recruits. Though it is not technically so, in effect, NIL (name, image, and likeness) makes athletes paid employees of the system.
If you found yourself in demand by the employers in your chosen profession, you would take the offer from whoever pays you the most money, right? So will it be, I fear, with college recruits. Alabama coach Nick Saban has already had a very uncomfortable public dialog concerning Texas A&M, accusing them of buying all of the players in their top-notch recruiting class. Saban had better get used to it. From here on out, the best players are going to go where the money is. It’s hard to see where that is going to make the game we love to watch better.
Of course, the biggest stars are going to profit the most. There are reports the Crimson Tide’s quarterback is already in deals that approach one million dollars. What concerns me is what athletes who are less visible and less well-known are going to have to do to garner the attention needed to sell merchandise. Will we see elaborate dances, gestures, and antics that can be named and put on a T-shirt? Will players make decisions on the field that are more selfish and less team-oriented so as to draw attention to themselves? How will nineteen and twenty-year-old young men handle sudden wealth? Why would they even bother to go to class? Will legendary coaches like Saban get rapidly fed up with this new environment and retire prematurely? Or take a pro football job? What about swimmers, or tennis players, or golfers? Will there be a market for them?
I also can’t help but wonder where it will end. How long before the quarterbacks and running backs, and receivers at Hewitt Trussville, Clay-Chalkville, and Pinson Valley high schools start showing up at our restaurants and businesses to sign autographs for pay.
Hey, maybe I worry too much. Maybe the game won’t change drastically at all. Maybe college athletics will continue to be the unfettered, unifying, and exciting force it has always been. It’s August. Football is back. I’m pumped.
I think I’ll take another bite of my hot dog.
(Ken Lass is a retired Birmingham television news and sports anchor and Trussville resident.)
