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There’s a simple way to describe the complicated current state of affairs in college athlete compensation, most recently highlighted by the Nico Iamaleava saga that led to him leaving Tennessee over a gone-public NIL renegotiation days before the spring transfer portal window opens.
In conversations about the fallout, people are quick to bemoan the “professionalization” of college athletics ostensibly moving toward an NFL model, but in the words of a talent representative in a different part of the entertainment industry, “it’s the death of amateurism but it sure as hell isn’t professional.”
College athletics has progressed from what came before it when even as much as a steak dinner paid for by a booster was treated like a high crime and misdemeanor in the kangaroo court disguised as NCAA governance, but the only thing that seems professional about the enterprise is that players are getting paid in the first place.
Nobody is blameless here in the fallout. Part of growing up is the freedom of choice, but so many believe that comes with the freedom from consequences.
Iamaleava is not a child; he is a somewhat professional athlete who has been compensated handsomely to play college football. He has agency here, and he messed around and found out. It’s unfortunate, but that is the cost of overplaying leverage and it’s an unfortunate business reality we all hope to avoid. The truth is that the business world is full of good actors and bad actors, but it’s also filled with inept ones.
It is unfair to expect a young adult to navigate a situation like this smoothly, which is why more blame must certainly be shouldered by the people in his ear. He obviously got bad advice from those around him, including his father, Nicholaus — whose…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/nico-iamaleavas-tennessee-saga-wasnt-the-professionalization-of-college-sports-it-was-a-train-wreck/
Author : Richard Johnson
Publish date : 2025-04-14 23:23:00
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