Todd Gurley’s Suspension Reflects Hypocrisy on NCAA
Oct 4, 2014; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Todd Gurley (3) runs against Vanderbilt Commodores defensive back Torren McGaster (5) during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 44-17. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia Bulldogs running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Todd Gurley may never play another down of college football, and simply to stick it to the school that is screwing him over, he shouldn’t. From ESPN:
"On Thursday, University of Georgia officials suspended Gurley indefinitely while the school investigates whether or not he was paid to sign large quantities of jerseys, helmets, footballs and other memorabilia that is currently being sold on eBay and by other retail outlets."
There aren’t many topics that have my heart racing as I’m writing about them, but this is one of them. Georgia is essentially costing Todd Gurley money for violating rules, which there’s nothing inherently wrong with. What’s wrong here is the rule or perhaps the rules that are being broken are a complete joke. It’s kind of like in the NFL right now, with all the emphasis on defensive holding and illegal contact; we blame the rule, not those who are enforcing it.
Still, it seems impossible that the NCAA wouldn’t see the hypocrisy in all this if Gurley, in my opinion the best offensive football player in college football right now, is suspended for any length of time whatsoever. First of all, how can you suspend a guy while you investigate something? I guess Gurley is guilty until proven innocent, so on the assumption that he broke rules, he’s going to be suspended from football activities. That makes no sense at all.
Whether or not you believe college athletes should be paid, I think there’s a middle ground that we can all agree is reasonable. Whenever you enter into adulthood, your name becomes your own personal property to sell, if you so choose. Gurley’s name is his brand, and despite the fact that he’s going to school on scholarship to play football, things aren’t always that simple.
The NCAA and Georgia are making millions of dollars off of Gurley in the form of tickets sold, merchandise sold, and TV deals. Gurley’s not the sole reason for any of those, but like I said before, he’s the best offensive player in college football right now and people are paying to see him play. Every one of those other purchases has a trickle down effect of other purchases and if you really looked into it, I’d probably come to a conclusion that Gurley is vastly underpaid, even with a full-ride scholarship to attend Georgia as a member of the football team.
I don’t have a problem with losers like Jameis Winston being suspended for putting themselves in situations that endanger other people. Those kids should be suspended, and perhaps even kicked off the team for abusing the incredible privilege of being an athlete by taking advantage of other people. Gurley is not doing anything of that sort here. He’s alleged to have sold merchandise with his name on it, when it’s probably safe to assume that he’s not getting any money for spending on food, entertainment, investments, and he’s certainly not able to save any of it or put anything away for his family.
Gurley could come down with a career-ending injury any time he steps onto the field, so why should NCAA athletes not be allowed to make money off of their name? It’s their own personal property. When I started writing for NFL Mocks, I was a student at a University and though this is on a much smaller scale, I was also on scholarship and even employed by the school at different times. Should I not be able to be paid as a college student for blogging because it violates my scholarship? No.
Should college students be prohibited from selling art, book ideas, app ideas, or any other business venture or personal property? Absolutely not, and they aren’t. Gurley has been.
It’s complete hypocrisy on the part of the NCAA to suspend a player for making money on his own name when he’s making them millions of dollars every single week. Something doesn’t add up there, and it’s a complete joke.
Everyone wants to throw out the argument that college athletes are on scholarship to go to school, and that should be enough. Maybe in the 60s and 70s that was an applicable argument, but in today’s day and age, kids can do two-year apprenticeships out of high school in many other professions and make money. If you choose to go to school, which is deemed the ‘right’ thing to do, you lose thousands of dollars, sometimes hundreds of thousands, and are left with little job opportunity and a lot of debt. But we still consider it a privilege to go to a university and get an education, even though everything is backwards. College has become a money-hungry industry that cares less and less about the students’ ultimate success.
If a college athlete has the opportunity to get a Nike sponsorship, he should be able to take it. If a college athlete has the opportunity to sell his autograph for money, he should be able to do it. Why not? Why would you not help a young man like Gurley learn to invest finances at a young age? You can’t do that with fake money or play money. There’s a reason so many athletes get to the NFL or NBA or any other professional league and are idiots with their money. There’s a reason so many former NFL players are filing bankruptcy. They have no clue what to do with millions of dollars. They have no sense in what investing looks like, and they don’t understand protecting future assets.
Why would we prevent college athletes from learning that? What if the rules changed so that college athletes could make money, but a certain percentage of it had to be invested? Is that too much work for you? Then they should be able to do whatever they want with it.
The rules that Gurley is alleged to have broken are absolutely outdated and past their prime. Things need to change, and soon, or nothing will ever change.