Billboards pop up in Los Angeles area for the return of Reggie’s Heisman trophy
So his mom got a place to stay, and in return the NCAA made probably tens of millions(or more) off of her 19-20 year old kid who was risking his nfl career every time he stepped on the field. Seems fair.
Counterpoint: the NCAA and its schools provide the tradition, fan bases, coaching, facilities, training, education, insurance, travel, lodging, food, and general platform to provide actual value for kids that age (Do you see many high school kids with big endorsement deals?). They have a right to operate their organization(s) as they see fit. If a player wants to be part of that, he/she signs a National Letter of Intent (or an athletics grant-in-aid agreement), thereby agreeing to adhere to the rules and regulations of the NCAA and its member institutions. If they don’t like that, then they are free to pursue the free market for other/better opportunities (there aren’t any, and that isn’t the NCAA’s problem). Do you think Reggie would have had the endorsement deals coming INTO the NFL had he not had the NCAA/USC/College Football platform?
It is a logical fallacy to point out that Alabama or anyone else also cheated and cheats. They do. But so did USC. And they got caught in this case because the violation was so brazen.
Another fallacy is that most NCAA schools are turning these massive profits. They are non-profit entities, and the cash football or men’s hoops provides go back into the ENTIRE athletic department to fund non-revenue sports, athletics operations, scholarships, and the aforementioned laundry list of benefits student-athletes enjoy at that level. Imagine the cost of 80+ scholarships (just for football), medical insurance, medical staff, travel, lodging, room and board, food, coaching staffs, athletic trainers, academic support, and so on. It costs a TON of money.
Anyhow, we all love Reggie… but he knowingly thumbed his nose at the regulations hundreds of other players didn’t (at least as blatantly as he did, allowing him to be caught in a world that we all agree is a cesspool of dishonesty). That’s how egregious this violation was. Schools like USC usually tiptoe around NCAA violations. This one was blatant.