That has nothing to do with the issue at hand. The whole thing began when scholarship athletes wanted to have the same opportunities as any other student on full scholarship who could benefit from their name, image, likeness and skills. A girl I knew at MSU was on a music scholarship. She posed for the " Girls of the Big Ten " issue of Playboy magazine and was paid pretty well for it. An athlete back then would have not been permitted to benefit from a similar arrangement. That's just one of many examples. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Collective bargaining is the only rational solution.
Yeah...that a boy....
Blow the dust off your little example from 40 years ago and apply it today.
That's not even an apples to oranges comparison but more like apples to mushrooms.
Do you know why, back in the day, the scholarship athlete was not allowed to "work/earn" extra money? It wasn't an easy decision to deny the athlete and they weren't sitting around having a fiesta over their stance.
A couple reasons with both being equally important.
You ready for it?
C O R R U P T I O N
And
The Olympics
The Olympics didn't allow professionals to compete until in and around 1988 and left it up to the individual sport to determine ultimate participation.
Notice boxing wasn't allowed professional participants until 2016.
It was a struggle for many athletes to find the resources to train to compete in the Olymics. Other countries got behind their hopeful(s) where college was a huge opportunity for our hopeful Olympic athletes.
Corruption.
Organized crime had massive influence on many things sport related. It was a necessary rule then. If it helped even in the slightest to keep the athlete safe from himself and a barrier between the athlete, the sport, the school and the mob so be it.
It wasn't failsafe for sure but it helped.
Corruption part II
The girl you only knew in your dreams wasn't a Sparty because playboy imposed it's will on her to attend East Lansing.
I'm sorry but attention and lore of a football game and basketball season/tourney is light years different than your dream girl catching on with the local Symphony Orchestra.
REMEMBER . . .
This was about the student athlete choosing the school based on studies not the car dealer @ last chance motors who will pay you to greet customers near East Lansing.
You make a mockery of the NCAA but they knew how big football and basketball were and the chaos that would ensue. Legal and illegal influence would run rampant.....Just as it's happening now.
