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Originally Posted by wpgflamesfan
The problem is that this could open up a huge can of worms. If players are allowed to "earn money on the side from their celebrity", what's to stop someone like Phil Knight from offering up lucrative Nike sponsorship deals on the condition that they play for Oregon?
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That's a slippery slope argument, there's plenty of in between that can protect some of the values (if there are any) of college football while allowing athletes to capitalize on opportunities presented to them.
Manziel is a great example. Even though I think the kid is a d-bag he should have the ability to capitalize on the fact that he's a hot commodity right now. He's not guaranteed to have an NFL career, this may be his only opportunity to financially reap the rewards of his success, and instead of getting paid himself NCAA.com is selling shirts with his number and using his name and accomplishments in the descriptions. The fact that players hand their image rights over to this entity, which has the nerve to declare itself a non-profit, which then sucks every dollar it can out of those players accomplishments is despicable. And if those players try to make a buck themselves they're banned.
I'm looking forward to seeing the NCAA fall, it's been a long time coming and the O'Bannon lawsuit is going to be the first blow of many.