The bowl opt-outs are a letdown, but we all saw what happened to Jaylon Smith. During the 2016 Fiesta Bowl — which was not a playoff game — his leg was mangled. A projected top-five pick fell to the second round. Since then, many star players have made the intelligent business decision to not play in games that reward schools, sponsors, and victorious betters, but not them.
Kirby Smart can complain all he wants while wearing that visor, but there is no reason for players to take part in one of the many standalone postseason games.
Orange Bowl, Potato Bowl, Stoneware Bowl — if the game isn’t leading to a national championship, it is meaningless. Pride is not worth risking draft stock, and potentially a professional career, and no scolding from Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo will change that.
The executive director of Bowl Season, Nick Carparelli, has what some might consider a radical suggestion to improve participation in non-playoff postseason games. I think his idea is common sense. Players should get a cut of the money that the bowls generate.
Pay people for working — *insert Miranda Priestly groundbreaking gif*
“The notion that players should be compensated for participating in a bowl game at the end of the season is a very real discussion that needs to be had,” Carparelli said to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “I’d love to discuss with the NCAA the notion of student-athletes being compensated to promote the event itself. I’m still not sure what’s wrong with that.”
He is not sure because there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. ESPN and ABC cleared out their sports calendar for bowl season. On Wednesday, the two networks will air their first NBA games since Christmas. Thursday will be TNT’s first NBA game since Dec. 19.
Money is pouring in from the bowl games like cereal, mayonnaise, and eggnog on coaches’ heads. Yet, per usual, the goal of college sports is to keep money away from the people who provide the action. Without a payout, or anything meaningful to compete for, I would advise any potential April NFL draft pick to never put on pads for these holiday-season cash grabs.
Maybe if players received salaries from the school, then they would be contractually obligated to play in the games. A novel thought, but that is still a fantasy world. That being said, college sports can no longer cash in on its players and offer them school, training table, and transportation to and for services rendered.
As for Smith, he was fortunate that Jerry Jones took a chance on him early in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and that he ended up being healthy enough to earn a 5-year, $64 million contract in 2019 — $35.5 million of which was guaranteed. He had an insurance policy that would have paid out a maximum of $5 million if a college injury prevented him from ever playing in the NFL, per Darren Rovell’s reporting at the time.
But say he was drafted in the same spot by the Dallas Cowboys and eventually took the field. Smith plays one season and gets cut. He bounces around the league for a while, but he just isn’t good enough after the injury. All that he would have received was $800,000 from his policy for how far he fell in the draft, and whatever salary he could have scrounged together during a short NFL career.
Does that sound worth playing football in a non-playoff Fiesta Bowl game?
Original source here
#reduce #college #football #Bowl #optouts #Pay #players
