Frank Darras Authors Daily Journal Article on Collegiate Athletics
The world of collegiate athletics was drastically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing all levels of operation slowed to a crawl. But when the NCAA should have stepped forward and been of aid to collegiate athletes during this time of uncertainty, they failed – most notably in California – and their pursuit of equity has fallen even further behind.
The state of California, by making collegiate athlete compensation a marquee issue, is forcing the NCAA into far bolder positions than ever seen in the past.
California is home to some of the leading collegiate athletic programs in America, and not one program escaped feeling the effects of the pandemic on their athletes. Where the NCAA should excel by instating NIL (name, image, and likeness) legislature that would ensure the financial equity of their numerous, talented athletes, they have instead thrown continuous curveballs at all attempts at progress, instead engaging in a mire of semantics with state legislatures like California, which is arguing that the NCAA’s existing ideas do not provide fair compensation to athletes.
The NCAA’s unwillingness to agree to fair terms for athlete compensation is incredibly unfair to current athletes, who may well be graduated by the time the issue is resolved, proving that even in the midst of the pandemic, the greatest obstacle to collegiate athletes was actually the organization that should have helped them most.
Frank Darras has penned an article on the California vs. NCAA issue currently at the forefront of the NIL debate. Darras is a lifelong collegiate sport fan and advocate for equity of athlete compensation.
Read more at the link below.