The NCAA’s decision to work on legislation regarding player compensation has an impact on AD’s everywhere including the Iowa Hawkeyes’ AD Gary Barta.
Personally, I think that the NCAA is about 40 years behind in the decision to explore legislation allowing players to benefit from their own likeness, but progress is progress so when I heard the news yesterday, I was excited. Its a step in the right direction. But, I, unlike the Iowa Hawkeyes’ Athletic Director Gary Barta, do not have to deal with the implementation of this process at a university.
And Barta, understandably so, is not exactly excited about the prospect of this ruling.
It’s not to say he is against it, but as he noted in a quote to Des Moines Register reporter Mark Emmert, it introduces significantly more complications to an already complicated job.
Gary Barta on NCAA declaration regarding NIL: “I’m passionate about preserving the collegiate model. I’m listening and will be fully engaged, but I also know there may be unintended consequences that come with students receiving payments for their name, image and likeness." (1/2)
— MarkEmmert (@MarkEmmert) October 29, 2019
Barta (2/2): “We have to be able to continue our commitment to education and to maintain a clear difference between professional and college sports.”
— MarkEmmert (@MarkEmmert) October 29, 2019
Before you start screaming at the top of your lungs or thinking to yourself internally about your dislike for Gary Barta, hear me out.
I want to reiterate that he is not saying this is absolutely ridiculous and he refuses to support it. He is merely saying this will be very difficult but he is willing to work on it. That’s about as good as you can ask from someone who likely didn’t support this legislation, to begin with.
But if I were an Athletic Director, I would be worried about this too. Knowing the NCAA, they’ll figure out a way to botch this up or have some funky rules in place that creates a grey area of confusion for college athletic operations. And as with any new rule adoption or process implementation, there are going to be some bumps and bruises as programs such as the Iowa Hawkeye’s program attempts to navigate this new world.
How do you handle boosters? How do you handle local businesses trying to work with players? What is the line between appropriate and shady? What happens when a local millionaire who owns a car dealership, gives the star quarterback $100K to be in a commercial when we all know, that’s a bit much?
Now, my guess is these are questions floating around the NCAA office as we speak, meaning hopefully they can address some of these things with whatever rules are proposed early in 2020, but for now, if I am Iowa Hawkeyes Athletic Director Gary Barta, I would be incredibly cautious and worried too.