@BigBad Back when athletes could work, fraud was pretty common in that an athlete would take a job with a boosters business, not do any work or even show up and still get paid.
The Ostertag story is a good one because while yes, he had an NBA future, that doesn’t mean that his kid didn’t have immediate needs while Ostertag wasn’t allowed to earn an income and needed handouts that could’ve been considered NCAA violations.
The old system of players not being allowed to work was absolute bullshit and pure exploitation. People talk about athletes getting free room and board along with tuition like athletes are the only people on campus receiving those things. How many other kids on a college campus also get free rides through academic and financial needs based scholarships? At a place like KU, I’m sure that number is in the thousands. Are any of those kids restricted from having a job as a condition of their scholarship while they focus solely on whatever their major is? No, those kids are allowed to have jobs earn money beyond what their scholarships pay so why shouldn’t athletes be allowed to do what every other group of students on a college campus are allowed to do?
Does the current model need tweaking? Absolutely, but the notion that an athlete that helps generate millions of dollars for a school shouldn’t be allowed to do what every other group on a campus can do and earn extra income through a job is a garbage take IMO.