Evil Shoe Company (New Balance) Pays $1 Million To Intern/Player
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Ah, no Adidas and KU here.
Darius Bazley, the number 13 player in the class of 2018, chose not to go to college. Instead, he took a $1 million paid “internship” with New Balance. See the link below.
Bazley initially said he was skipping to go to the G-League. Now, he’s skipping the G-League and taking the money.
Good for him. He has earned it. He is entitled to make a living. It’s an awesome thing.
And good for New Balance.
The title of the article is wildly misleading (though it’s simply a quote from the agent). It is not a product of a broken system. The only system that could pay this guy $1 million for the 2018-19 season is a professional one.
If a system is broken, it’s the NBA’s policy, made by players and owners, to prohibit the ability of players to play in the league – prohibiting adults from working solely because of union agreements. The owners want free auditions in CBB. The players protect jobs.
That’s the problem.
If the NCAA is to blame, then you have to make the leap completely to professional athletes. There is no middle ground.
Players should be entitled to make a living, but should not be entitled to destroy a business model to suit their desires. No “worker” should. They are free to start their own business. Free to associate to create a better option. And free to work anywhere they want (or should be, anyway).
Here’s hoping that this becomes more widespread. This will force the NCAA to focus more on the student-athlete model. For those that love CBB, that’s the only path that works. Shoe companies pay like New Balance has here, the NBA changes its rule, and we can get back to CBB. That’s the best solution for everyone.
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The charade of amateur athletics is the real problem. The NCAA makes tons of money because they have good players. Good players require money to get, basic economics. Why would good players play for free when they can get paid?* Profits will be slashed to next to nothing if all the best players go elsewhere. Gyms will be 1/4 full or worse. No one will care about KU, UK, Duke, UNC etc… Just like no one cares about Pitt State basketball now
Just let them sign with agents and profit from their likeness and still play college ball. More likely though, based on the results of this trial is that the system won’t change.
*And make no mistake, almost every last player gets paid. Just hang around an AAU gym for a minute or two. There are plenty of NCAA D1 coaches that are completely detached from the situation, but get guys whose parents were paid by the shoecos. Josh Jackson’s mom RAKED in money, big time, as a random example.
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Anyway, I’m interested to see how this all develops, but I’m just not hopeful that any real change or progress will be made yet. We might be headed that way when the NBA lifts the age barrier in 2022 though. From what I understand the NBA is waiting because this will essentially create a “double class” and they want to get old draft picks owed from trades off the books.
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@BShark - Hey! I care about Pitt State athletics! And the Gorillas might beat KU in football…
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Gorilla72 said:
@BShark - Hey! I care about Pitt State athletics! And the Gorillas might beat KU in football…
Ha! A low blow my man. My bad.
But yeah I mean beyond a few assorted alumni of course. I speak from experience, I’ve been to a lot of Washburn basketball and football games. Maybe I should have just said Washburn, but basically any D2 school applies to my point.
Pitt State would definitely give KU a game in football, no doubt.
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At some point the NCAA will either cave to letting players get side deals or they will cease to exist. At least at the current trajectory, College Athletics has outgrown it’s model and there will be a tipping point.
