04/25/24
September 18, 2003
"If we have a great musician here ... and he or she decides to leave to play in an orchestra, nothing is said. Hockey players have left school early. For generations in this country, baseball players have gone right from high school to professional baseball, and no one ever mentions, 'What about their education?' And yet we take a different attitude about basketball and football players, and I find that unusual. We've moved closer to professional sports my entire coaching career. Maybe it's about money." -- Indiana University football coach Gerry DiNardo
Funny the two sports Gerry names as 'unusual' are the two sports most televised at both the collegiate and professional levels and that make the most advertising dollars. Head-scratcher ain't it?
posted by garfield at 03:31 PM on September 18, 2003
Doesn't the NFL have a mandatory minimum age?
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:06 PM on September 18, 2003
Um, nevermind. Reading the link is good, eh? Interesting read though. I'm not sure the fact that a different league in a different sport has different rules is a good precedent for changing the policy of the NFL, but Clarett may have a case for court (should it come to that). I wonder if a rule change would lead to casing out high school prospects for the draft. The differences in size though would likely maim the hell out of an 18 year old though. It's a quagmire. I'm just not sure what the solution is.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:35 PM on September 18, 2003
Ufez, the legalities are the same regardless of which league is considered, which is why most lawyers commenting have said that the NFL would lose in court. As the slimebags should.
posted by billsaysthis at 08:04 PM on September 18, 2003
Legalities aside, don't game-day/television/apparel revenues go into the general university budget? And if so, wouldn't the universities lose out without this money? I find it funny when people campaign for the freedom of professional athletes to pursue their careers when the average pro joe makes more in one calendar year than the average working joe does in a lifetime.
posted by Philfromhavelock at 10:47 PM on September 18, 2003
Excellent points all. Interesting calling the NCAA a "feeder system". It only highlights the NFL's lack of a minor league system. NFL Europe doesn't count.