Mo’ Money, More Problems?; NIL Negligence

The term ‘a slippery slope’ has become a mainstay in the billion-dollar business that is college sports regarding the payment of their players. In a world where collegiate athletes can capitalize on their names for the first time in their history, that phrase is once again becoming a central talking point in elitist circles.
Grambling University is the first HBCU to initiate protocols relevant to regulating the Name, Image, and Likeness policies that have made it possible for significant financial gain for student-athletes. In the past, students who qualified from a talent/marketability standpoint would be found by potential sponsors who could pay the students whatever they deemed acceptable.
Grambling has changed the game in this regard with a new NIL plan that allows the university’s scholarship athletes to all receive funds as a part of the new marketing deal with the school. While the exact amount hasn’t been disclosed to the media, this deal is the first of its kind. With many emulators anticipated in coming months and years by way of our PWI counterparts.
To be clear, I’m all for putting money in the hands of the black man, but at the same time, we are very much looking at a slippery slope from an HBCU sporting perspective. If it becomes a bidding war instead of an ideological one between HBCU and PWI culture, my biggest fear is that the war can’t be won.
HBCUs have just as much to offer to anyone in the academic arena, from culture to sports to anywhere else, but an endless supply of wealth and funding is something that becomes scarcer and scarcer for us as time passes.
That’s not to say that student-athletes at HBCUs shouldn’t get paid, far from it. I believe that there should be a set salary for collegiate athletes that all universities abide by. However, through the methods currently being implemented by Grambling, it seems more likely that this move will only make star talent harder to come by for black colleges.
So yes, get your money when and where you can, especially in this economy. But at the same time, it’s important to keep perspective on how these new policies can impact us as a community.