So long, amateurism. Now, brace yourself...
Jul. 15—Saw a quote from Valley View football coach George Howanitz in the newspaper Thursday that got me thinking, that should get us all thinking when it comes to the future of the games we play and watch and fancy as real molders of our lives.
"We have totally lost amateurism in sports," Howanitz said. And, it's obvious why.
Name, Image and Likeness is the future of sports, and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association took its first steps toward accepting that Wednesday by approving, on first read, an NIL policy that will allow student-athletes in the state to make money off their own images.
We were heading this way here, for sure. NIL laws were never going to be contained to the college game. This was always going to trickle down to high schools, destined to become part of everything youth sports is becoming. As an athlete, you're going to be able to profit off of everything you do, whether that's the right thing to do, the proper message to send, or within the spirit of what youth sports and prep sports are supposed to be.
That's good, sound capitalism, if also suspect for the type of human development we've always touted sports can provide.
NIL at its heart is a helpful tool for student-athletes who can use it, and a largely harmless facet of life for everyone else. If the star shortstop on the high school softball team can run a camp to teach kids in her hometown how to field a groundball or improve bat speed, go for it. Stuff like that is good for the athlete, and good for sports in the community, too.
But when New York passed its NIL policy last year, two of the biggest basketball prospects in the state signed deals with "an emerging social media platform" to sell goods on their site. Basically, they get thousands just to make one social media post per week.
Is that the message we want to send? That being good at sports can lead to some easy money?
It was never that way in the past, which is why Howanitz's words in defense of amateurism ring so true.
Amateurism is something few who have ever donned a uniform have thought much about, but it is also something that has benefitted so many lives.
When you take money out of the equation, why do you play? It's a question that isn't often asked these days, when amateurism is more an old fad than a guiding force in sports outside of the professional levels.
These lessons kids can learn about life, the reasons why so many parents claim they want their kids playing sports, are lessons brought on by the tenets of being an amateur.
You understand you get nowhere without your team, so you have to learn to be the best teammate you can be.
You learn how to be accountable to others, and how to hold others accountable.
You don't play because, someday, you might get on television. You play because your team needs you. You play because you aren't willing to let yourself down. You play because you've set a goal, far off in the distance, that you're inching toward, and just maybe, you'll see how good you can actually be at your chosen craft if you can just get a little bit closer.
None of it makes you profitable. But the journey is so rewarding.
Once NIL hits its stride, it's fair to wonder if there truly are going to be amateurs playing meaningful games anymore. Because once money is a factor, as we've seen in every other facet of life, it takes over.
Are kids going to be playing to beat the arch-rival, because doing so is important to the team and the community? Or are they going to be playing to get the spot on the billboard, selling meatball hoagies for the local sub shop?
If the latter is even a slight consideration, youth sports and high school sports as we know them are done.
If it passes, the PIAA policy likely would go into affect sometime in 2023 and would make Pennsylvania the 13th state allowing high school athletes to make money off their NIL rights. A quick reading of it shows pretty much what you'd expect something like this to look like from the governing body of high school sports in the state:
Student-athletes can't reference the PIAA or one of its member schools in any kind of promotion. They can't wear school logos or anything that would identify them as a member of a PIAA institution. They can't pitch drugs, alcohol, gambling, adult entertainment, weapons and the like. All very obvious avenues any organization like the PIAA would want to avoid. All rules that pretty much take policing of the policy firmly out of the PIAA's hands.
This is the PIAA saying, "OK, fine. Be that way. But don't involve us."
That's about right, and perfectly fair, considering that any of the 25 states or so that ban high school athletes from profiting off their NIL seemed destined to face rude awakenings from courts once an enterprising student-athlete, or his or her parents, eventually sues them for the right.
But Pandora's box is about to be opened, all the same.
There's nothing stopping that same star shortstop from asking her travel ball coach for $100 to play in the big tournament next weekend. And there's nothing stopping a coach from offering more to that same player to bring her on to his team in that same tournament. Anything is going to be a go.
We can lament the reality all we want. We can stomp our feet at the very thought that something like this is part of sports today. We can laugh at the ridiculousness.
But be prepared for the changes.
They're going to be shocking, and they're going to change not just the games, but why kids play them.
Contact the writer:
570-348-9125;
@DonnieCollinsTT;
@PennStateTT
