I was invited to be in the audience for the latest Capital Club breakfast, a regular meeting of sports-centered minds, who gathered on April 24 Mendakota Country Club in Mendota Heights.
A tremendous panel including University of Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle and men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson were joined by Jeremiah Carter who is an assistant athletic director focusing on Name, Image and Likeness, and Dinkytown Athletes representative Dr. Katie Harms.
An enlightening discussion revolved around NIL and the transfer portal as those topics not only go hand-in-hand but are center-stage right now with the huge turnover going on with the men’s basketball roster and the constantly revolving door of transfers coming and going from the various Gophers programs.
One of the most profound takeaways from the morning was the realization that college kids playing football, basketball, hockey, volleyball or another sport have a genuine opportunity to be paid money as college athletes well beyond the secretive under-the-radar briefcase filled with cash or wink-wink offers of the past.
Those somewhat subtle payouts have led to programs being seriously punished, as they should be.
But, it seems like the role has flipped and the students are essentially free agents looking for the right combination of the most money and the best situation to reach the pro ranks after college.
The debate about amateur versus professional status when it comes to college student-athletes is over.
Major college student-athletes should be classified as professionals given how much money and attention is collected each time they step on the court or show up for a promotional event.
I can see the perspective of the student who should see some type of monetary benefit from that $150 jersey or their likeness appearing on a college football video game.
Someone is going to rake in that money and it is my feeling that the kids should be rewarded for that instead of just the institution that offered them a roster spot and perhaps a college scholarship (full or partial).
It seems like the Gophers are a step behind other major colleges when it comes to what they can offer prospective athletes but the Dinkytown Athletes collective is working its way through the nuances of what is legal or illegal as a way to keep everything on the right side of the ledger.
Among the great questions from the audience was one about the lack of one of the multi-national corporations with a strong presence in the state stepping forward to offer up a large offering to the collective – Target, Cargill, UnitedHealth, Ecolab, 3M, etc.
A follow-up dug a little deeper into the situation, wondering if the money given to the collective would take away from other philanthropic opportunities like cancer research or childhood poverty for example.
The panel framed a response about redirecting funds from worthy causes to pockets for student-athletes as more or less a shift in marketing dollars rather than dollars spent on solving world issues.
One way Gopher fans can help the programs they care about is by being a season ticket holder, showing up for various events to show their pride for the Maroon and Gold and if they are able – funding one of the creative opportunities with Dinkytown Athletes such as sponsoring a student or team.
No doubt the world of college sports is a tangled web at the moment. I think the questions about what is next are yet to be answered because so many factors are yet to be ironed out.
Follow Jason Olson on Twitter @Jason0lson or @SunSportsJason.
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