{"id":65277,"date":"2018-05-10T07:39:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T07:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=65277"},"modified":"2018-05-10T07:39:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T07:39:19","slug":"ncaa-rules-are-incomprehensible-says-condoleezza-rice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/ncaa-rules-are-incomprehensible-says-condoleezza-rice.html","title":{"rendered":"NCAA rules are ‘incomprehensible,’ says Condoleezza Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA rules are ‘incomprehensible,’ says Condoleezza Rice<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Two weeks after the Commission on College Basketball\u2019s findings on the scandal-ridden men\u2019s game were met with criticism in the news media, Commission chair Condoleezza Rice defended the group\u2019s work in a telephone interview Wednesday while making a strong case that student-athletes in all NCAA sports should be able to make money from their names, images and likenesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that students ought to be able to benefit from name, image and likeness but you can\u2019t decide a program until you know the legal parameters,\u201d Rice told USA TODAY Sports. \u201cThat was the point. I think some of the commentary suggested that we didn\u2019t really speak on this issue. I think we did speak on this issue, it\u2019s just that we understand there\u2019s a legal framework that has to be developed first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice said she thought the commission\u2019s report was \u201cpretty clear\u201d in its support of athletes being able to cash in once the various legal issues are resolved. But she maintains that the NCAA cannot do this while a pair of ongoing cases are pending.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think people may have looked at the fact that we said there’s a legal framework to be developed and said, ‘Oh, well, maybe they’re punting on this.’ Nobody was intending to punt on it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice strongly encouraged the NCAA to act as soon as it is legally able. This has been an ongoing conversation since the cases brought on behalf of former UCLA basketball star Ed O\u2019Bannon and former Nebraska and Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller. The Keller case settled, but in the O\u2019Bannon case, a district court judge ruled that the NCAA had violated antitrust law by limiting college athletes\u2019 compensation basically to tuition, fees, room, board and books. She said the NCAA should be required to allow schools to pay athletes additional deferred money as compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses. However, an appeals court vacated that part of her ruling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a legal framework that has to be determined, but name, image and likeness \u2013athletes are going to have to be able to benefit from it,\u201d she said. \u201cI think everybody can see that. Exactly what that\u2019s going to look like, I don\u2019t think that we could design it. I don\u2019t think that today the NCAA could design it because the legal framework still has to be developed. But when I see policies that are as confused as the NCAA\u2019s policies on this, I think, \u2018Why haven\u2019t you gone and looked at this before?’ It\u2019s really time to come to terms with name, image and likeness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The current NCAA rules, she said, \u201c(are) just incomprehensible. And sometimes when something\u2019s incomprehensible, you have to go ahead and say, \u2018This is incomprehensible,\u2019 which means it probably isn\u2019t right. And I thought that in the report, we were pretty clear, that we think the framework doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice is not alone. There are currently mixed signals about who can get paid as an athlete and who cannot. While Olympic swimming star Katie Ledecky of Stanford is one of the most recent to have to stop competing collegiately in order to start earning money, Notre Dame basketball star Arike Ogunbowale recently received a waiver from the NCAA that allowed her to make money as a participant on Dancing with the Stars. The NCAA said it was granting the waiver because the show was unrelated to her basketball abilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice isn’t buying it.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I couldn\u2019t for the life of me understand the explanation,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause obviously she\u2019s there because she hit two winning shots in two basketball games (in the women\u2019s Final Four), so that\u2019s the connection.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to clear this up, Rice said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope that what the NCAA is going to do is they\u2019re going to take this moment, once they know what the legal framework is, and they are going to recognize that this has got to benefit athletes. Here I really stand with the athletes on this. It makes sense for the NCAA to have a legally justifiable framework that works, and currently the framework doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the commission\u2019s other recommendations is that the controversial one-and-done rule be eliminated and basketball players who are talented enough be allowed to go to the pros directly from high school. Rice said this won\u2019t be implemented this year because teams have already recruited players under the current system for the upcoming 2018-19 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

But she said she hopes it is instituted for the 2019-20 school year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ncaab\/2018\/05\/09\/ncaa-mens-basketball-rules-incomprehensible-condoleezza-rice\/596549002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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