NCAA atheletes – Students or employees?

Tuesday brought about another change in the billion dollar business known as the NCAA, as the Legislative Council voted to allow D-I student-athletes unlimited meals and snacks to go along with their athletics participation.

A move that would only seem to be an attempted reaction to the developing issue surrounding player payment, and or player unions emerging at schools like Northwestern University.

Unions being forged upon the premise established earlier this year, after a powerful decision, dropped upon the NCAA by the National Labor Relations Board that stated student-athletes who “spend 40 to 50 hours per week” on the field rather than their studies should be more appropriately referred to as student-employees.

A notion that has become increasingly hard to argue in a world that now sees high profile coaches making upwards of five million a year, in the end the numbers do not lie.

But still the question remains, how far is too far? And for me that line is very difficult to uncover, as I have always argued that players on scholarships are getting paid, it is called a free education. Yet, as the times change so does our mindset, and with numbers like five million being thrown around as eagerly as freshly filled water balloons, it’s difficult to not feel like these players are being exploited.

A fact not lost on stars like Arian Foster, former Tennessee Volunteer, who discussed the troubles he experienced during his time in college, and some under the table money he accepted in an ESPN 30 for 30.

So, should we commend the NCAA for this pudding filled, snack-pack of a gesture? In this instance my answer is yes, but those three letters are directly related to the next moves the NCAA decides to make.