Ohio State AD Gene Smith fears Pay-For-Play in College Athletics
You couldn't find a person more ingrained in the NCAA way of doing things than Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, so it's no surprise he paints a scary picture of what's on the horizon of college athletics if federal regulations don't address a building movement toward paying players.
Smith cited legislation signed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that would allow college athletes to hire agents and to be paid for endorsements and the use of their images.
"My concern with the California bill is it's all the way wide open," Smith said. "...How do you regulate that."
Smith isn't a neutral voice in the matter, given his co-chairmanship of a committee appointed by the NCAA Board of Governors to study the name and likeness compensation issue.
He has served on virtually every NCAA Committee of consequence over his career in athletic administration, including the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and the College Football Playoff Commitee.
So, it's no surprise he sounded a dire tone for the future of college athletics and cited allowances the NCAA has already made to move closer to compensating athletes.
"Our association has moved, albeit slowly," Smith said.
The California proposal, and others in the works in other states, would be a radical departure from things like cost of attendance, health care, post-graduate assistance and family stipends to attend post-season games that the NCAA has allowed in recent years,
"We can’t have a situation where we have schools and/or states with different rules when they’re competing against each other,” Smith said.
Smith said a school like Ohio State, in a major city like Columbus, with a mammoth alumni following, could magnify its already-existent competitive advantage if there is an open policy on paying athletes for their name and likeness.
"We don't want that," Smith said.
"Of course the players want to get paid," OSU quarterback Justin Fields said. "But our focus is really not on getting paid. Our focus is really on winning games. As long as we can play games, I think everyone will be happy around here."
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