I’m sure by now many of you have heard of Penny Oleksiak, Canada’s newest star after collecting a Canadian record four summer Olympic medals but what some of you might not know is that Oleksiak is a fan of musician Drake and tried to buy tickets to one of his upcoming shows.
Unfortunately for Oleksiak, like many others she was unable to buy tickets but when Drake found out he invited her to one of those shows.
The problem? If Oleksiak accepts the invitation to the concert she could be in violation of NCAA rules, even though Oleksiak is only 16 years old and is still over a year away from university.
So how does this happen?
The NCAA has rules in place that prohibit their athletes from receiving any kind of gifts as a result of their athletic celebrity and Oleksiak would be violating those rules, even though she is still far from even starting her collegiate career.
While I understand that there are rules in place and everyone needs to follow those rules I have a hard time understanding the logic behind the decision.
Why are you stopping a 16-year-old girl from having some fun? How does accepting the invitation provide her with an athletic advantage? What gains are schools going to make in recruiting by having an artist invite her to a concert?
These are all questions I cannot answer in a way that would provide me with any insight as to why this rule makes sense in this case.
Now it is not all bad for Oleksiak as she could still accept the invitation without rendering her ineligible for an NCAA career.
If she were to accept the invitation and then move on to an NCAA swimming program she would most likely be suspended from at least one competition, which on the surface does not seem like that much but why should she be punished at all?
It just feels like the NCAA takes advantage of their student-athletes beyond what is necessary.
The athletics programs at a lot of the universities are very well off. Why? Because they have television deals, sponsorships with major sports apparel companies like Nike or Under Armour, they have boosters that provide additional funds to the university as well, and to top it off they have the athletes who can bring in huge amounts of money as well.
These players often put in long days as they are required to go to class, practice, work out, and do homework. With many not having enough time to find a part time job they struggle to make ends meet.
Meanwhile the school they are playing for is making millions of dollars.
According to a report conducted by USA Today Sports there were 24 universities that grossed over $100 million during the athletic season of 2014-2015. So the schools can make millions but the athletes can make nothing.
That hardly seems right.
Now I do understand the argument that hey, they chose to do that so they knew what they were getting into before they got there but it still does not make it right.
Schools are allowed to sell jerseys with your number on it but they cannot put your name on it or you would start to get paid. They keep the name off and keep all the money.
Yet most athletes are struggling to pay their rent or food and they basically cannot accept help from anyone or they would be in violation of NCAA rules, which, depending on the severity, could result in heavy punishment to the university and the potential removal of an athletes eligibility for good.
So for Penny Oleksiak one simple little gesture from Drake could cause her all kinds of trouble, which is ridiculous.
This whole conversation could become mute if Oleksiak decides to forego her collegiate eligibility and turn pro instead. But that is a conversation for another day.
So NCAA stop treating athletes like children, and start treating them like someone who helped generate nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue in 2014.
It is time the rules are changed.
