Editor's Note: The Working Title was The Unabashed Insanity of Nancy Armour
Nancy Armour is one of the most agenda-driven sports writers in the United States. She has been wrong about sports here, here, here and here.
But her take today really is pure woke insanity.
Let me start with my perspective:
In college sports, athletes are "paid" through scholarships. Some scholarships can be worth up to $300,000 to $400,000. For many sports fans throughout the years, that payment wasn't enough. For someone like me, who (mostly) paid their way through college, that angle was always kind of insulting.
But let's be clear, I'm not delusional. Starting about the time Brian "The Boz" Bosworth was at Oklahoma, I still thought colleges shouldn't pay players, but really good players, like the Boz, should be able to make money through their names and likenesses. If a college wasn't paying a player with money (instead of scholarships), that player should own their own name and likeness and be able to make money from companies.
The Name and Likeness Model was adapted as the Olympic Model a generation ago.
The NCAA dragged their feet because once college players started getting paid, no matter who paid them, Pandora's Box was open and they couldn't control the process.
Which is exactly what happened. I understood then, what I understood now, that college students like Brian Bosworth had more value than college students like Fred Hunt. Now I don't think that the NIL Model in today's college game, where independent third parties pay players, in association with the college, is perfect, but it's a lot closer to what it should be than what it used to be.
Now Nancy Armour is incredulous. She believes that NIL money is being used to circumvent Title IX.
Title IX was enacted in 1972 and "prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government." In the 50 years since it has passed, Title IX has leveled the playing field between male and female athletes in college by creating more opportunities for women.
In the fantasy world of collegiate sports, many on the far-left theorized that if equal chances were given, the women's games would grow to equal the men's game in popularity.
Uh, that did not happen.
On any given campus, only 2 sports make money: Men's College Football and Men's College Basketball. Now there are some exceptions, like the Women's Basketball team at the University of Connecticut, but, overall, Women's sports run in the red.
In order to stay within the guidelines of Title IX, many "unpopular" Men's Sports teams have been eliminated at the college level, including in Men's Gymnastics and Men's Wrestling.
So, despite the unintended consequences of Title IX, many in academia want to funnel more money into the Women's Game. Armour argues that NIL Money has circumvented the "spirit" of Title IX and would like all NIL money garnished and put in a pot for all the athletes at any given school.
Now Colorado's Shedeur Sanders led all college athletes with a $5 million NIL deal in 2024. Under Armour's plan, "the total number of 534 student athletes that participated in varsity sports at the (U. of Colorado), 278 of whom are male and 256 are female," would split that money. Meaning each student would get around $9,000.
I'm not sure Coach Sanders is going to go for that.
And, what's going underreported, is that "over half of NIL deals are valued at $100 or less. Most people hear about luxurious deals with high price tags, but most athletes aren't coming across those often."
What Nancy Armour doesn't want you to know is that a few female college athletes are becoming rich....for their looks: "Olivia Dunne’s Net Worth in 2024: A Look at the Highest-Paid Female College Athlete’s Earnings The gymnast and content creator, who has more than 13 million followers across platforms, rakes in a seven-figure salary."
Does Nancy Armour want any of Olivia Dunne's money to go to the backup punter at LSU? I speculate that she does not.
The elephant in the room, which will be addressed in future generations, is concussions. Is Shedeur Sanders, playing college football, putting his body at the same risk as a young lady playing Women's Golf? Armour would argue they're all college kids, it's not fair that Sanders makes more than the athletes in Women's Golf.
But I ask you, since when did life become fair?
Let me ask you a serious question. In the age of Elon Musk and the DOGE, what do you think is more likely to happen:
Donald Trump revokes Title IX.
Nancy Armour's Plan: Taking away money from college's most recognizable athletes, to give it to athletes in sports that no one follows.
I am telling you, the more Nancy Armour beats the drum for Plan 2, the more average Americans are going to want Plan 1.
Which is how Donald Trump got elected in the first place.
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