Christmas came early this year for former NMSU quarterback Diego Pavia, and every other “amateur” college athlete who started at the junior college level.
Pavia was recently granted an injunction by the U.S. District Court in Tennessee, giving him an extra year of college eligibility. That means he will continue to make millions of dollars as an unsalaried, “amateur” college quarterback, rather than have to take a far lower salary playing as a professional in the United Football League, which plays in the spring, or the Canadian Football League.
Pavia was recently granted an injunction by the U.S. District Court in Tennessee, giving him an extra year of college eligibility. That means he will continue to make millions of dollars as an unsalaried, “amateur” college quarterback, rather than have to take a far lower salary playing as a professional in the United Football League, which plays in the spring, or the Canadian Football League.
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Pavia, who transferred from NMSU to Vanderbilt last season, will now be eligible to enter the transfer portal again. And, there will likely be a lucrative bidding war among “amateur” college teams for his services unless Vandy steps up with an offer he can’t refuse. It’s expected that Pavia will rake in more than $1 million in revenue next season for his name, image and likeness.
If he chooses to continue his career after college and is not able to make an NFL team, his professional salary will be much lower than his “amateur” earnings. Players on the active roster in the UFL make $5,500 per game, but only during the season. Salaries in the CFL range from $100,000 to $130,000 a year in Canadian dollars. The court ruled that the two years Pavia played at New Mexico Military Academy don’t count against his eligibility, reversing an NCAA rule that has been in place for decades. That means all college players who started at the junior college level will now have an additional two years of eligibility. In denouncing the ruling, the NCAA made no mention of its potential impact on academics and classroom studies. That’s not surprising, they never cared about those things. But, they also ignored the potential impact on competitive balance. Their only concern seemed to be that other student-athletes will be denied that sweet NIL money. The official statement read, “the NCAA is disappointed in today’s ruling and wants all student -athletes to maximize their name, image and likeness potential without depriving future student-athletes of opportunities.” Don’t worry guys. There’s plenty of money from boosters to spread around. Pavia was able to successfully sue the NCAA under our antitrust laws. Enforcing the NCAA rules that have been in place for decades amounts to unfair restraint of the labor market. There are legitimate students-athletes toilingly mightily to juggle the competing demands of athletics and academics in all sports other than football and basketball. The NCAA should be for them. Its rules still make sense in that world. They no longer make sense in the multi-billion dollar entertainment conglomerate that college football and basketball have become. In 2021, the New Mexico Legislature was one of the first in the nation to challenge NCAA rules preventing student-athletes from cashing in on their fame. That was the beginning of the end for the old NCAA model, with other dramatic changes quickly following. Now that both the courts and the legislature have called out the NCAA model for the sham it is, it’s time to start over with a new model. I’ve been enjoying the expanded college football playoffs this year. But I’m under no illusion that I’m watching “amateur” student-athletes competing for the championship. Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected]. |
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