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Post being replied to

I think you need a player's union to take the lead ... by debo

... on this, not an individual school. I am all for compensating the players for the use of their image. But, there has to be some type of collective bargaining and equitable sharing of the proceeds. Otherwise you'll see, purely by coincidence I'm sure, every 5-star athlete that signs with Oregon receiving a Nike endorsement deal.

Any system that allows deals directly with individual players, or individual schools that distribute the payments to the players, will be abused. And the things that keep some level of parity in the NFL (the draft, salary caps) can't be easily applied to schools. Oregon and Maryland immediately become the top recruiters in the country.

Maybe the union can provide for a tiered system that rewards performance. That could actually lead to parity -- it could be an enticement for players to be the freshman starter at a small school instead of the two-year back-up at a powerhouse.

I don't think there are any easy answers here.