[CSM]

"College is for amatuer athletes. Being paid based upon your association with the university and based upon your skills is not amatuer."

I had the understanding that endorsements were allowed for amatuer athletes. Olympic athletes do endorsements (even before pros were let in), and they retain their amatuer status.

I am really not all that set in my mind on this issue. I am very against paying any college athlete, I just think a gray area exists regarding endorsements. What if I bring in one of the well known athletes to work as a paid intern in my marketing and sales department. I allow him to take potential customers golfing every day and pay him 50K for the summer. I just hired him to be a sales man, but in reality he is an endorsement.

I don't know enough about the NCAA rules to know the details of what is allowed vs. what is not allowed.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

What if I bring in one of the well known athletes to work as a paid intern in my marketing and sales department. I allow him to take potential customers golfing every day and pay him 50K for the summer. I just hired him to be a sales man, but in reality he is an endorsement.

NCAA rules are explicit on this, as in the past, this is how boosters have tried to get around rules and get an advantage over other schools. This would be no different than Clarett getting that car on "loan" and the dealership trying to justify it as an advertisement or endorsment of the dealership. This stuff isn't allowed because I could think of dozens of ways to pay athletes and call it something else.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I believe that the "amateur in one sport"/"professional in the other", came to a head with an Olympic skier/WR from Colorado last year where the NCAA, in typical draconian style, forced the guy to give up his sponsorships or give up football.

Players with baseball contracts playing in the minors(Drew Henson, etal.) escaped this narrow definition because they weren't endorsing any product. It's really sad that the NCAA sets the double standard that it's okay to get paid for one service(being in the minors), yet penalizes another(world class skier).

As for Clarett, it's obvious that he broke the rules(as they are), and made fraudulent claims on the car(was it an Oldsmobile?).