“It’s a travesty & a disgrace,” Charles Barkley makes case for the downfall of March Madness due to NIL & player compensation

Charles Barkley talks about NIL and how he is not happy about the whole process.

“It’s a travesty & a disgrace,” Charles Barkley makes case for the downfall of March Madness due to NIL & player compensation

Charles Barkley (Image via USA Today Sports)

Charles Barkley is famous for his fiery comments, like when he slammed Jayson Tatum and his analysis of the game. He recently made news again while commenting on College Basketball’s March Madness Tournament. The college sports world is evolving and changing through the introduction of name, image, and likeness (NIL). Because of this, college sportspersons get paid exorbitantly high salaries due to their contracts, which is not something Barkley is very fond of.

“It’s a travesty and a disgrace. I am so mad that we could mess something up that is so beautiful.” This is what Barkley said in his ‘The 60 Minutes Interview’, talking about the new NIL compensation system. Not being a fan is one thing and absolutely hating is the other. Barkley despises the NIL system. He feels that there would soon be a collapse if there is no regulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBY-CdpH0CA

“We can’t pay all these players,”  Barkley said, frustrated. According to him, the money spent on NIL could very well be used to create a better system of college basketball and give it more depth. Many have blamed the system of young players’ for American Basketball’s decline as the country recently lost an Olympics game for the first time since 2004.

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Also Read: Charles Barkley FIRES SHOTS at Kevin Durant, claims Suns superstar is ‘too sensitive’

What is the NIL system?

Charles Barkley
(Images via Getty mages)

According to this new system, college athletes can make money using their name, without losing their rights to play for the college. The NCAA, which runs all aspects of college sports, fought a decade-long battle for the non-implementation of NIL but finally lost it in 2021 in the NCAA vs Alston case. This has resulted in college basketball athletes getting compensated for their services to the college as a player because the college is using their name, image, and likeness.

The NCAA had long advocated that college sports should not be money-based and that players should only have one motivation to attend a university – the scholarship that they are getting. This has made them eligible for endorsements, IPR payments, autograph sessions, and whatnot, which before the court case made them eligible for immediate suspension.

Due to this, as seen in American college football, out of the last nine playoffs, eight have been won by the big 4 schools because the gap between big and small schools has become so big. Charles Barkley fears the same for college basketball. “The schools that can’t afford or won’t pay players are going to be irrelevant,“ he said. The Basketball community sure has something to worry about.

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