“The purpose of this call is to make you aware of what they’ll be looking at. I’ll also let you all know about some actions we need to take moving forward,” he said. “Now, ordinarily at the end of a call like this, people can jump in with questions. The call then continues until they’re answered. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time for that today. Accordingly, please save your questions for later in the coming weeks, when I’ll be talking to many of you individually.”
Then he paused. I glanced over and saw that on his screen he’d brought up a presentation so everyone could follow along.
“I’ll start by noting that the basic amateurism rule 12.1.2 focuses on pay for athletics skill and participation. Basically, David cannot get paid for his athletic abilities. Let me clarify that. He cannot be paid for football or baseball if he plans to play those intercollegiate sports in college. He also can’t be paid for or promised any money based on those skills. As of now, I don’t believe David has any serious issues. There were a couple of matters of concern, like the car that was gifted to him by Range Sports. But we’ve taken steps to clear that up by returning it and paying for its use.
“As I’ll explain later, the rules for David now, as opposed to when he’s in college, are different. Let’s focus on where David could run into trouble in the future. The first potential issue is him being paid to model and do movies. This is different from his ownership in the farms, in that it uses his image and name. Rule 12.1.2.1 defines pay in terms of athletics. I expect all his modeling and movie work to date will be called into question and investigated. I am confident they’ll find what I did: David did not garner his modeling or acting jobs based on his skill on a football or baseball field.
“The presumption should be in favor of allowing David to continue whatever nonathletic activities he chooses. When I use the term ‘athletic,’ I’m referring to the intercollegiate sports David plans to play. He’s done a wide range of other sports that would not conform to the NCAA’s definition of athletics. For example, skydiving and SCUBA diving,” he said.
I cringed when he mentioned the SCUBA diving. I hoped like heck that Dad had told Mom, or we were in for a world of hurt.
“Bylaw 12.4.1 specifically allows for employment, which modeling and acting are. Where we start to get into the area where David can get himself in trouble is section 12.5, which deals with promotional activities. I want you to pay particular attention to 12.5.1.3. It deals with modeling and other nonathletically related promotional activities after he enrolls in college. Conditions a, b, and e clearly seem to be met, but all five conditions are required, so c and d have the potential to create a hurdle.”
On the screen, he had the five conditions from the NCAA Bylaws.
“I would suggest that we be careful even now of section d. An example where we could run into trouble is something like the ‘David Approved’ gear at Range Sports. While we can show that Range Sports is no longer using that promotion, we cannot risk his amateur status moving forward. While the rule applies explicitly to when he’s in college, they’ll take a dim view of it even now.
“Something else we need to make sure of is that his athletic activities are separated from everything else. This means that if he does an interview about a movie, he cannot talk about football or baseball. I would go so far as to suggest that he not wear anything that is school- or sports-related for those types of interviews. I’d like to see him start doing that now whenever possible. Once he reaches college is when these rules kick in, and he could put himself at risk.
