Some NCAA schools have had football players sign COVID-19 waivers this summer. The man who runs the NCAA doesn’t like it.
Testifying before a Senate committee on Wednesday, NCAA president Mark Emmert made it clear that he’s opposed to the practice of having student-athletes release rights regarding the coronavirus.
“I am catagorically opposed to it, I think it is an inappropriate thing for schools to be doing,” Emmert said, via Jane McManus on Twitter.
So why doesn’t the NCAA, which has so many rules that their rules have rules, do something about it? Apparently, the NCAA can’t keep it from happening.
The NCAA also can’t keep football from happening, if schools insist on proceeding even in current COVID-19 hotspots. Emmert said that the NCAA doesn’t have jurisdiction over regular-season play or the Power Five conferences.
And so, basically, the NCAA has a role in keeping football players from getting fair value for their skills, abilities, and sacrifices, but the NCAA has no role in keeping football players safe.
If the NCAA isn’t going to do it, then the federal government should, via the creation of an oversight agency that can and will do what the NCAA can’t and won’t.