College athletics has become a booming business for athletes in their name, image and portrait (nil) era.
In a message posted to X on Monday, former Texan and current CBS NFL analysts said the NCAA should finish “students' first athlete second carade.”
“At some point, the NCAA needs to drop the 'student, athlete second' charade,” wrote the former Wisconsin Badgers star. “Billions of dollars, Nir, transfer portal (free agency), mid-week game cross-country trips…
“Education is not the main focus. I'll acknowledge it and call it what it is. Business. Do it that way.”
After X user responded to Watt, his post said it only referenced upper-class college athletes who earn money from Nil, Watt quickly agreed.
“That's exactly my point,” Watt added. “We have kids who are 'not making money' and don't go to professionals, but they travel around the country mid-week for 'conference games', school relocations, sacrifices of sports research and more.
Watt isn't just accepting the current light form of college soccer.
Similar sentiment was reflected in February 2024, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban said the term “student athlete” no longer existed, as he knew in the past.
“What we have right now is not college football, not college football, as we know it. I hear someone use the word 'student-athlete'. That doesn't exist,” Saban told ESPN.
“There's no raid of all this roster and popular movements because there's something in place like NFL players are on a contract or coaches are on a contract,” he explained. “There's no team development and they just bring in new players every year, so what do fans say when they don't know the team every year?”
