As the NCAA and Washington politicians continue to square off regarding the state of college athletics, HBCUs are caught in the middle of the mess.
With one politician allegedly advocating on their behalf, politics can indeed make for strange bedfellows.
Cruz and Democratic senator Maria Cantwell’s Protect College Sports Act “would establish federal NIL rights for student-athletes, require that contracts clearly outline athletes’ obligations and compensation, and cap agent fees at 5 percent. It would also override conflicting state NIL laws, create a student-athlete ombudsman, set transfer and eligibility standards, ban salary cap-evasion tactics, and prohibit the formation of a college sports ‘super league’.”
Cruz cited Texas Southern president James Crawford III’s comments that HBCUs are struggling in the new NIL era, stressing that CBC support would be better for HBCUs.
Coming from most any other politician, this would be taken a lot more seriously.
Ted Cruz should have no say on future of HBCUs
However, this sudden care for the future of HBCUs is coming from…Ted Cruz.
Yes, the same Ted Cruz who consistently abandons his constituents when the weather gets rough – literally.
The same Ted Cruz, with the birth name Rafael, who has Anglicized himself to fit into the Republican way of doing things.
And yes, the same Ted Cruz who said or did nothing to defend the honor of his wife when the now two-time president of the United States made unsavory comments about her physical appearance.
Would you trust someone like that? I sure wouldn’t.
It’s unfortunate, but HBCUs are the ones that will immediately suffer in the aftermath of whatever these larger entities decide will be best for college sports.
In a game that our schools were never meant to play – the money game – the rich will continue to get richer while everyone outside of the Power 4 level will be left to fend for themselves.
Congressional Black Caucus should stand tall
And as appealing as it looks to side with Ted Cruz on this, the HBCU conferences should absolutely pass on backing his plea to the CBC.
The reason is simple: there’s no working in good faith with someone who has repeatedly demonstrated who they are. And we all know what Maya Angelou said about people who show you who they are.
At the same time, the CBC, which is stalling as much legislation as possible due to the slash job done on the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, must explain why they would not support any legislation aimed at easing the burden on HBCUs to compete with billion-dollar PWIs…if the Protect College Sports Act is the real deal.
Then again, that politics and strange bedfellows quote actually belongs to William Shakespeare.
“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” comes from a shipwrecked man forced to share quarters with a monster.
And Ted Cruz is one monster HBCUs shouldn’t let their misery make a bedfellow out of.
