Opinion: Let Switzer Send His Jersey to Friends for Free

Opinion: Allow Ryan Switzer and All Student-Athletes to Send Their Own Replica Jerseys to Friends and Family for Free

On September 21st, Ryan Switzer, a football player at the University of North Carolina, tweeted out this message to his 16.7 thousand followers:

He quickly tweeted a follow up message explaining his gratitude that Nike was in fact selling his jersey, but the point from his first tweet remains true — it is ridiculous that Ryan Switzer should have to pay that much to send his own jersey to a friend.

Some background on jersey sales at the NCAA level. For years, NCAA schools have sold replica jerseys to fans. These jerseys, often featuring the team’s best or most popular players, can go for as much as 100 dollars depending on the team and the model. The revenue from these jersey sales goes directly to the vendors, to the producers, and to the schools themselves. The players never get any of the money from these sales.

Several schools have stopped selling jerseys of prominent players after the Ed O’Bannon case, in which a judge stated that players have the right to earn money when their likenesses are used in TV and video games. These schools instead have opted to sell generic numbers like one and fifteen.

At UNC, the school has used the number one and fifteen in promotional settings, but still sells the number three jersey of Ryan Switzer and the number five jersey of Marcus Paige, a well-known basketball player.

I don’t have any problem with the NCAA and the University of North Carolina selling jerseys of prominent players. Switzer is right that it is an honor to see your jersey in stores and to have fans wearing it on game day. However, I don’t think that the players should have to pay to send their own jersey to their friends and family.

I propose that Universities and the NCAA set up a fund that allows for student athletes whose jerseys are sold on game days to send their jersey to whomever they like for free. Under this proposal, a system would be set up through the athletic department that would allow for student-athletes to submit a request to have a jersey shipped. The athletic department would handle all the shipping, and no money would be transferred from the University to the student-athletes.

No such rule exists under NCAA law, but the NCAA has shown the ability to be flexible in some areas where it makes sense in the past. After UConn basketball star Shabazz Napier complained about “hungry nights” as a member of the basketball team, the NCAA approved unlimited meals and snacks for student athletes, doing away with silly, archaic regulations about the amount of food student athletes could eat. This season, the NCAA allowed Leonard Fournette to auction off his jersey for South Carolina flood relief. Additionally, in June of 2015, the NCAA expanded a program to pay for travel expenses of the families of the participants in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament in March, giving families the chance to watch their children or siblings play without breaking the bank. These are three examples of college sports’ governing body enacting changes that make sense for everyone involved. Allowing players whose jerseys are on sale to send their friends and family their jersey for free is another logical change that the NCAA should enact.