How the NCAA can help their own student athletes not violate the rules that lead to ugly suspensions, fines, and other sanctions against their school.

One of the biggest problems I have with the NCAA punishing schools for their athletes mistakes is many times it is other athletes who did nothing wrong that get punished years after the infraction actually happened.

While the counter argument to this point may be "But innocent athletes from other programs were punished as well because they may have lost to a team because players who should not have been playing, were playing". I find that argument somewhat weak, and irrelevant to finding a solution on how to reduce overall infractions.

The solution for the NCAA to reduce the possibility of an athlete violating their rules almost pains me to suggest here on my AlexLOGIC blog when I should have been paid a million dollars for this idea.

Here is the idea, and if the NCAA implements this idea, I want my million dollar consulting fee.

All NCAA athletes are assigned a pre-paid debit card and can only make their purchases with that card.

There are no doubt hundreds of nuances and situations that may arise where the above idea would need to have exceptions, but the basic concept is solid. If a student can only make a purchase through an NCAA sanctioned pre-paid debit card, all financial transactions can be monitored, and purchases considered outside of NCAA sanctions can simply be rejected, saving the athlete from making an incorrect or uninformed decision.

While the invasion of privacy these athletes will endure should be of concern to civil rights groups, protecting the athletes from making a dumb mistake that then adversely affects the lives of a great many others is the mirror that too often is overlooked.

Additionally, this could finally allow college athletes to actually receive REASONABLE stipends for their day to day living expenses.

I think there is a broad enough line that can be painted in which college athletes can receive a stipend for living expenses that allows them to spend more time studying for their classes and working out for the sports team that has already granted them some type of scholarship to begin with.

Many Parents are struggling nowadays and how painful it might be to find out their son or daughter may lose a scholarship because they accepted a T-shirt for an autograph, or a free meal in exchange for having their picture taken eating the free meal. How painful might it be for the parents to lose a 50,000 dollar scholarship because they cannot come up with 5,000 dollars for their athletes day to day expenses. An NCAA pre-paid debit card can solve these types of problems.

What I also like about the pre-paid credit card idea is that it will create jobs. It will take hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people, to effectively create the guidelines and then monitor a program like this. Isn't it time we start spending money creating jobs that help young athletes live within reasonable means before those athletes resort to doing something rather petty just to make a few bucks or get a simple perk like food or a tattoo?

I presume that the NCAA takes in BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of dollars on an annual basis, isn't it time they not squeeze the very athletes and the athletes family that they owe their riches to?

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