The NCAA, sensitive to student welfare issues

John Infante notes that Brad Wolverton’s reporting that the folks running college athletics are pondering the possibility of lobbying Congress for an antitrust exemption.  Now while John explores the likelihood that none of these people have glommed on to the reality that Congress is going to expect some legitimate horse trading on the NCAA’s part to reach its goal, I suspect that even if Emmert’s bunch does realize that, it’s not the approach they’ll take, at least at the start.  Nah, look for more of the same loaded language and appeals to emotion that have been such a convincing part of the O’Bannon defense.

Don’t believe me?  Welp,

One way for the NCAA to protect itself, Mr. Schulz said, is to lobby for new federal regulations that would help define a student-athlete and give colleges more latitude in limiting spending. The NCAA and the Big 12 Conference, of which Kansas State is a member, have recently hired lobbying firms to work on issues related to student welfare.

“Legislation might be the only way we don’t bleed ourselves to death over the next 20 years,” said Mr. Schulz, a member of the Division I board and of the committee shaping the NCAA governance changes. “This is not ‘win one and it goes away.’”

Antitrust exemption is an issue related to student welfare?  Only the NCAA might believe that would work.

Mr. Schulz, by the way, is the current president of Kansas State.  He recently demonstrated his unswerving commitment to student welfare in the Leticia Romero transfer debacle.