Arian Foster, who is one of the most prominent NFL running backs, admitted in a recent interview that he broke the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) amateurism rules. Foster, who played College football for the Tennessee Volunteers, expressed his distaste for the amateurism rule in an exclusive four hour documentary. “I dont know if this will throw us into an NCAA investigation, [but in] my senior year, I was getting money on the side,” Foster said in the interview. He explains that he didn’t have any money and he either had to “pay the rent or buy some food”. After a game where tennessee would win, in their sold out 107,000 seat stadium, hundreds of little kids would be outside waiting to see him. When he would return home, reality would set in because he would open his fridge and see no food.

Throughout the history of this rule there have been many cases like this one. It is hard not to sympathize with athletes like Foster because anyone who competes at a high level is constantly bombarded with practices or gym sessions. Having time constraints like this make it impossible to have a part-time job. This puts many of these athletes in similar helpless situations which they have no other alternative. Although it is deemed to be illegal by the NCAA, Arian Foster says “there’s nothing wrong with it. And you’re not going to convince me that there is something wrong with it.”

Do you think the NCAA is ethically allowed to keep the amateurism rule after hearing the issues that Arian Foster had to deal with?