My concern isn't so much with the star player getting paid for his image or name for its legitimate commercial value. It is more with using that as a loophole to pay the players whose name has little or no commercial value, but whose talents collectively play an important role in their college team's success on the field.

The outstanding pulling guard who opens the holes for the star running back probably isn't going to help the local car dealer who pays him for the use of his name or image as an endorser of his products to sell more cars. The real motive of that dealer is to help his favorite team win games, pure and simple. He could just as easily get that benefit by slipping him cash under the table, the old fashioned way.

But there are rules prohibiting that, and for obvious reasons there are also rules prohibiting above the table payments as a product endorser. But if we aren't careful about what we allow by way of rules allowing a player to profit from his name, image or likeness, we open the door to a world where high school athletes can sell their talents to the highest bidder, and the schools with the deepest pockets will always be the highest bidders.

Then we may as well forget about NCAA enforcement entirely, and just let the IRS worry about whether all this income is being properly reported.