While I am sure most readers already know the penalties being enforced, let's note them here since I will try to touch on each of them later. Penn State has received a fine of $60 million dollars, a four-year postseason ban, a scholarship decrease of 20 for the next four seasons, and all wins vacated from the 1998-2011 seasons. Note that this was not the "Death Penalty", but in my opinion equally just to all sides.
The Death Penalty would have meant no football in State College for at least one season (possibly more). On one hand, the penalties for the football team are likely worse as they are than had the Death Penalty been issued. In general, they will be very hard pressed to be competitive with a schedule that includes Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska annually, and even if they are, it will be for not since they are not allowed for play for a conference championship or in bowl games.
On the other hand, allowing the program to continue to schedule and play football games means that the punishment does not branch all the way down to the local level of State College. By that, I mean the restaurants, stores, bars, etc. of central Pennsylvania will still be able to operate to higher patronage on game day. The local economy is not the the major focus here, but they should be unharmed by this decision. Furthermore, the fans of State College can continue to support the program as they choose fit. They are not forced to sit on their hands and watch Pittsburgh, Temple, and the Big Ten play every Saturday with no true interest. For those reasons alone, I commend the NCAA for finding a ruling that punished the program, but not those who are not directly connected to it.
Many argued for the past few weeks that the punishments were not going to help the victims, and that the rest of the world was just out for blood. I don't agree with that line of thinking. A murderer being sentenced to life in prison is not going to bring a victim back to life. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the acts committed by Jerry Sandusky, and indirectly by others in the program are irreversible. You can't simply avoid punishment because those acts can't be undone. Punishments are consequences for previous acts.
Nevertheless, the NCAA and Big Ten did find a way of doing right by the victims in one way. The NCAA fined them $60 million which must be paid over the course of five seasons ($12 million per). Meanwhile, the Big Ten will be handing over Penn State's share of the Big Ten bowl revenue for the next four seasons (estimated to be at $13 million over that time). That breaks down approximately to a loss of $15 million per season from 2012-2015, and $13 million in 2016. Obviously, that is a large amount of change to any one of us, but for an athletic program that profited $15 million this past year, and $18 million the previous year, this is certainly doable.
If either group wanted to go for the kill with revenue, they could have booted Penn State from the Big Ten, or prohibited them from broadcasting their games. So long as they still receive their Big Ten television contract, this is a survivable penalty.
Much of the rest of the sanctions affect the athletes (past, present, and future) of Penn State. Let's not suggest this is the end of the world for any of them, and that the penalty only affects them as many have done. The vacating of wins from 1998-2011 could be said to affect everyone who was part of the program for those years. I don't believe that. The players and staff who were not involved still received a free education (players), or a paycheck (staff). They can still talk about their time at Penn State, and the bowl games they participated in. To those individuals, they won those games, and no one can take away their stories. Penn State has not won or tied for any conference championships over that time, so they are not being wiped out of the record books for anything along those lines. If anything, this affects only the legacy of Joe Paterno. He is no longer the winningest coach in football. It seems more fans are upset about losing that title for Florida State's Bobby Bowden above all else.
Obviously, the scholarship sanctions will directly affect the number of future athletes who can be offered to play at Penn State, or the number that will choose to play through this period. Therefore, it is the current athletes that lose the most. However, the NCAA has granted their release, and they can move to any program they wish that will accept them. For those who choose to stay, they lose a chance to play in bowl games or for any titles.
Now for anyone who denounces that only the current players are being hurt by this, let's look at it from a different perspective. In the past couple years, big time programs like USC, Ohio State and Miami have been hit by scandals. Those programs along with Penn State are known for grabbing top recruits from across the nation. No one could disagree with any of this. However, during all those other scandals, how often was it noted that only two programs never had any NCAA violations? Those two programs were Stanford and Penn State. So when a top recruit was deciding between Penn State and Ohio State, can anyone suggest that Penn State did distance itself from the Buckeyes by mentioning how squeaky clean they have stayed over the year? Fact of the matter is, Penn State benefited from athletes as well as non-athletic students by maintaining such an image. In reality, that image should have vanished over a decade ago when the first report came about. Therefore, I do not buy into the notion that only the current players are being hurt by the NCAA sanctions. In reality, these players were hurt by the lies told by the Penn State athletic department, not the NCAA. The penalties are always going to affect the current program the most, but you can't simply avoid punishments because of that.
It is sad that college football has grown to such proportions that it can become a bigger priority than the safety of human beings, especially children. Nevertheless, that is what happened, and that same lack of priorities would be repeated if such a program went on without receiving any consequences. Penn State has won many games over the past 13 seasons because of it's untarnished image, great recruits, and large revenue stream. It is impossible the measure the differences that may have occurred if action was taken sooner. The current players, the fans, and the legacies are punished with these sanctions, but that does not mean the true victims should be forgotten. It is not simply a loss for Penn State, but a loss for all programs, athletes, and fans when we lose a grip on such priorities.
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