This isn't good. Florida junior cornerback Jalen Tabor, just hours after it was announced the SEC made a record of $527 million in revenue for the past fiscal year, tweeted, and has since deleted a statement suggesting that the lack of student-athlete payment is a modern form of slavery.
"The SEC Made 527.4 Million in Total Revenue and Players Ain't Get A Penny . Modern Form Of Slavery." Tabor tweeted via OnlyGators.com.
Tabor has since recanted his initial tweet, saying that he went too far making the reference and that he apologized, but added "y'all get the message."
While the reference to modern slavery is a little extreme, Tabor does have a little bit of a point — all the money that the SEC made during the fiscal year is more than enough to provide, at least additional, stipends to SEC student-athletes within the conference. The NCAA and president Mark Emmert has preached time and again about how paying athletes would interrupt the integrity of collegiate sports. But to play Devil's Advocate a little bit — with this kind of money, it can be argued that student-athletes who are technically worth that much money can't exactly be considered amateurs.
But back to Tabor — obviously calling being a student-athlete the modern form of slavery is a bit much. We'll see if any other athletes come out of the woodwork about the revenue the conference made.
