It has been said that the National Collegiate Athletics
Association is the United
States’ most powerful, and longest running
monopoly. This governing body that oversees college sports has designed a
system that operates under the guise of a non-profit organization, yet
generates billions of dollars around the country.
The methodology is simple.
The NCAA has turned amateur sports into a lucrative
business, but has left the driving force of their enterprise out of the
financial equation.
College coaches pull in salaries that can range from five to
eight figures when including supplemental income such as contract incentives, athletic
camps, appearance fees, and endorsement deals. Athletic directors at many
schools also sit comfortably in a six figure annual earnings bracket.
College athletes, even those whose talents will eventually
garner hundreds of millions of dollars in future professional earnings, are
left with only a renewable athletic scholarship as their compensation.
As a recent college graduate who currently owes his first
born child to a woman by the name of Sallie Mae, it would be foolish to
discredit the impact that an athletic scholarship can have on a young person.
However, it would be similarly imprudent to allow the NCAA to masquerade these
scholarships as fair compensation for this special group of students that
generate an inordinate amount of money with their talents.
While college athletes receive scholarships that are rife
with stipends, perks, and accommodations, the reality of the situation is that
many college athletes still live below the poverty line. Scholarships fail to
cover basic necessities, and the time that is required to be a division one
college athlete eliminates the opportunity to work even a part-time job during
the school year. On average, student-athletes are logging over 40 hours per
week, fulfilling various parts of their athletic commitments. Combined with an
average homework-load, there are simply not enough hours in a day for many
athletes to achieve financial stability.
The National College Players Association, an advocacy group
that works on behalf of collegiate athletes came to these conclusions last
month after an extensive study that revealed several startling statistics. Most
notably, the study pointed out that under a standard revenue sharing system,
the average college athlete is worth an impressive six figure salary. In its
most extreme case, the study concluded that basketball players at Duke University
would net a revenue share close to one million dollars.
I am fully aware that it is ludicrous to suggest that we
should be throwing seven figures at Duke’s backup point guard and telling him
thanks for his hard work, but I do believe that there is a point to be made in
the profitability of these athletes.
Amateurism as we know it no longer exists.
 |
| Austin Rivers will star at Duke this season |
Duke’s incoming freshman guard, and national high school
player of the year, Austin Rivers is not an amateur. He is essentially a
developmental talent, making a brief stop on his way to millions. It would be
more accurate to compare him to baseball’s Bryce Harper. The teenage phenomenon
was taken first overall by the Washington National’s baseball organization, but
he currently toils in the minor leagues, further nurturing his prodigious
talent. Kids like Rivers are what make college sports special. There is
undoubtedly an intrinsic beauty that is associated with seeing greatness in a
raw and unpolished form. This is the appeal of college sports. Still, one must
remember that players like Rivers make up a tiny fragment of the NCAA’s pool of
athletes. The overwhelming majority of those who participate in college
athletics are indeed amateurs in the purest since of the word.
With this being stated, I find it neither feasible nor
necessary to pay athletes in a traditional fashion. However, it is hypocrisy in
its highest order for the NCAA to pocket millions of dollars by exploiting the
brand-names that some college athletes have become. To the majority of
athletes, a college scholarship is accurate compensation for their contribution
to the university, and a tribute to their skill in their respective sport. In
the case of players like Rivers and many of his compatriots at schools like
North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, and Kentucky, the amount of money rendered in an
athletic scholarship is a slap to the face of these athletes when taking into
account their earning potential.
In this new age of amateurism, college athletes should be
able to waive their traditional amateur status while playing in college, in
favor of having the freedom to pay their own tuition by any means that they
choose.
A few years ago, North
Carolina’s backup point guard and sixth man Bobby
Frasor forfeited his athletic scholarship. The scholarship was given to a
talented member of the Tar Heel’s incoming freshman class. Frasor came from a
wealthy family that could easily afford to put Frasor through a year of college
at Chapel Hill, and they did just that. I am
proposing something similar as a solution to the NCAA’s currently problematic
system.
Austin Rivers, like Kentucky’s
John Wall and Memphis’
Derrick Rose before him, is a walking and breathing financial asset. If Rivers
were to “waive his amateur status” at Duke, a host of shoe companies and other
businesses would contact him immediately. A star of his stature and notoriety
could then sign an endorsement/compensation deal for his actual worth. Under
this scenario, Rivers would no longer be a scholarship athlete; he would be a professional
athlete that happens to be a college student. This isn’t as odd as it sounds.
Professional athletes are allowed to play NCAA sports as long as the college
sport and the pro sport differ. Wisconsin Badger quarterback and Heisman Trophy
frontrunner, Russell Wilson, is also a professional baseball player.
The point could be made that some of these highly-touted future
pros would actually stay in school for three or four years if they had the
financial stability to enjoy the experience. Under the current system, the NCAA
essentially drives away its most talented athletes by operating on a median
that flirts with the idea of exploitation.
For the majority of NCAA athletes, the ones that the
organization cleverly points out “will go pro in something besides sports” in
their commercials, the dirty word that is “paycheck” can be avoided.
However, parameters must be met to ensure the quality of
life among college athletes during their time on campus.
First, college scholarships should include basic needs
stipends. A monetary supplement from $250-$500 a week in addition to a college
scholarship would quell any complaints of students living in poverty. The small
miracle of balancing the stresses of class and athletics at this level of
competition can surely be rewarded with what equates to a weeks’ pay from a
decent part time job.
Second, but probably most importantly, the travesty that is
the renewable athletic scholarship should be done away with immediately.
Athletic scholarships in their current form are effectively one-year contracts
that can be denied renewal for various shady and underhanded reasons. This is
why the term “force out” has become so prevalent in college basketball. This is
the practice of forcing players to leave the program by informing them that
their scholarship will not be renewed. If the NCAA is serious about their
athletes being “student athletes”, there is no way that they can stand behind a
practice that allows coaches to uproot students from their education due to a
lack of production on a sports team. Athletic scholarships should be six year
contracts that can only be terminated with a just cause. This type of security
will go a long way in stabilizing the climate of college sports.
In closing, the NCAA doesn’t necessarily need to pay their
athletes, but they must protect them. Any system that leaves athletes unable to
live comfortably off the field is broken, and in need of a replacement. The
tides of change have rocked college sports already in the past few months. A change
towards acknowledging and supporting student athletes through additional
finances should not be a taboo subject – it should be a priority.
(This post is also featured on the College Love Entertainment Magazine website at www.CLEmagazine.com)
