PAY FOR PLAY

NCAA, Its Time to Pay Up | An Issue Brief by Andrew Berlin

Louisville Cardinals mens basketball players who graduated in The 2016 NCAA
2015 put in about 50 hours each week, a standard time commitment in National Champion
Division 1 sports, and delivered a stellar product on the court. So Villanova Wildcats are
much so that the basketball program profited roughly $25 million each pictured. While these
players spend just as
year, at an absurd profit margin of 60%.[1] The crime in this scenario,
much time as their
however, is that these graduating Cardinals did not receive any of this
paid coaches, like all
money. In fact, they lived under the poverty line by $3730 each year
college athletes they
and were denied approximately $6.5 million throughout their careers.[2] were not
This story extends beyond the money making machine that is compensated.
Louisville Mens Basketball. Annually NCAA Division 1 college

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basketball brings in a staggering $1.4 million in revenue, largely due to monstrous
television contracts.[3] The NCAA manages to profit significantly more than professional
leagues by avoiding paying those who produce the product being sold.[4]

A similar narrative occurs on the gridiron. Over twenty football teams have
annual revenues that exceed $100 million with the biggest money maker being Texas
A&M. A&Ms football program brings in a remarkable $192 million each year with a
profit margin of 40%. Another huge money maker is A&Ms state rival Texas, with an
annual revenue exceeds $180 million.[5] Like the Cardinal basketball players, Texas
Longhorn football players who graduated in 2015 also lived under the poverty line by
$788 yearly. In addition, these Longhorns were denied around $2.2 million throughout
their careers.[6]

The Louisville basketball program and the Texas football program are certainly
outliers, but when the spotlight moves from these money makers to the rest of the top
six conferences, lost value for players remains fairly high. In the ACC, Big 10, Big 12,
SEC, Big East, and American conferences, the average mens football or basketball
player incurs an average lost value between $750,000 and $1.5 million over their four
year careers.[7]

Moreover, while most power conference mens college basketball and football
players do receive full scholarships, the monstrous revenue that comes directly from
their hard work merits additional compensation.

The unacceptable
financial realities that
Roots of the Problem currently plague
College athletes, specifically mens football and basketball college athletes.[8]
players, continue to generate more and more money each season, so
how has the system not changed to reward the eorts of these
players? Well, those with the power to make change are stung their pockets pretty
nicely and have little reason to alter the way the NCAA works. Three years ago the

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Universities NCAA signed a tremendously lucrative deal with CBS and
Turner Sports to televise March Madness, the NCAA
enriching Division 1 basketball tournament, through 2028
themselves on amounting to $11 billion.[9] Such a deal serves as
encouragement to the 84 NCAA employees whose
the backs of salaries surpass $100,000 to resist change, after all the
uncompensated current system is making a great deal of money. At the
top of the money making organization is the NCAAs
young men [] is highest paid employee, President Mark Emmert, who
to catch an profits almost $2 million each year.[10]

Emmert and the NCAA manage to avoid paying

unmistakable athletes by using two powerful phrases: amateurism
whi of the and student athlete.[11] The average college football or
basketball player spends about 50 hours each week on
plantation. their sport between strength training, practices, team
meetings, and competition. This hefty time commitment
- TAYLOR BRANCH
deters these athletes from taking classes that may
interfere with their sports. Thus, these athletes
educations are obviously subordinate to their performance on the court or field. Fans
purchase jerseys with players numbers on them, watch their favorite teams on
television, and pay to attend games. Since the athletes are considered students first or
amateurs are they not entitled to the money that is derived directly from their hard
work? How can these athletes spend 50 hours each week on their sports, but still be
considered amateurs? In addition, why are these athletes compromised educations
used as a way to prevent a logical flow of money from the fans to the players.

Civil rights historian Taylor Branch goes as far to say the term student athlete
enables the NCAA to run like a plantation, depriving athletes of their rights guaranteed
by the Constitution. Sure this may seem extreme; however, college athletes, many of
whom happen to be African American, put in long hours each week without any
compensation.[12] In fact, 57.1% of college football players and 64.3% of college
basketball players are black, so maybe this claim is not so farfetched at all.[13]

Past Attempts
Recently there have been multiple
attempts to right the wrongs that currently
hover over college sports. In 2014 the
Northwestern Wildcat football team
attempted to unionize. The players were
upset by the classification of a sport as an
extracurricular activity, as the dierence in the Northwestern football
time commitment between a club and a Division 1 sport is gigantic. In players put in a great
addition, college sports make their universities money, while clubs deal of time into a
generally do not. Instead, the Wildcats believed that being player on the program that makes
football team should be considered a full time job, and as employees of the the university money;
university a union was necessary. The case went to court where the however, the players
National Labor Relations Board found the Wildcats spent a ridiculous 1750 are not compensated.

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hours each year on their sport. This time commitment meant
that players were unable to pursue academic goals in
NCAA sports has
deference to their performance on Saturdays. Hence, the used a false
scholarship that the players were being given was tainted as
the players could not really study what they may have wanted
notion of
to.[14] The Wildcats case has yet to be resolved and the players amateurism as a
continue to be deprived of money that they deserve.

In an attempt to organize the call for change, Kain

guise to siphon
Colter cofounded the College Athletes Players Association revenue that
(CAPA). The organization currently has 17,000 members, all of
whom are current or past Division 1 athletes, and is aiding in
would otherwise
Northwesterns unionization attempt. CAPAs goal is to redirect be used to
revenues from excessive salaries of coaches, athletic
directors, and NCAA employees in addition to cutting
protect the
spending on luxury athletic facilities. Instead of spending college athletes.
millions of dollars on facilities, CAPA believes this money
- CAPA
should go directly to the athletes. By fighting the NCAAs false
notion of amateurism, CAPA hopes to one day have paid
college athletes.[15]

What Should Be Done

While many have attempted to develop a way to rightfully compensate student
athletes, Joe Nocera, NCAA writer for the New York Times, has created a fairly feasible
five pronged plan that should be considered by the NCAA for mens basketball and
football.[16]

1. FREE MARKET SYSTEM

Coaches would no longer need to sweet talk players and their families, and
universities could stop spending millions of dollars on unnecessary facilities to
bring in recruits. Instead athletes would factor in the salaries each program
would oer to decide which school to attend. The next step would be the
implementation of a salary cap.

2. SALARY CAP
With a free market system comes the need for a salary cap. For mens
basketball the cap would be $650,000, with minimum salaries of $25,000. By
keeping the number of scholarships at 13, programs will have an additional
$325,000 to allocate as they see fit to the best players on their teams. Football
would have a much higher cap of $3 million, but the minimum salary of $25,000
would be the same as basketball. By dropping from the current 85 scholarships
to 60, the size of an NFL team, teams would have an additional $1.5 million to
allocate as they see fit.

3. EXTENDED SCHOLARSHIP
This part of the plan would actually make these athletes "student athletes.
Players who play for their teams for all 4 years and do not continue to play in a

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 professional league should be given an additional 2-year scholarship to
complete their degrees. This would allow players who are not fit to play
professionally to pursue worthwhile degrees that they are interested in instead of
the ones that require the least amount of time.

4. LIFETIME HEALTH INSURANCE

Because college athletes put a great strain on their bodies in order to succeed,
Nocera also calls for lifetime health insurance. At the very least, injuries that
come from strenuous stress on body throughout college should be paid for by
the NCAA.

5. PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
The final and most important part of this plan is the creation of an NCAA players
association. Although organizations like the CAPA do already exist, the NCAA
needs to recognize or create an ocial player association. This group would
negotiation the details of the rest of this plan with the NCAA.

The Other Side

The easiest and most common
argument against paying college athletes is
that college athletes at big schools already
get tons of cool clothing, are well fed, and
benefit from state of the art facilities and
While the NCAAs
the last thing that they need is money. What
President makes a
this argument fails to acknowledge is the approximately $3,500 that salary nearing $2
athletic scholarships fail to cover annually.[17] The NCAA is aware of million, he is unwilling
this problem and actually attempted to solve it in 2010 by adding a to give athletes a small
$2,000 stipend to scholarships. However, when universities retaliated, $2,000 stipend.
President Emmert cut the rule.

Another argument against paying for play is that it would

eliminate the strong connection alumni and current students have with
student athletes. Michigan alumna Ekow Yankah argues that the reason Wolverine fans
like her pack the Big House, Michigans enormous stadium that holds nearly 110,000
fans, is because the players on the field take the same classes and walk the same halls
as current and past Michigan students. Yankah believes that paying the athletes would
put them on a pedestal and eat away at the connection between the players and the
fans.[18] Yankah makes a very valid point, as paying college athletes has the potential to
reduce the amount of followers big college sports have. At the end of the day, however,
the connection an alumnus feels to a student athlete cannot be prioritized over the
quality of life of the athlete. Keep in mind this is the athlete living under the poverty line
whose source of income, barring a professional career, after graduation is a degree that
the athlete had very little time to focus on.

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The Trap
While baseball and hockey players
have the ability to go pro right out of high
school, agreements between the NCAA
and NBA[19] and NFL[20] prevent mens
football and basketball player from going
directly from high school to professional
leagues. Moreover, athletes who play
baseball and hockey can avoid playing
college sports but basketball and football
players simply have no other option. No
matter how skilled an athlete might be, he
is forced to take on the financial burden
that comes along with college sports. The The absurd bonuses
athlete will take on the shortcomings of that go to winning
athletic scholarships in addition to wear on the body that will shorten coaches in college
the athletes professional career, which will result in less income for the basketball[21] and
athlete. The people who benefit from less income toward the end of college football[22].
athletes careers are their college coaches. Hence, immediate action is
absolutely necessary as mens football and basketball players run into
the unavoidable trap that is college sports.

Call for Change

To conclude, the NCAA must amend its unfair financial structure in order to
benefit the college athlete, specifically mens football and basketball players, instead of
placing a burden on him. Although a solution very similar to Joe Noceras is necessary,
the first step the NCAA must take is the creation of some sort of players association
similar to the NFLs NFLPA or the NBAs NBPA. This could be achieved by recognizing
the CAPA as an ocial players association or the creation of something new. Ocials
of this players association would be voted on by college athletes across the country
with representatives from all sports to ensure every player has a voice. The association
will have the power to negotiate with the NCAA in order to redistribute the money flow
to those that work for it: the players.

It is time to end the injustice that the NCAA imposes upon its student athletes.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 Isidore, Chris. "The True Billion Dollar Winner in the NCAA Tournament." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 20 Mar.

2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

2 Huma, R., & Staurowsky, E. J. (2012). The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. A

report collaboratively produced by the National College Players Association and Drexel University Sport Management.
Available online at http://www.ncpanow.org.

3 Huma, R., & Staurowsky, E. J. (2012). The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. A

report collaboratively produced by the National College Players Association and Drexel University Sport Management.
Available online at http://www.ncpanow.org.

4 Isidore, Chris. "The True Billion Dollar Winner in the NCAA Tournament." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 20 Mar.

2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

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5 Berkowitz, Steve. "USA TODAY Sports." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 14 Apr. 2016. Web. 03 Apr.
2017.

6 Huma, R., & Staurowsky, E. J. (2012). The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. A

report collaboratively produced by the National College Players Association and Drexel University Sport Management.
Available online at http://www.ncpanow.org.

7 Huma, R., & Staurowsky, E. J. (2012). The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. A
report collaboratively produced by the National College Players Association and Drexel University Sport Management.
Available online at http://www.ncpanow.org.

8 "If You Thought Being A Big-Time College Athlete Was A Good Deal, You Need To See These Numbers." Upworthy.

Cloud Tiger Media, 17 July 2014. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

9 Isidore, Chris. "The True Billion Dollar Winner in the NCAA Tournament." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 20 Mar.

2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

10 Alesia,Mark. "NCAA Approaching $1 Billion per Year amid Challenges by Players." Indianapolis Star. USA TODAY, 27
Mar. 2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

11 Nocera, Joe. "Lets Start Paying College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

12 Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

13 Harper, Shaun R. "Black College Football and Basketball Players Are the Most Powerful People of Color on Campus."

The Washington Post. WP Company, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

14 Isidore, Chris. "Playing College Sports: A Long, Tough Job." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

15 "Front Page." College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). CAPA, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

16 Nocera, Joe. "Lets Start Paying College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

17 Nocera, Joe. "Lets Start Paying College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

18 Yankah, Ekow N. "Why N.C.A.A. Athletes Shouldn't Be Paid." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

19 Medcalf, Myron. "Roots of One-and-done Rule Run Deep." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures,

26 June 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

20 "The Rules of the Draft." NFL Football Operations. National Football League, n.d. Web. 03

Apr. 2017.

21 Crawford, Brad. "Roy Williams Cashes in Nearly $1 Million in Bonuses for Title." CarolinaBlue. 247Sports, 04 Apr. 2017.
Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

22 Robinson, Manie. "Tampa Trip Earns Dabo Swinney $1.3M in Bonuses." The Greenville News. USA Today Network, 05

Jan. 2017. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

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