This opinion piece was originally supposed to be part of a series about the problems with the system that governs intercollegiate athletics in the United States. What are the concerns of those in university administration? How about the folks who run the various athletic departments? Significantly, how should we, the fans, feel about things that may concern us about the way the system is set up? If we are conflicted about the status quo, should that impact our ability to enjoy the fantastic contests produced by the outstanding young “student-athletes” competing on behalf of their academic institutions at every level. Well, the death of collegiate amateurism is impending, so it is time for each of these constituent groups to prepare for the next phase, whatever that may be. For those of us who believe in justice and equality this is a GREAT thing.
Yes, “student-athletes” appears in quotes. In the two major revenue sports, though, these people represent highly-skilled yet underpaid labor within a multi-billion dollar enterprise. At the end of the day, the welfare and fair treatment of these young people is the only thing that matters. Their status is being argued, debated and litigated in sports columns and courtrooms from coast-to-coast, but there is only one logical conclusion to be reached when all is said and done: pay them what they are worth. What is that amount? I don’t know. Neither does anyone else. But a group of smart people can figure it out. All that is needed is the will to do so. The courts are in the process of providing that will. If the courts fail, then Congress will take up the fight against one of the few institutions (that should be) more conflicted than Capitol Hill itself.
Old notions of amateurism have already been abandoned in other places—such as the Olympics and in International Track and Field—and rightly so. That the same has yet to happen in American collegiate athletics is something that should cause the NCAA shame. Mark Emmert and company have thus far forestalled the inevitable, but the current state of injustice simply cannot stand. The problem is that the forces on the other side of fairness all have much to lose by doing what they should.
The tired trope that paying athletes somehow destroys the spirit of the amateur experience is hogwash. Are the Olympics less enjoyable now that paid professionals participate in all sports? No, they are not. In fact, they are better because the very best in each sport compete against each other for the sake of national pride. How would college athletics be worse if athletes were allowed to profit from their names, images, and likenesses (NIL), at the very least? They would not, and to argue to the contrary is ludicrous. The argument that minor league sports and the Olympics have lesser ratings than NCAA Football as a justification to reject change is weak also. All sports–other than the NFL–have poorer ratings than NCAA Football. Please, let’s stop the silliness and focus on solutions, rather than continuing to fight progress by using false equivalence.
Judge Claudia Wilken is due to rule in the O’Bannon case any day, which will be the first—or second, if you count the Northwestern unionization ruling by the NRLB last fall—shoe to drop in the long journey toward wholesale reform of the current NCAA and its rules concerning amateurism. It has been humorous at times to note Judge Wilken’s reaction to the facts in the case. For instance, she had no idea that college coaches often have lucrative shoe and media contracts above and beyond their impressive salaries. This fact stands in stark contrast to the cash paid to the athletes actually competing on the field of play: $0. That Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski makes $9 million per season, or that Texas was reportedly willing to put together a $100 million package to lure Nick Saban away from Alabama to be its football coach–without the risk of having his lower leg shattered like that of his former star WR Tyrone Prothro–only serves to highlight the inequity inherent in today’s system.
The advocates for the current system have made several intriguing arguments in its favor during the course of the trail. And by intriguing, I mean specious. Let’s review some of these, and translate the statements for the uninitiated, like Judge Wilken. Star NCAA economics expert Daniel Rubinfeld stumbled while trying to describe different kinds of cartels to the Judge, causing NCAA attorney Greg Curtner to say later that “The NCAA is a cartel that does good things as opposed to a cartel that does bad things.” Translation: “The NCAA is a cartel. Period.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert stated that “To convert college sports into professional sports would be tantamount to converting it into minor league sports. And we know that in the U.S., minor league sports aren’t very successful either for fan support or for the fan experience.” Translation: “If we pay the kids what they are worth, there will be fewer dollars available to fund my exorbitant salary.”
Emmert also opposes payment to players while in school or at anytime afterward for the use of their own NILs, despite the fact that EA sports settled its part of the O’Bannon lawsuit for $40 million just before the commencement of the NCAA-O’Bannon trial. Translation: “If we pay the kids what they are worth, there will be fewer dollars available to fund my exorbitant salary.”
Yes, that last point is redundant to the point made previously. But isn’t that really what this is all about? Even a non-sports fan like Claudia Wilken can’t escape the same conclusion. That’s because it’s the only reasonable conclusion to be reached: pay the NCAA’s revenue-earning athletes, for the extra time spent in practice and film study, for the physical risks and emotional exertion endured for the sake of their universities, and for the massive profits that they earn for their schools and for its governing body, the NCAA.
It is right. It is just. It is time.
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