CURTIS HENRY
Sports Editor
“They’re already getting scholarships.”
“There’s no way to pay fairly.”
“There’s no reason to pay athletes that aren’t professionals.”
I have heard it all and am absolutely sick of it. The NCAA is a billion dollar industry, and at this point there is no reason to prohibit Division I athletes from making money beyond their scholarships.
While players at the Division I and II levels of NCAA play do receive scholarships — often times, full rides — these scholarships can drastically differ in value. While these scholarships can cover costs up to $60,000 or more per year at certain private universities, they are worth as little as $26,000 at universities like California State Fullerton. The wide disparity in scholarship value is one factor that often goes undiscussed when people mention scholarships serving as a sufficient means of compensation.
Additionally, these scholarships are not always guaranteed past one year. Often times, programs rescind scholarships in the wake of an injury. Even more harrowing is the realization that there is no need for any coach to provide a reason to rescind a scholarship from any player. It doesn’t even have to be as drastic as a detrimental injury; players can get cut loose over petty disagreements with coaches.
Some schools have begun to distribute four-year scholarship guarantees to incoming athletes, citing morality as a main reason to provide athletes security. However, these four-year guarantees are still only offered to the best of the best. In 2013, Ohio State University had 725 athletes on scholarship. The university led the nation with 104 multi-year scholarships, but still had 71 scholarships rescinded from the year before.
Nothing about a scholarship is ever truly guaranteed, which makes the argument that these scholarships are enough compensation all the more shaky.
The NCAA will make more than $800 million dollars per season over the next few years based on the organization’s contract with CBS to broadcast the men’s basketball tournament alone. That figure is set to increase to more than $1.1 billion per year beginning in 2024.
2012 was the most recent year that an audit was done on the NCAA. That year reported $705 million in revenue for the NCAA based on the television contract for the March Madness tournament alone.
If the NCAA were to cut that number in half — for our intents and purposes, we will put the number at around $350 million — and offer its players across the 351 eligible Division I programs an even split, all 13 players on each roster could be given $76,704 per year. That is every player on every team, regardless of the team’s final record.
If you wish to cut the number down to only the 68 tournament teams to incentivize qualifying for the tournament, the NCAA could pay each player an astounding $395,927 per year.
This is money for the players that would be earned by the players. Let’s not forget that the players generate the product that is earning both the NCAA and the schools that operate under NCAA guidelines a copious amount of money.
The easiest solution is one that would be beneficial to both the players and the NCAA. It would enable the NCAA to continue hoarding all of the earnings of its billion dollar product while allowing players to capitalize from themselves.
This solution is to allow players to make money off of their athletic likenesses. It would be in addition to the current scholarships that players earn from their respective colleges, but would not dig into the profit that the NCAA gains at all. It also puts to rest the age-old quandary regarding distribution of cash to players.
Players making money off of their likenesses would allow for them to make the most of their own marketability while not taking away from those who lack any market value. For instance, someone like Marvin Bagley at Duke University is a highly marketable player who could stand to profit from endorsement deals, selling autographed memorabilia and other things of the sort. He would be able to capitalize on his own likeness, something that is worth millions of dollars already at the tender age of 18.
This issue also rose earlier in the year at the University of Central Florida, when kicker Donald De La Haye was forced to forfeit his scholarship due to making money off of his YouTube channel. De La Haye was cited by the NCAA for “monetizing videos that depicted his abilities as an athlete,” meaning that by marketing himself and making money off of his craft, De La Haye was committing an NCAA violation.
It is time that the NCAA makes a change. Athletes can lose their careers at any moment due to catastrophic injuries. It is time that the NCAA recognizes the fact that for its most recognizable athletes, scholarships aren’t enough.