Money play for student-athletes
Proposal would let college jocks cash in on endorsements
As March Madness rakes in more than $1.1 billion in revenue for top-tier universities and college sports regulators, Sen. Barry Finegold says it’s time to give studentathletes a slice of the pie.
“Who are the true winners?” Finegold, an Andover Democrat, asks of the lucrative business of college sports.
In 2019, college sports programs took in $18.9 billion through ticket sales, television contracts, apparel deals and merchandise sales, according to the NCAA. Some of the money goes to schools where it covers sixfigure coaches’ salaries and state-of-the-art stadiums, but none of it trickles into players’ pockets per NCAA rules.
It’s a funding formula Finegold — once an amateur football player himself — says it’s time to change. This is the second legislative session in which Finegold has pitched his bill that would legalize endorsements for student-athletes in Massachusetts, but he says it’s more relevant now than ever.
“There’s a lot of talk right now about equity and fairness — most of these athletes are from lower socioeconomic status,” Finegold told the Herald in a recent interview. “In D1, highpriced recruits make all this money for these schools and at the end of the day what’s the benefit? So many end up leaving school early, not getting the full benefit of college and hoping for a professional career, but that can be a tough road to hoe.”
Finegold’s bill would allow student-athletes to earn compensation from the use of their name, image or likeness, without affecting that student’s scholarship eligibility — something currently disallowed by NCAA rules. College players could also enter a professional sports draft without affecting their college status and ability to play and would allow them to retain scholarships. It also allows studentathletes permission to hire agents and would establish a “catastrophic sports injury fund” to compensate student-athletes who suffer career-ending injuries.
The most recent NCAA data shows the graduation rate among student-athletes has slowly risen in the past two decades with roughly 90% of student-athletes who started college in 2013 earning degrees. But there is still a significant racial gap in graduation rates for Black athletes, with about 73% earning degrees last year, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
Public support to allow name, image and likeness opportunities for studentathletes has grown in recent years, with the NCAA itself now committed to changing the rules as a patchwork of state laws pop up. Finegold’s bill is modeled after California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, which passed the state Legislature in 2019. Florida passed a similar bill last year.
“The NCAA is best positioned to provide a uniform and fair name, image and likeness approach for all student-athletes on a national scale,” the organization said in a statement. But a January vote to adopt a new set of rules extending name, image and likeness rules to student-athletes was indefinitely delayed.
The NCAA Board of Governors last April supported rule changes to allow student-athletes to receive compensation for third-party endorsements. Thenchairman of the NCAA Board of Governors Michale V. Drake called the question of endorsements for student-athletes “uncharted territory” at the time.