NCAA’s Emmert: ‘Our job’ to solve athlete compensation

ANAHEIM, CALIF. >> NCAA President Mark Emmert spoke for 20 minutes Thursday in a crowded ballroom at the Anaheim Convention Center, two huge video boards on either side of the stage showing his image so the folks way in the back could see.

He said many outside that room view college sports as fundamentally unfair to the athletes. He said the public and political pressure the

NCAA is facing as its leaders try to find a way to allow athletes to make money off their fame is a symptom of that larger problem. As big-time college sports has become a multibillion dollar business, the public’s trust in the NCAA to do the right thing for athletes has waned, Emmert said.

“Yes, in some cases, we need help from Congress and from some others,” Emmert said. “But this is our job and we got to be clear about it. This is ours to improve and make better.”

Regarding the immediate issue of permitting athletes to be compensated for their names, images and likenesses, this convention was more about talking through solutions than producing one.

“Right now, everything’s on the table,” said Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, who is leading a group of athletic administrators charged with crafting new rules. “You’re early in the process.”

The short-term goal is to have recommendations for the NCAA Board of Governors in April that can lay the groundwork for legislation to be voted on next January. All of that could be trumped by what happens in Washington when federal lawmakers step into the business of regulating college sports.

“People in Washington want to know what the desires are of college sports and we need to work with them to help them figure that out,” Emmert told reporters after his speech.

Grace Calhoun, University of Pennsylvania athletic director and the chairwoman of the NCAA’s Division I, said small groups of athletic administrators are examining three areas where athletes could earn money. • Student-athlete work product, which covers things such as starting a small business, earning money for writing a book or charging for lessons in their sport. This is likely the easiest area to ease restrictions because currently the NCAA is granting a high percentage of waiver requests to permit these

• Individual licensing , which covers endorsement and sponsorship deals with a single athlete.

• Group licensing in which athletes could earn a percentage of profits from something like the old NCAA Football video game. The game was discontinued in

2014 when the NCAA was facing a federal antitrust lawsuit for improperly using athletes names, images and likenesses. activities.