As the NCAA dawdles, lawmakers act
Big-time college sports is kneedeep in money. Last year, the two schools in the national title football game, Clemson and Alabama, had more than $57 million in ticket revenue. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has a 10-year contract worth $93 million.
UCLA’S sponsorship deal with Under Armour will earn the university $280 million over 15 years. The Big Ten’s six-year partnership with ESPN and Fox Sports is worth $2.64 billion.
A lot of people are getting paid handsomely for their association with intercollegiate athletics. But the students who make the tackles and sink the baskets are largely excluded from the cash haul. California legislators would like to change that, and we hope they will stimulate action to give players a better deal.
The NCAA has made some welcome changes in recent years. Scholarship athletes have always gotten a free education, but now schools in the five richest conferences can also give them stipends to cover all the expenses of attending. Limits on the food that universities can provide their athletes were abolished after University of Connecticut hoops star Shabazz Napier, who helped his team win the 2014 national title, revealed, “There are hungry nights when I go to bed and I’m starving.”
But players are still barred from making money off their exploits. Last season, Duke sold a lot of tickets and merchandise because it had the best basketball player in the country, Zion Williamson. But the bulk of proceeds from his efforts went to others. California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley lamented, “Forget shoe deals and video games. NCAA athletes can’t make a little money over the summer coaching youth sports, can’t promote their social media, can’t model athletic wear, can’t accept groceries or help with rent or equipment.”
These young people have the equivalent of full-time jobs playing a sport, which they have to do while pursuing their studies. They also run the risk of injuries that could end their careers — a fact highlighted when Williamson, an 18-yearold freshman, went down in a game grabbing his left knee. The injury turned out to be minor, but had it been severe, he could have lost the lucrative NBA contract and endorsement deals that lay ahead.
The California legislation would let student-athletes be paid for the use of their names, images and likenesses, and to hire agents to handle such things. California schools would not be allowed to ban athletes for doing so. The bill passed both houses unanimously.
The NCAA opposes the change and warns that California universities could be barred from NCAA competitions. The organization asked the lawmakers to put off action until the committee it set up to study the matter finishes its report in October. The bill, if signed by the governor, wouldn’t take effect until 2023.
Attention is focused on the reluctance of the adults in charge of college athletics to loudly acknowledge that the current system mostly enriches … them.
If the NCAA had addressed the problem earlier, it wouldn’t have to worry about legislation. As it is, Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., has introduced a bill in Congress that would create a similar rule covering the entire country.
The unfairness of the status quo is apparent to just about everyone except those who are currently profiting from it. The NCAA and its member institutions can get busy devising solutions. Or they can continue to dawdle and let lawmakers do it for them.