The NCAA sells recruits on a dream. But are they the ones that are actually killing that dream? The student-athletes that are employed by the NCAA are unlike any other employee in the fact that while the boss continues to make ridiculous amounts of money, they never see one cent of that profit.
Ben Simmons and Reggie Bush, NCAA Outlaws
Ben Simmons recently was given his own documentary by Showtime, which glorified the “one-and-done” era of 
“The NCAA is messed up, I don’t have a voice,” he said in the documentary. “I don’t get paid to (play basketball). Don’t say I’m an amateur and make me take pictures and sign stuff and go make hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars off one person. I’m going off on the NCAA. Just wait, just wait. I can be a voice for everybody in college. I’m here because I have to be here [at LSU]. I can’t get a degree in two semesters, so it’s kind of pointless. I feel like I’m wasting time.” NCAA president Mark Emmert fired back at Simmons’s comments, saying that the NCAA “[doesn’t] care if you go play ball.” (Note: Mark Emmert’s last reported salary was $1.7 million in 2012).
Simmons went on to point out that the NCAA makes billions of dollars on “amateur” athletes while the athletes themselves do not see any bit of the profit, and will actually be penalized if they receive any compensation. Think back to the Reggie Bush case. In the middle of his second NFL season in 2007, Bush, along with his family, were sued by agent Lloyd Lake, who claimed that he gave the family gifts worth over $290,000 while the star running back scored touchdowns and won the Heisman Trophy at USC. According to reports, Bush’s mother received a car and money to help pay for a house. The only thing that made this illegal in the eyes of the NCAA was the fact that Bush suited up for the Trojans on Saturdays. If Lake had decided to distribute those same gifts to a regular USC student, the NCAA would not have batted an eye.
While it is the NBA’s rule that requires student-athletes to be at least one year removed from their high school graduation before they play in the league, there is no rule that those student-athletes must play in college. Emmanuel Mudiay and Brandon Jennings took advantage of this. Each of these high school All-Americans spent one year overseas after graduation, earning money before making the leap to the NBA.
In an effort to speak with an advocate for NCAA athletes being paid, I reached out to ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who himself was a fine college athlete, who played basketball for the Duke Blue Devils from 1983-1986. Bilas acknowledged the need to eliminate the current system, which only allows for athletes to receive expenses necessary to attend the school and compete in their given sport. The issue with that, he says, is that not all athletes receive a full-scholarship to play their sport. With a full-scholarship, the athlete does not have to pay for food, room and board, tuition, or books. In a lower-budget sport such as baseball, which I currently play at the University at Albany, it is extremely rare to have anybody on the team receive a full-scholarship. What is more common is the allowed number of scholarships to be divided into partial scholarships to ensure that most of the team receives some sort of aid.
It’ll Destroy the Game. Wrong.
Many purists argue that paying student-athletes will destroy the “amateurism” that makes college sports so enjoyable. Bilas argues that “amateurism is a shame concept,” that the NCAA has conditioned people to believe in. In reality, what is the exact distinction between an amateur athlete and a professional athlete? Yes, pro athletes earn money, but don’t college athletes earn money as well, in the form of scholarships. The real difference between a pro athlete and an amateur athlete is that when a pro athlete makes their bosses a lot of money, they are compensated generously, while college athletes are not paid for the use of their likeness. Yes, the school won’t print a student-athletes name on the back of uniforms for sale, but if you are buying a Louisville football jersey this Fall with the number 8 on it, it is really quite obvious that it is meant to be a Lamar Jackson jersey.
If there is a line drawn between amateur athlete and professional athlete, why then is there no line drawn between amateur student and professional student? An interesting point that Bilas mentioned was that the NCAA did not intervene and rule Natalie Portman ineligible while she earned millions of dollars acting while she was enrolled at Harvard College.
“Do you worry about any employee getting paid more and ruining their ‘experience?'” Bilas said. “Then why do we worry about that for athletes?”
He is right. Paying athletes would actually enhance their so-called “college experience,” an over-used cliche thrown out by high-school guidance counselors who don’t know which direction to steer their students trying to make a college decision. If you were being paid what, at that point in your life is a lot of money, wouldn’t you be tempted to stay longer? If athletes are paid to play, many will decide to stay and graduate, rather than jolting for their professional league, often with mixed results. In the 2016 NFL Draft, 30 out of the 96 underclassmen who declared early for the draft went undrafted. While there is nothing stopping them from going back and getting their degree, if they were getting paid to be at that school, why leave and risk going undrafted, knowing you will be paid no matter what when you come back to play your senior season?
Stop paying coaches so much money. Seriously. Jim Harbaugh, head football coach at Michigan, will make $9 million this year to coach amateurs. The scariest part is, the NCAA is okay with this. Rutgers head football coach Chris Ash, who’s team is currently 2-7, will make $2 million this year. To put those salaries into perspective even more, the President and his cabinet make just over $3 million per year, combined. Thirty-four college football coaches will make more than that this year.
“There is nothing that is stopping Nick Saban from being a volunteer coach at Alabama,” Bilas stated.
Harbaugh makes more than any NFL head coach. Sean Payton, head coach of the New Orleans Saints, is the highest paid NFL coach at $8 million a year. Personal greed has taken over a so-called amateur sport, and by those who don’t even play the sport.
So, what can we do about this? Forbes recently published an article detailing how paying college athletes is realistic, and will not harm the NCAA, using a salary cap system. However, Bilas argues that the only way to set a salary cap in sports is by collectively bargaining it, something done between the player’s union and all of the colleges. Since the NCAA does not allow unions to be formed (see Northwestern football), this is unrealistic. Rather, what Bilas proposes is an extension of the pre-existing “free-agency system” that is the recruiting process. Instead of only being able to offer scholarship money, coaches will be allowed to offer their recruits actual salaries, the same way that a free-agent system works in professional sports. He also argues that paying the athletes will not change anything about the game. People will still love college sports for the same reasons they love it now, when student-athletes are not getting paid.
Seth Davis, college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, is a noted opponent of student-athletes being paid. He wrote an in-depth article for Sports Illustrated about this issue. Unfortunately, I was unable to reach Mr. Davis for an interview.
Nigel Hayes, a senior forward on the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team, has spent a lot of time this year speaking out about being a “broke student-athlete.” He recently went on ESPN and gave a compelling interview about becoming the new face for the cause. Not only did he touch on the lack of compensation for the athletes, but also the sacrifices we make just to be able to play the sport, or sports, that we love. Spring-sport athletes do not get a spring break like other college students. Winter-sport athletes do not get a Thanksgiving or winter break. Fall-sport athletes have their summers cut short by classes and practice. Clearly, we sacrifice more than the average college student. So, why does the NCAA put insane restrictions on us, and allow free-reign for the regular college student? Paying student athletes a yearly stipend of $2,000-$3,000 will only cost the NCAA roughly $11 million off of their $90 million profit. Just 12% of an already ridiculous profit will be lost, and their true employees will benefit. So yes, it is possible. Your move NCAA.