For decades, the NCAA and its member schools have held onto the notion that an education was all a college athlete should receive for their time and trouble.
That idea largely went up in smoke in two forums last week. As a result, American athletics will never be the same.
On Thursday, the NCAA’s Board of Directors gave permission to some colleges to increase the value of what they offer to athletes. The 65 schools that compete in what are called the Power Five conferences – the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 12 and Southeastern – may now give athletes stipends.
Those stipends will cover what is euphemistically called the full cost of a scholarship. In real terms, that means the athletes will receive additional cash beyond the tuition, room, board, books and fees that a regular scholarship would entail. In addition, the athletes will have access to better health insurance than they currently can get from the schools. They’ll also be able to hire agents and advisers while still in college.
Those changes are a start, but hardly enough to adequately compensate the labor force that keeps the multi-billion dollar college sports engine running. The Power Five has already taken big time football under their control. If the Board vote had gone the other way, there would have been little to stop the big conferences from completely splintering off from the NCAA and going out on their own with basketball and other sports.
But, as important as that move was, the vote paled in comparison to the federal court decision Friday that reduced the idea of amateur athletics to rubble. A group of 20 athletes sued the NCAA five years ago. They claimed that while schools were making money by selling their names, images and likenesses to video game companies and apparel manufacturers, they were barred by the schools from doing the same.
Ninth District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that football and men’s basketball players from the highest collegiate level can earn money while they play for the use of their names, images and likenesses by schools.
But Wilken’s ruling wasn’t a complete victory for the players. The schools can cap the amount the players receive at just $5,000 for each year they’re eligible. And the players won’t get the money until their eligibility runs out. Also, the NCAA can still restrict athletes from endorsing products while they are still in school.
Wilken’s ruling will not affect any current or past athletes and will go into effect with the class that enters college in the fall of 2016. That should give the NCAA and its members enough time to formulate a plan to equitably distribute the billions of dollars it makes off the backs of young people. However, the NCAA has indicated that it will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.
The court’s decision and the Board of Directors vote leaves one big question: What will big time intercollegiate athletics look like going forward? We’ll attempt to address that in a future program.
You can reach us via e-mail with your questions and comments at sportsatlarge [at] wypr [dot] org. And follow me on Twitter: @sportsatlarge.