The legitimacy and authority of the NCAA is under attack, but it’s going unnoticed. Two Saturdays ago, 28 football players from Northwestern, Georgia Tech and Georgia protested against the NCAA during their games by writing APU on their wristbands and towels. The National Collegiate Players Association (NCPA) orchestrated this demonstration, known as the All Players United campaign. Its stated goals are to “demonstrate unity among college athletes and fans...stand behind individual players being harmed by NCAA rules...direct a portion of over $1 billion in new TV revenue to guarantee basic protections.”
Although casual fans of college football may not know the 28 protestors, they have certainly heard of the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. The outgoing quarterback allegedly breached his amateur status this summer by signing autographs in exchange for cash. The NCAA was unable to confirm the allegations, but still deemed that he violated NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1, which forbids “the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind” and suspended the quarterback for the first half of Texas A&M’s opening game.
Amateurism prohibits college athletes from being in contact with professional teams or receiving any type of benefits. In other words, the student-athlete is not allowed to earn money. This policy is in place “to ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably.”
Schools, on the other hand, have seemingly no obstacles in their ways when it comes to turning sports into profit. The Texas A&M booster club hosted a fundraiser where they charged $20,000 a table to sit with Manziel and David Crow, the Aggies’ other Heisman Trophy winner. The table was full. This cash cow was sanctioned by the NCAA and occurred in early August, the same time as rumors of Manziel’s autograph sales began to circulate.
The public outcry against the NCAA following the autograph scandal satisfied the NCPA’s first goal. Fans, sports commentators and entire media outlets are now questioning whether the NCAA should be allowed to continue suppressing student-athletes’ rights under the guise of amateurism.
Everyone profits from college athletics except the athletes themselves. Teams generate massive revenue and prestige for their schools and the NCAA. Alumni giving, student applications, merchandise sales and television ratings increase with the sports teams’ prowess. The better the football teams perform, the more money the schools and the NCAA make. As revenues increase, salaries increase. Coaching staffs use increased funds to search for better athletes in hopes of maintaining this profitable cycle. Players drive this revenue, yet many still must ask friends for laundry money.
If student-athletes leave the collegiate stage for professional arenas, they receive compensation. Rookies one year out of college receive hefty paychecks for doing the same thing they did the previous year.
But careers are far from guaranteed after college. Only 1.7 percent of NCAA DI football, 11.6 percent of baseball, 1.3 percent of hockey, 1.2 percent of basketball and 1 percent of soccer players enter any professional league after college. Student-athletes who do not sign a professional contract are left by the wayside. Their full-time collegiate commitment to sports—that often forced academics into the backseat—has no utility otherwise. They may be left without the academic accomplishments that employers seek. Even worse, their work up to that point is finished. Imagine spending four years doing something you are extremely passionate about, and then it’s suddenly all over.
Student-athletes cannot leave with financial gains according to the NCAA’s 2011-2012 financial statements. Approximately 96 percent of the $871.6 million revenue is “distributed directly to the Division I membership or to support champions or programs that benefit student-athletes.” The institutions have the means for providing the financial gains. The NCAA is nonprofit and uses the remaining 4 percent for general and administrative costs and salaries.
In order to provide income, schools need to remove the label of amateurism. The NCAA has made it clear this will not occur, so colleges should disband from the NCAA and restructure into an autonomous organization. Players should receive a monthly stipend based on the standard of living at their school and a small percentage of their team’s overall earnings from merchandise sales. This structure incentivizes performance and personal image, the two factors driving both team success and jersey sales.
The new organization of schools should allow professional teams to make offers to student-players as long as they finish the semester. If this change occurred, there is no doubt the nonprofit advocacy group NCPA would see their desired “basic protections” fulfilled: permanently injured players would receive guaranteed scholarships and no costs for medical bills, all players would receive scholarship increases of $3,000 to $5,000. After all, it is only fair that the people who start the movement at least have a say in it.