So i'm sitting in a cramped seat on a plane somewhere over Tennessee on my way to a wedding in Connecticut with my girlfriend Rachel and I had a thought... (and thanks to my lack of wifi, this post is three days late)
For years I have been a blind follower of the NCAA and it's rule regarding the payment of student athletes. It never really bothered me too much until just recently. Illegally paying players has been going on for years: Miami, Oklahoma, SMU, and even mighty Kentucky have all had NCAA scandals regarding student athletes receiving improper benefits from outside sources. However, a series of scandals at a few major universities has brought the issue to the forefront of debate regarding the integrity of college athletics. Two schools in particular, Ohio State and the University of Southern California, have both within the past year been accused of serious NCAA violations regarding money and student athletes. During the 2010 college football season we heard countless stories regarding recruitment and money, mainly centering around Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. The sad part about that "revelation" is that the majority of fans are not surprised. Most fans see it as normal. However, the NCAA does not condone such activities and usually punishes offenders harshly even though the rules do seem rather daft.
So here is the question... Can we adopt a system in which we can properly compensate student athletes while maintaining (or restore) the integrity of collegiate athletics?
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said last week at the SEC Meetings in Birmingham, Alabama that he would be opened to paying players. Spurrier recommended that players be paid out of the coaches salary. Under the Spurrier plan, players would be paid $300 per game. This represents the first "serious" attempt to move forward in college athletics. The plan I have for paying players starts with this model.
All schools can't afford to pay students $300 per game. Put it another way, all coaches cant afford to take that much money out of their salaries to pay student athletes every week. For this plan to work, there must be uniformity amongst all FBS schools. My plan is only meant for division one programs. My plan will also mainly focus on football programs. At the end, I will do a general overall breakdown.
1. The Regular Season: August- December
Players are usually fairly well taken care of during the regular season. Meals are provided as too is a small stipend meant to help cover the costs of living. The players will be compensated for games played. Each player will be paid the same amount, regardless of playing time. It's the only way to ensure fairness. Each player goes though the same amount of practice, prep, and sacrifice. It doesn't matter if you're the star qb or the star bench warmer, the demands of the program prevent you from holding a job. Players will still receive their living stipend on top of their game salary. This will help out small schools who don't generate a lot of revenue. The amount of compensation will be determined by taking a percentage of the revenue brought in by the team from the previous season and diving it amongst the players. The players will only be paid for the regular season games.
2. Bowl Season
Players will not be paid for the month of bowl prep. Instead, they will continue to be allowed to receive bowl swag which is sometimes worth $1000. This is the equivalent to a paid vacation since technically most schools are not in session during the bowl season.
3. Offseason
Once the final bowl game is played, the season is over. Players will be paid a smaller percentage during the off season. The amount will be determined by the revenue brought in from the fall home games. If a team went to their conference championship game, they will receive more per paycheck based on whatever the school is paid for appearing in the game. This payment will continue until the school year ends. It will be illegal to pay students during the NCAA dead period and when school is not in session.
As stated earlier, the plan presented only deals with football at the FBS level. Division 2 will more than likely be unable to pay players and division 3 doesn't even offer academic scholarships. Even at the FBS (division 1) level, not all sports will be able to pay athletes. The nature of college athletics is that not all sports make money. The top tier programs will be able to pay their student athletes, the lesser ones may not. It all depends on the popularity of that sport at each school.
Some will cry that this is not fair. It's perfectly fair. The plan I am presenting is based on basic capitalism. The major athletic programs make most of the money for every school: in this case football is king. A football player will make more than a baseball player and that baseball player will make more than a golfer. You never know, this could force more competition and better marketing programs to get people in the stands.
The main reason for offering this is to combat the extreme negativity and corruption in collegiate athletics. I will not compare student athletes to slaves and I really bemoan those that do. Paying these athletes will allow the NCAA to do two things:
1. It will help rid college athletics of corruption: allowing these players to have some "walking around" money will make them less likely to accept outside payments. Will it fully get rid of corruption? Of course not. But it will help to scale it back and to do one other thing...
2. It allows the NCAA to reduce its rule book and to have penalties that make sense: paying players allows the NCAA the ability to streamline it's rule book. If a player who is being paid still accepts outside benefits, we can do away with this ridiculous NCAA system of punishment that we have now. Accepting money after being paid can be dealt with and dismissed a lot faster than it is now. It's all simple: if you do what Terrell Pryor did, there is no excuse you can use. The rules will be simpler. Taking money is against the rules, period! You won't be allowed to play. None of this "well you can play in the bowl game scenario". Break the rules and you're done.
Paying players does another thing: it forces the student athletes to develop proper financial habits. How many times have you read a story about some famous athlete declaring to the world that they're broke? It happens all the time. Paying the players will allow them to do a lot of things, but within reason. They will have to manage their funds and live within their means. After all they're college kids. They shouldn't be buying 7 cars.
Will any of this happen? Doubtful. It would be nice to see something happen. Everyone is making money off of these student athletes except them. It's insane to tell them they can't sell their own stuff to make some money. Getting cars and tattoos is all a little ridiculous but a player selling his swag to get some spending money doesn't bother me. I was in college once, you didn't get to take girls out if you didn't have money. Let the kids have some of the wealth. There is plenty of it to go around.
Look at the bright side, when they screw up you don't have to pay them and you get that money back. Boom, capitalism.
Now can we please get this plane on the ground. I have to pee and the guy sitting by the lavatory scares me.
