The recent ruling that Northwestern University football
players can form a union has pierced the farce that this multi-billion-dollar
industry is all about amateur student athletes.
While there is great value in the scholarships the student
athletes receive, that’s nothing compared to the $18 billion in TV rights for
football bowl games and the basketball tournament, not to mention all the
merchandise, sponsorships and ticket sales. The players make people want to
attend the games and buy the jerseys, yet they don’t benefit from the business
side of their success, their long days practicing and putting their bodies at
risk of crippling injuries and concussions. The people in suits, the coaches
and the athletic directors, reap the rewards.
Don’t forget the TV networks and other media that sell
advertising off the blood and sweat of these supposedly amateur competitors.
How is it that coaches and athletic directors are allowed to
receive bonuses for reaching bowl games, winning conferences or athletes
winning individual national titles but the athletes aren’t? How come their
contracts can include a car and phone allowance, expenses the athletes often cover
out of pocket?
These players face considerable dangers by competing.
Concussions, nerve damage, joint injuries that can linger for years – these aren’t
just issues for professional leagues like the NFL. The same brain injuries that
debilitated former NFL greats happened to former college players, even if they
don’t attract as much attention because they aren’t as famous. At least the NFL
has agreed to compensate retired players for their health problems – thanks in
great part to unions.
The Northwestern players want the university to guarantee
medical coverage for them once their playing days are done, and to put them on
four-year scholarships so they can’t be released any year on the basis of
injury. The players also proposed receiving aid for graduate degrees.
They aren’t asking for cash. I don’t think paying them
should be off the table, but it shouldn’t be a huge windfall. They deserve an allowance
to cover their expenses, something that would be equal at every university
based on cost-of-living adjustments for the region and equal across sports as
well. Plus, players should share bonuses for reaching milestones like bowl
games and championships.
Perhaps if the players got some gas and jeans money they
wouldn’t be so vulnerable to accepting handouts from boosters.
The counter argument to paying players is that the small
school won’t be able to compete with the big schools. That’s correct, but there’s
a way around it. Handle it like a tax, with all universities paying in and a
central authority, perhaps a vastly reformed NCAA, doling out the money equally,
reviewing the milestone bonuses and overseeing retired player benefits.
Let’s make sure our college athletes get taken care of long
after the spotlights fade.
