NCAA’s Official Position

[Cane1923]

My goodness this generation will go down in history as the most softest, spineless generation ever. We have group crying bc they want college to be free and not have to pay back money they borrowed which is called student loans for a reason. Now we have a group of spoiled spineless kids who wants to be paid despite being on a full scholarship in which they will leave college debt free the very same thing ppl who take out student loans are complaining about. Can you imagine if it was depended upon this generation to storm the beaches of Normandy! If these kids get paid it will no longer be considered college sports in my eyes, it’ll be professional sports and you’ll get everything that goes with players that get paid to play the sport the play.

 

[Handsome Squidbum]

The players receive far more than just the value of a scholarship. There is value in the training facilities they are provided, the training staff, the food, the nutrition staff, the tutoring, the housing, the coaching, the equipment, etc. Add it all up, and the a football player at an average P5 school is likely receiving in excess of $300-$400 thousand per year, tax free.

The amount of revenue made by the NCAA or value of the scholarships is irrelevant. No one should be punished for profiting off his own likeness in the USA. I can understand a law like that in a Chinese university, not an American one. Can still be a "student athlete" while getting paid to appear in a local car commercial.

 

[kryptonite]

I feel like this letter opened the door for people to rip the NCAA and thus didnt do themselves any favors. Its like they still want to play that holier than thou line and this inadvertently highlights everything that's wrong with it.

My personal feeling is that, the NCAA has never had the interest of the student athlete at their core. From a marketing standpoint, sure they did. Otherwise they really couldn't exist. In actuality first and foremost its the money. Conference alignment, TV deals, marketing angles, story lines around games etc.

In the end what did everyone expect? This is what happens when you want to look the other way for so long while everyone feeds at the trough and gets fat. They ignored the opportunities to address this and find common ground. If they had sucked it up and negotiated as much of this in house... Maybe bit the bullet and swallowed somethings that they didnt want to do it wouldn't have gotten here.

Now the only entity bigger than them comes in out of left field and levies a decision that they REALLY dont want and in the process throws the whole thing into bigger chaos.

Now what? They kick out the most storied college basketball team of all time? Are they going to dump USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal etc out of football? You think that the PAC - 10 is going to just disappear. No way man. Too much money to be lost. I guess, no problem. USC and Notre Dame will just stop playing each other..

If I were a better, I would say you are going to hear of similar lawsuits coming up in other states in a hurry.

In the end this will change the balance of recruiting in football and basketball. It just becomes another category and people may have to deal with it. If you are in a big market you get a benefit. If not you dont. It may or may not be important to the individual athlete at the time of them signing on. Not to mention that there are plenty of athletes who dont become big until after they finally get to play. Hidden gems. Its not like there aren't a bunch of guys on NFL squads that come from non power houses..

Also keep in mind. Some of these big programs in rural areas like Alabama in football and Kentucky in Basketball already have multi million dollar marketing firms and operations in place. I fail to see that they can't utilize there brand as a way to assist in said endeavors if it becomes legal.

Im sure there are holes in my opinion. Just a gut reaction.

I mostly agree, but this?

"In the end this will change the balance of recruiting in football and basketball. "

That's exactly what it won't do. The rich will get richer as they always do.

 

[SayWhat]

I agree that this isn't the answer, but the NCAA is a steaming pile of sht. No organization can make that much money, pay their workforce that little money and still claim the moral high ground. For those of you who are about to say that a scholarship is payment, yes it is. But compared to the amount of money the NCAA is bringing in, it's a joke. There's no excuse not to share more of the money with the people that produce it. None.

And that nonsense about not being employees? You sure as sht better show up to work every day and believe you'll lose your job if you don't perform up to par. I fail to see in what way "student-athletes" are not employees.

What's all that about money the NCAA makes?

NCAA reports revenues of more than $1 billion in 2017

It is the first time the association has surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, although it had come close in two of its past three fiscal years.

www.google.com

Sounds like your issue is with the schools making money. At that, only 10 percent are profitable in tge last article I read in D1.

People ***** about the NCAA, but those *****ing only see a small percentage of the entire picture. Typically only looking at a few schools. The NCAA took a marketable product and turned it into a cash cow in some cases. It benefits many who aren't football or basketball powerhouses. Is the NCAA perfect, no. No big entity is, but should it go away and it become a free market, be careful what you wish for.

 

[PanamaCityCanes]

That's kinda the point...why can't there be for real penalties for college teams when their boosters get caught? Not to mention a legit effort to catch them.

Probably just the sheer number of NCAA members. Hundreds of athletes at each school and hundreds upon hundreds of schools.

 

[Canes1968]

And how is all of that paid for?

Viewership, ticket sales, merchandise sales, etc.

The point being that if you wanted true pay for play, it would generally result in the schools spending less money on training and facilities in order to pay the players. That might not necessarily benefit the players in the long-run.

 

[Canes1968]

That number is preposterously high.

It’s not. Take a school like Wisconsin for example that spends over $100m per year as an athletic program. They only have like 400 scholarship athletes. That’s $250k per scholarship athlete assuming it’s spread evenly across all athletes. Reality is, the spending is a skewed heavily toward football and basketball. Do the math.

 

[Canes1968]

And dont the tv contracts come in due to the hard work of the athletes? Should they not get a piece of they pie?

I would say that the overwhelming majority of revenues are due to the school brands, but yes, the players have some value and deserve some of it. However, it has to be done in a way that maintains a level playing field. Without a level playing field, the sport simply won’t exist for the long run.

 

[TheEye]

Anything that ****es off Mark Emmert is OK in my book...

 

[mirednmediocrity2]

Didn’t see the veto letter posted. Don’t shot me if it was.

Governor Newsom:

The 1,100 schools that make up the NCAA have always, in everything we do, supported a level playing field for all student-athletes. This core belief extends to each member college and university in every state across the nation.
California Senate Bill 206 would upend that balance. If the bill becomes law and California’s 58 NCAA schools are compelled to allow an unrestricted name, image and likeness scheme, it would erase the critical distinction between college and professional athletics and, because it gives those schools an unfair recruiting advantage, would result in them eventually being unable to compete in NCAA competitions. These outcomes are untenable and would negatively impact more than 24,000 California student-athletes across three divisions.

Right now, nearly half a million student-athletes in all 50 states compete under the same rules. This bill would remove that essential element of fairness and equal treatment that forms the bedrock of college sports.

The NCAA continues to focus on the best interests of all student-athletes nationwide. NCAA member schools already are working on changing rules for all student-athletes to appropriately use their name, image and likeness in accordance with our values — but not pay them to play. The NCAA has consistently stood by its belief that student-athletes are students first, and they should not be employees of the university.

It isn’t possible to resolve the challenges of today’s college sports environment in this way — by one state taking unilateral action. With more than 1,100 schools and nearly 500,000 student-athletes across the nation, the rules and policies of college sports must be established through the Association’s collaborative governance system. A national model of collegiate sport requires mutually agreed upon rules.

We urge the state of California to reconsider this harmful and, we believe, unconstitutional bill and hope the state will be a constructive partner in our efforts to develop a fair name, image and likeness approach for all 50 states.

Sincerely,
Members of the NCAA Board of Governors

• Stevie Baker-Watson, DePauw University
• M. Grace Calhoun, University of Pennsylvania
• Ken Chenault, General Catalyst
• Mary Sue Coleman, Association of American Universities
• John DeGioia, Georgetown University
• Michael Drake, The Ohio State University
• Philip DiStefano, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Mark Emmert, NCAA
• Sue Henderson, New Jersey City University
• Grant Hill, CBS/Warner and The Atlanta Hawks
• Sandra Jordan, University of South Carolina Aiken
• Renu Khator, University of Houston
• Laura Liesman, Georgian Court University
• Ronald Machtley, Bryant University
• The Rev. James Maher, Niagara University
• Denis McDonough, Former White House Chief of Staff
• Tori Murden McClure, Spalding University
• Gary Olson, Daemen College
• Denise Trauth, Texas State University
• Satish Tripathi, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
• David Wilson, Morgan State University
• Randy Woodson, North Carolina State University

#### Emmert

 

[mirednmediocrity2]

I would say that the overwhelming majority of revenues are due to the school brands, but yes, the players have some value and deserve some of it. However, it has to be done in a way that maintains a level playing field. Without a level playing field, the sport simply won’t exist for the long run.

Since WHEN has this sport EVER had a level playing field. They will find a way for these hayseed schools to have an advantage somehow.

 

[Canes1968]

Since WHEN has this sport EVER had a level playing field. They will find a way for these hayseed schools to have an advantage somehow.

It has always had a semblance of a level playing field. Things have certainly gotten out of whack lately and it's getting worse. Pay for play will only accelerate the issue.

 

[Go Canes!!]

It’s not. Take a school like Wisconsin for example that spends over $100m per year as an athletic program. They only have like 400 scholarship athletes. That’s $250k per scholarship athlete assuming it’s spread evenly across all athletes. Reality is, the spending is a skewed heavily toward football and basketball. Do the math.

What about the coaches salaries, building luxury suites, stadium upgrades, new dorms and facilities and the ADs salary.

 

[RVACane]

The players receive far more than just the value of a scholarship. There is value in the training facilities they are provided, the training staff, the food, the nutrition staff, the tutoring, the housing, the coaching, the equipment, etc. Add it all up, and the a football player at an average P5 school is likely receiving in excess of $300-$400 thousand per year, tax free.

Even if that’s all true, why should the NCAA be able to restrict people from earning income off of their own likenesses... let alone while they pay themselves and coaches zillions?

 

[Cane_Mutiny]

The NCAA is right -- freely paying players will probably ruin college athletics. But they have no moral high ground when they've conspired with the NFL and NBA to force athletes to play college ball before going to the big leagues. If you repealed those requirements in the revenue sports and gave high school kids the option to go pro right away, we wouldn't be having this conversation -- the top-tier kids would have the choice whether or not they value a college scholarship more than getting paid right away, so there wouldn't be any real fairness issues.

Of course, this may pull revenue away from colleges if the quality of play in D1 football and basketball is diluted and people don't want to watch... But it's the fair thing to do, and I don't think it would have that dramatic of an effect anyway. After all, most people aren't watching college sports because it's pro-level play, they're watching it because it's fun (see March Madness) or they have some connection to the college (see big-time college football).

 

[Super Mario Cane.]

This is going to be interesting. Amateur athletics will soon be the thing of the past. The NCAA will cave once other states pass this law. I'm conflicted because I do believe the kids should be paid but I also think college football will be ruined. I kinda rather the bagman continue it's business than government regulations. That's just me. Maybe things will work out.

Bruh seriously? The $EC Bagman has been single handily killing our elite recruiting.

 

[S.CarolinaCane]

I agree that this isn't the answer, but the NCAA is a steaming pile of sht. No organization can make that much money, pay their workforce that little money and still claim the moral high ground. For those of you who are about to say that a scholarship is payment, yes it is. But compared to the amount of money the NCAA is bringing in, it's a joke. There's no excuse not to share more of the money with the people that produce it. None.

And that nonsense about not being employees? You sure as sht better show up to work every day and believe you'll lose your job if you don't perform up to par. I fail to see in what way "student-athletes" are not employees.

the NCAA is a business, thats it. To be perfectly honest with you if the athletes that participate in these NCAA sanctioned events want to get paid, then there should be more of a movement towards semi-pro sports. I can guarantee you that college athletes will NEVER get paid what everyone argues their worth is...of course aside from the money that already secretly handed out.

 

[RedSquare]

"As we know it" is exactly right. It needed a major change, but the NCAA wouldn't do anything about it. They like the system they have in place, making billions of dollars off an unpaid work force. Anything that gives them the middle finger, I am fine with. I am sick of their corruption.

agreed.

i am absolutely in love with the destruction we are about to witness, and you can lay it all at the feet of that scumbag, mark emmert.

 

[Garnacho]

My goodness this generation will go down in history as the most softest, spineless generation ever. We have group crying bc they want college to be free and not have to pay back money they borrowed which is called student loans for a reason. Now we have a group of spoiled spineless kids who wants to be paid despite being on a full scholarship in which they will leave college debt free the very same thing ppl who take out student loans are complaining about. Can you imagine if it was depended upon this generation to storm the beaches of Normandy! If these kids get paid it will no longer be considered college sports in my eyes, it’ll be professional sports and you’ll get everything that goes with players that get paid to play the sport the play.

The main person who wrote the bill is 65 years old. Most people who approved it are in their 60s. The Governor is 51.

The main person advocating to get rid of student debt is 78.

 

[ThomasM]

agreed.

i am absolutely in love with the destruction we are about to witness, and you can lay it all at the feet of that scumbag, mark emmert.

The way the NCAA went after us... I believe the SOLE PURPOSE of all that crap was to not only hurt us, but to help bagging SEC teams come down and cherry pick talent. There was absolutely zero reason for it to drag on as long as it did, other than the reasons I stated. ***** the NCAA. Every bad thing that happens to that institution is deserved.