Student athletes: that’s how players participating in sports at the collegiate level are described. That term used to be an accurate description. The young men at Harvard and Yale were already rowing crew in their free time, so in 1852 they decided to have a race and American college sports began. It was an extracurricular activity that grew out of a pastime that the students enjoyed for their own sake, and it elevated in intensity when they competed against a rival school, similar to a debate team or a quiz bowl. Princeton and Rutgers played the first college football game in 1869. Now, almost 150 years later, things have become more complicated.
Recently some student athletes attempted to organize in a way that would look out for everyone involved in college sports. Writing “APU” on their wrist tape, standing for All Players United, members of several football teams attempted to draw attention to a grassroots movement to affect ongoing NCAA reform.
The APU movement is supported by the National College Players Association and is the kind of unity college players will need to demonstrate if they want to get their fair share. Their goals include compensation for current players, supporting players in concussion lawsuits against the NCAA and support for the players in a lawsuit against EA Sports that could force EA Sports to pay for the licensing of player images.
Reported revenue for the NCAA in 2012 was $871.6 million. According to USA Today, the average salary for an NCAA football coach is $1.64 million. The television contract the NCAA signed with CBS/Turner for the right to broadcast their basketball tournaments for the next 14 years is worth $10.8 billion. We have moved a long way from a recreational game on the quad where the students put down their books for a few minutes to compete against the crosstown rival. This is big business, and the only people not getting paid are the ones who make it all happen.
The schools generate revenue, that they often turn around and reinvest in the athletic departments. Being competitive in sports raises the stature of a university, helps increase non-athletic enrollment and makes recruitment of even better athletes easier. The need to stay competitive in recruiting makes schools feel compelled to invest that money in the athletic programs—without high-end facilities and quality coaches, the best players go elsewhere.
Portland State is not one of the big money schools that is rolling in cash from exclusive television contracts and high-rolling donors to the athletic department. Most football programs in the Big Sky Conference operate at a deficit, but they are still important parts of the makeup of the constituent schools. Many of the arguments about the big money aspects of college sports are muted at the Football Championship Subdivision level, but the fact remains that PSU spends a significant amount of money to help its teams compete.
According to Forbes, in the 2011-12 season the average salary for the coaches of the men’s teams at PSU was $211,328. I don’t begrudge coaches Burton and Geving their salaries, and in the context of quality NCAA coaches, they are both bargains and PSU is lucky to have them. But if they are able to keep their respective teams moving in the right direction, there will soon come a day when we won’t be able to afford to keep them. A school with deeper athletic department pockets will come along and offer them a salary PSU won’t be able to match, because this is a business.
Many of the football players at PSU are here to get a degree and find a career that doesn’t involve wearing cleats to work. They just love football and appreciate the opportunity to play while going to school. Even the guys who think they have a shot at playing professionally know that a degree from PSU has value and is something that can help them in the future.
However, to say that all players are being adequately compensated for their time and effort with a free college education is absurd. What about the player who is not interested in receiving a college education? Should he—and the university he nominally attends—go through the motions of going to class? He has to; there is no alternative. The NFL and the NBA do not allow players to enter their respective drafts straight out of high school, and unlike baseball, there is no minor league system. College football and basketball effectively are the minor leagues for those sports. The player simply has to pretend to be a student while risking injury, putting in at least 20 hours a week of practice and game time and making money for the school.
This leads to a scandal every year or so involving a player taking money from a booster or signing autographs for money, just to have enough to go out for a pizza. That’s right, NCAA players can’t even sign their own autographs for money. That doesn’t mean memorabilia signed by players is unavailable, just that the school and the NCAA are the only ones who can profit from the sale. These are the same players—I’m sorry, student athletes—whose scholarships often don’t cover their basic living expenses. When your average student can’t afford pizza, he or she can get a part-time job or take out student loans. Athletes don’t have the time to work a part-time job because they are required to commit 20 hours a week to practice, and asking them to end their college careers in debt seems ridiculous after the revenue they have helped bring in.
Any system that is developed to pay the players will need to be carefully considered and structured. There will have to be an acknowledgement of the differences between the sports and the level of play. Establishing one rate of pay for student athletes across the board could shut down entire athletic departments. The sports that currently generate income are football and basketball. Scholarship players within those sports should receive a stipend in addition to their tuition that is commensurate to the value they bring to the program. If the outcome of this is the creation of a rate system wherein certain players of a higher caliber get paid more and it all starts to feel a little too much like professional sports for some people, too bad. It is professional sports, and it’s time we acknowledged it.
The NCAA and its member institutions are often strong proponents of tradition. Whether it’s the tradition of the annual exhibition games played in the football bowls or the tradition of student athletes just being happy to get an education, sometimes ideas become outdated. Nobody cares who won the Meineke Car Care Bowl, and in a world where athletes can sign eight- and nine-figure contracts in the professional ranks, you can’t expect them to play in the minor leagues for free.
So far, most players who have wanted to do something about this inequity have resorted to finding a back alley way to get paid. They sign some autographs or hang out with a booster and get a prepaid debit card or a $500 handshake. Every so often someone will shove evidence of these transgressions into the face of the NCAA, who, having no other options, will place some sanctions on the offending school. The player will have moved on to the NFL or NBA and will face no repercussions. Clearly this is a situation that needs to be addressed. Organizing is a good start, but they members of APU may need a more impressive display than writing on athletic tape with magic marker.
