NCAA Paying Division 1 Athletes

I would first like to thank my parents for encouraging me to actually start this blog. And thank my mother for coming up with the name Scooch Talks Sports. So thanks.

The first topic is about the NCAA paying Division 1 Athletes. To be honest I chose this due to the fact that 9 days ago I gave a speech in my freshman Oral Communication class and am familiar with this topic. I know a March Madness topic would be appropriate but I'm not one for cliches. When I started looking into whether the NCAA should pay these athletes we fans see on various networks like ESPN, CBS, NBC to name a few, I had the notion that they shouldn't pay these athletes. I thought it would lead to more off the field issues than already occur. I thought that combined with academic and athletic scholarships that those were enough. But those scholarships don't cover the everyday necessities that life asks of people. They don't cover money for gas or rent or food. These athletes don't have time to get a job and still fully participate in sports and school. So they are not able to earn money for these things, which in my head is at least one reason they are enticed by agents and impermissible benefits. Its obscene to think of an NFL or NBA player not being paid for their work. So why shouldn't an athlete who must deal with college classes as well as the "job" of entertaining millions of sports fans throughout the country?

The central idea that fuels this debate is the simple fact that the principle of fairness has been disregarded by the NCAA. As an intelligent college student, its very hard to remain in tact with the curriculum even if a couple of classes are missed or, in some cases, a week of class entirely is missed. In the case of college basketball. Look at UCLA's schedule. They played 31 games in the 2012-2013 season not including postseason. They had 18 conference games and finished 13-5. That leaves 13 non-conference games. On November 19th, they traveled to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to play Georgetown. A day later on the 20th they played Georgia in the same Barclays Center in Brooklyn. These games were played on a Monday and Tuesday of a week where classes were in session. Meaning these players missed those classes for basketball. This happens amongst a multitude of programs throughout the country. Players miss class when their teams play in their respective conference tournaments or the postseason tournaments. This culture, to me, illustrates that academics are not the forefront for these athletes. So the NCAA can quit harping on the whole "student-athlete" label.With these athletes traveling as the professionals, athletic scholarships should be done away with at the Division 1 level. Don't freak out. Instead athletes should be handled on a contract basis. Like the professionals. The money generated from these contracts would, in a sense, be the same as an athletic scholarship but with cash. If the athlete wants to put the money towards their tuition then go ahead. If they want to buy tattoos, or a car, or whatever then they can because it doesn't give the individual a competitive advantage over another. A model contract could be signing a basketball or football player to a 3 year contract for $90,000 with an option to stay for his senior year. This way, a player may actually finish his college education before risking it at the next level with nothing to fall back on. Imagine the stardom and hype that college basketball would get if players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had stayed all 4 years.

This stardom can be controlled in more ways than one. A salary cap. This way the students who are not involved in athletics are not punished because tuition rises due to the fact his/her school wants the number 1 recruit. The theory is that each sport takes care of itself. Say the salary cap for football is $20 million. Keeping that in mind, Georgia football made over $52 million in profits simply in football. With a salary cap of $20 million for football, Georgia would still have over $30 million of profit. This $20 million would be rationed to incoming recruits or seasoned players. These profits would become the makeup of these contracts. In basketball, the top profiting programs for the 2010-2011 season were Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals and Coach K's Duke Blue Devils. Louisville maxed out at $40.9 million while Duke generated a solid $28.9 million. Like football these schools could have a $5 million salary cap and have ample enough to pay for their recruits.

The part that will be hard to swallow for some people is the capitalistic view of paying these athletes. Bottom line, only profiteering schools would be able to afford higher level players. The Louisville's and Duke's of the college basketball world are the teams that are watched constantly on television and constantly play in Conference Championships and National Championships as well as the Oregon's and Alabama's of the college football world. These schools are mainly responsible for providing the NCAA with 92% of its revenues which comes from the entertainment from watching these teams play. This is why they make the most profits in their respective sports and why the higher level recruits will be paid by these schools.

Now for the mid major fans for basketball out there don't worry. This is because the players that a Butler and VCU attract are not the same level of players that are going to be recruited by the powerhouses of basketball like Kansas, UNC, Kentucky, and Duke. These smaller schools would still be competitive against these bigger schools even with those athletes being paid because those athletes being paid were not going to go to those mid major schools anyways.

The final piece to this puzzle would be the installment of a players union which oversees the contracts and agreements between schools and players. A standard contract, as stated before, would be for 3 years with a chance to opt for a 4th year. If a coach leaves a school, the player should be allowed to renegotiate his contract and potentially transfer. The athlete would be allowed one transfer per 4 years but would have to renegotiate their contract with the school they are transferring to. This player's union would also provide agents and consultants to help the athletes handle potential draft status and advisers to help manage the money they are receiving. This prevents athletes from blowing it on useless luxury items.

Final Statement: The more these athletes are watched by fans like you and me, the more pressure the NCAA will feel due to the blatantness that the NCAA takes advantage of these athletes with.

Scooch