Actually there is a model that the NCAA could consider: patents and royalties that are awarded to faculty.
There is one time of the year that I don’t want to see my alma mater in the sports headlines — off-season. That means a) the school has violated an NCAA rule, or b) one of it’s athletes has committed a crime. I facetiously refer to off-season sports as “The Crime Page.”
Pundits are challenging the status quo, and it is about time. Even for schools that make Herculean efforts to maintain the rules, they get caught “making a phone call,” or the coach happened to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time when a possible recruit was near by, or they sent an e-mail to somebody. Anyone who has watched “The Blind Side” will get a healthy dose of the paranoid atmosphere that describes NCAA athletics. I can’t imagine the frustration of coaches and athletic directors, much less the 18 year olds and their parents.
But even they will agree that rules are needed. Kids are abused. Sometimes the greatest enemy of a successful athletic program is a well-meaning alumnus who can’t keep his wallet in his pocket. For all the cars that may be doled out to super-athletes, such favoritism does not help in sports because they are team sports, and team morale is often the difference between success and failure. In essence, rules may be needed because it is in the coaches best interest, or that of the institution.
So Pete Fiutak of FoxSports makes this comment:
“Really, was it so bad that Terrelle Pryor allegedly made money from signing things? (By the way, I write that in plain view of the Pryor-signed football given to me as a gift last year.) Is it really that bad if a booster wants to take a player out to dinner, or hand him $100, or give him a car? Is it really morally wrong to make a deal with a marketing company while still in college, sell a tee-shirt for some extra cash, or go to a party thrown by an agent? Of course not.
NCAA, its time to change the focus of your mission. Instead of trying to police all the minutiae, realize whats truly important. Do more research on the concussion problems. Finally, start doing something about the underreported and completely unnoticed steroid and performance-enhancing drug problem. Work harder at helping players be students. Basically, focus your energy elsewhere.
NCAA, this is fixable, but you have to become realistic. Times have changed and you need to, too.”
Is Mr. Fiutak right or wrong to make these assertions?
Then there is Steve Spurrier and company who suggested that “small” stipends be awarded athletes such as $300 spending money for each game. Is he misguided or is he addressing something that he has observed amongst his players over the decades.
Are the SEC coaches right or wrong to suggest spending-money?
Spurrier is onto something. For many athletes, even the super-stars, an athletic scholarship may cover educational expenses, but none of the living expenses. My daughters have attended MU with various scholarships, but none of them covered living expenses. If you pay attention to sports articles about athletes, you may be surprised to read that many appear on campus with nothing but a dorm room bed to sleep on. All they possess is in a suitcase, and all the wealth they possess are a few dollars in their wallet. So for those students who cope with such restrictions, does it build team morale when some players drive around in BMW convertibles, while others walk? Amplify that further, what if the guy driving the Beamer is a third string quarterback, and the guy who walks is the guy everyone comes to see on Saturday afternoon? The latter contributes to the allure of millions of dollars.
The fault of Spurrier’s suggestion is “Where will it end?” First, it is $300. Next, what will it be?
So we are back to Fiutak’s suggestion. Maybe we need to realize that if an athlete obviously possesses “marketable worth”, then what’s the point of denying him or her compensation? Let’s take a look at Mr. Pryor. For Pete’s sake (that’s just a generic Pete, not Pete Carroll), what sense does it make to cut down a successful football program over a tattoo? Yet, if you were coach, how would you feel if one of your players sold their bowl rings? Would it be appropriate for the coach to set the rule in this case? Or the institution? If a local T-shirt retailer finds a particular player a role model that would enhance the image of their operation, why not?
And what about the “millions” that elite schools rake in? Shouldn’t athletes get part of the action? Or would that simply reduce college athletes to free agents?
First, the so-called “millions”. Let’s use the University of Missouri’s patent rules as a guide.
From the University of Missouri Business Policy and Procedure Manual:
“Costs and Royalties
The University pays all costs when it elects to prosecute a patent application on a disclosed invention. The inventor receives 33-1/3 percent of gross royalty as personal income. After expenses are offset, the campus receives one-third of the net revenue; the inventor’s academic department receives one-third; and the University’s share is one-third. All net royalty income to the University, campus and department is reinvested in the research and patent program.”
The operative phrase is “After expenses are offset”. Athletic programs are a lot like funding in any other academic department. If a professor conducts research that attracts millions of dollars in grants, it must be considered that the resources provided by the institution and the department factor into that success. A research project often requires lab facilities, and these facilities rest alongside academic facilities, and both rest on university land, maintained by university personnel, with students being drawn in by a combination of several factors, much of with is due to what the university provides, not just the department, and for most campuses all this at the gracious taxation of citizens of the state.
Similarly, college athletics does not operate in a pay-as-you-go basis for each sport. The “millions” garnered by football television coverage, for example, usually translates to much less for football. A bit goes into facilities, usually matched by private contributions. Most goes into supporting other athletic programs, some of which is required through Title IX regulations requiring equitable funding of women athletics. If anything marks the administration of Athletic Director Mike Alden it is the fact that MU has one of the best athletic programs in the country, putting onto the field successful teams in almost every sport. That does not happen by accident. It happens, in a large part, to the distribution of the wealth of one program to help build another.
So if a super athlete can claim that he needs part of the action, he enters an environment where the bit he draws to the football audience is distributed to support the efforts of the relief pitcher sitting in the dugout at the baseball game, or the freshman swimmer competing in their first meet, or the gymnast hoping to nail down the dismount from a balance beam. “After all costs are met ….”
In some respects, allowing an athlete to gain personal rewards for their efforts on the field may diffuse the problem of how to distribute any presumed benefits for the University. But anyone who loves sports can tell you that one player does not spell success. The Miami Hurricanes had seven athletes taken in the last NFL draft, compared with only three from Missouri. Yet Missouri was by far the better team. And while it is true Chase Daniel was a record-breaking, Heisman-candidate quarterback, any fan of Missouri football over the past three decades can tell you that one of the remarkable things about the team today is that the quarterbacks are protected, the running backs are above-average, there is an arsenal of receivers to throw to, and the defense actually does a pretty good job as well. Put all those factors together, and it spells success. And did I mention the fact that Missouri graduates almost all the players?
So how does one parse out success? For the faculty member who invents something, as an employee of the University his rewards are limited. But as an individual, his options are unlimited (aside from restraints of professional ethics). There is nothing the University can do to regulate royalties from books he writes, remunerations from speaking engagements, or any returns he may get from tangential effects from his invention. Any department worth it’s salt recognizes the fact that if it fails to recognize the market value of its faculty, it will lose them. It’s that simple.
What if a similar rule applied to athletes? They get a car! Wow, isn’t that nice. Then who gets screwed when they forget to mention that fact in their tax filing? Every benefit has to be reported to somebody unless an athlete wants to go to federal prison. Assume they get a $30,000 sport’s car from a local dealer. The University can require reasonable compensation because the value of that success is derived from the venue in which the athlete plays.
No harm done except one thing — how does an athlete with no job pay up $10,000? Part of that answer may reside in Alaska! Alaskans export a lot of oil. But instead of giving it all to the governor, about 5% is put into an investment fund. Similar to an annuity, a percent of the profits are distributed to it’s citizens every year, the infamous Permanent Fund Dividend (you know, the one Homer Simpson got when he crossed the border into Alaska).
Apply that to big-time college athletes. Take 5% of the revenues and place into an investment fund. Distribute all or part of the profits to the athletes who have fulfilled the terms of their scholarship — participated and graduated. It wouldn’t surprise me that in the end it would not be a large check. And maybe that’s the point! For 99% of the student athletes who never are superstars, it is the whole experience that really counts, going to college, almost all expenses paid, and having a great time, working under a disciplined program that builds physical strength and agility, mental discipline, and a pursuit of excellence. THAT IS WHAT IS OF VALUE TO THEM!! Yet it recognizes as well that for every Chase Daniel who threw a football, or a Brad Smith who electrified the crowd with 75 yard runs, there were 21 other players out there who made it count for something. THEY ALL DREW THE CROWDS!
So if an athlete is really that “super,” then he can reimburse the University like any other super-star: cash. If cash is not readily available, then he could have it taken out of future dividend payments. If he does not graduate, he owes the University. And pity the poor sucker who gave him the car!
Other sources:
Financial Aid
Individual colleges or universities award athletics grants-in-aid (often described as scholarships) on a one-year, renewable basis. They may be renewed for a maximum of five years within a six-year period of continuous college attendance. Aid can be renewed, canceled or reduced at the end of each year for many reasons. If a student-athletes aid will be reduced or canceled, the college or university must provide the student-athlete with an opportunity to appeal.
Financial aid is awarded in various amounts, ranging from full scholarships (including tuition, fees, room, board and books) to small awards that might provide only course-required books. Such partial awards are known as equivalencies. Some Division I sports (including Football Bowl Subdivision football and basketball) do not permit equivalencies.
All scholarships from any source in any amount must be reported to the college financial aid office. The total amount of financial aid a student-athlete can receive and the total amount of athletics aid a team can award may be limited. These limits can affect whether a student-athlete can accept aid from other sources.
Athletics financial aid can be a tremendous benefit to most families, but some costs are not covered (for example, travel between home and school). Also, although the benefits of athletically related financial aid are substantial, the likelihood of participating is relatively small. Any young person contemplating college attendance should use high school for legitimate academic preparation.
