Big-time college sports face a reckoning
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dec. 16 decision to hear on appeal a landmark antitrust suit on paying college players will deliver a second jolt in less than a year to big-time college athletics.
The court’s action follows a first jolt delivered by Covid 19, which is having the effect of electroconvulsive shock therapy on the system that governs collegiate sports. In this case, the patient strapped to the gurney is a deformity that has been chasing foolish goals, misallocating resources, and ditching academic priorities for nearly a century.
To illustrate: Over the past decade, big-time sports revenues skyrocketed by 50 percent while deficit spending soared to unheard of levels. Despite the $1.5 billion windfall in annual revenues from March Madness and the College Football Playoff, only a handful of big-time athletic programs operate in the black. The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics estimates debt at the biggest schools at $9.2 billion with almost nonexistent reserves. In the face of drastic cuts in television revenues and gate receipts, sport after sport is being cut in the so-called non-revenue category.
Irresponsible spending is clearly at the heart of the crisis. For years, big-time schools have been wasting millions on jock-only facilities that offer bowling, laser tag, slumber rooms, miniature golf courses, and other amusement park excesses to recruit and keep four and five star athletes. Between 2009 and 2018, coaching salaries increased by 99 percent and now stand at half a billion annually. Stadium upgrades include a $15 million five-story instant replay screen at Auburn University.
Schools getting the postseason money spend it any way they choose, and far too little of it goes to athletes or other students.
Adding now to this unsustainable jumble is the loud clamor to pay college athletes. The issue is getting more and more attention from Congress, where legislation to create a presidential commission on reform of college athletics has just been introduced. Most likely, pay for play would be its first priority Paying the players is a good idea, but what form should their compensation take? Outraged critics cite the unjustifiable spectacle of rich coaches patrolling the sidelines while their players – many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds – get scholarships but don’t get paid. The remedy demanded is called NIL—to let players license their Name, Image and Likeness to businesses and other interested parties for endorsements and social media posts. Several states have passed NIL legislation that becomes effective next year with what appear to be intractable details yet to be ironed out. It’s likely that a few stars will earn handsome rewards, while others don’t get much. Academics – including graduation rates – could suffer even more as players seek to boost earnings by en endless search for more social media followers.
The most valuable compensation for players would be is to insist that our colleges and universities fulfill their basic mission by giving them the education they need and deserve. The starting point should be to dedicate a significant revenue stream from March Madness and the College Football Playoff to further the education of college athletes—especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A few of the steps to accomplish that aim are:
• Cut out voluntary practice time and strictly observe the NCAA’s stated, but unenforced, limit of twenty hours per week.
• Teach freshmen literacy command, how to use a library, and other basic skills.
• Offer athletes more flexibility in meeting graduation requirements.
The return on such an investment would be enormous. Almost invariably, well-educated athletes lead high-impact lives. They build roads, bridges, and schools, find cures for dreaded diseases, and inspire the rest of us to excel. It would be a terrible mistake to keep wasting human potential—especially the talents of young minorities who believe sports are their only pathway to success. Achieving the full promise of America is the compensation our young athletes need and deserve.
The “win-at-all-cost” credo in college athletics has done great damage, mainly by undercutting the basic principle of academics first. Yes, we do need to pay the players—to pay them with an education that will guide them through a fulfilling life.