By Brooke Marendino
May 12, 2020 2:58pm
Currently, college athletes do not obtain any form of compensation if an item is sold with their name on it. Athletes are given a monthly stipend, which in most cases isn’t enough money to be able to take care of their selves and their needs.. Most of these athletes’ families are unable to send money to them, forcing them to either make amends meet other ways. NCAA colleges pull in millions of dollars from their sports teams, and yet not one penny goes into the pockets of the players. I’m here writing to you in hopes of expanding your knowledge on this situation and hopefully do something about it.
We've heard many stories from past to present about college coaches offering financial aid to players if they commit to their school. Athletes that come from low-income households find this as an opportunity to help their families out, as well as themselves. Coaches do sometimes get caught and fired for their actions. There wouldn’t be scandals like this if players were able to get compensations for the sale of their name. There should be a change in the way athletes and former athletes view the NCAA, and currently there seeing it as a money market than the athlete's participation.
Just recently Zion Williamson was exposed of possibly receving financial benefits if he were to attend Duke
California Governor Gavin Newsom passed a bill on September 30, 2019, and if signed into law, it will allow college athletes to get paid for using their name, sign endorsement deals as well as hire an agent. If passed, California will be the first state to allow this and may cause other states to act upon. The NCAA is completely against this and according to journalist Peter O’Dowd, he wrote in his article, NCAA Threatens to Bar California Colleges from Competitions Over Student-Athlete Pay, The NCAA sent a letter to California Gov. Newsom this week urging him to veto senate bill 206….the NCAA letter also threatened to ban California college and universities from NCAA competitions because of an “unfair recruiting advantage.”(O’Dowd,2019)
Just recently, ESPN Staff Writer Dan Murphy proposed that a close source to the NCAA has announced that the NCAA is in the works to initiate possible changes that will allow student endorsements. According to this particular source, they discussed possible changes in:
· Allowing athletes to make money from advertisements
· Allowing student-athletes to make money by modeling apparel non related to the University.
· Allowing athletes to hire an agent for marketing purposes and upcoming drafts
· Require athletes to disclose all endorsement details to their school’s athletic director
Although these allegations aren’t publicly made, NCAA leaders are expected to vote on new NCAA rules within the upcoming months before Universities start back up. Due to Covid-19, this may push back the voting as many universities do not know if school will even be open in the early fall.
NCAA president Mark Emmert recently stated via twitter that “ College athletes are college students, and you can’t have college sports if you don’t have college (campuses) open and having students on them,” said Emmert.
With all that is going in sports to this day, it is hard to understand what the possible outcome of the NCAA's votes. Without college sports, colleges will not be remaking nearly as much money as they normally would, causing a delay in the players to maybe start earning endorsements.
#NCAA #CollegeFootball #CollegeBasketball #CollegeSports #StudentAthletes #Football #Basketball #Collegeathletes #BleacherReport