Wednesday, October 2, 2019

A Proposal For Compensating Student-Athletes



The bill that passed in California this week -- which would allow college athletes to hire agents and negotiate endorsement deals (beginning in 2023) -- has taken the paying of student-athletes to an all new level. 

The challenge here is we're probably only talking about a very few college athletes who would benefit from this legislation...

Six years ago -- I proposed this idea -- a way the NCAA could direct some form of compensation to all scholarship student athletes.  Here's what I posted on September 2, 2013:

It's simply this -- create a "pension program" for all NCAA Division I scholarship athletes.  It would look something like this:

  • The NCAA would create a pension program that they and each of the 340 Division I member institutions would agree to contribute to -- out of television and licensing revenues each year.
  • Eligibility:  Every NCAA Division I "student-athlete" -- who signed a National Letter of Intent out of high school with their original school, was on this team's roster a minimum of four academic school years and received a (four-year) college degree from that same institution. 
  • Pension Benefit Payments would be available to the qualified student-athlete once they reach the age of 65.

Here's what this proposed program does for college athletics:
  1. It requires student-athletes to remain in college all four-years and earn a degree.
  2. It puts some 'monetary value' in remaining at the school you signed your original National Letter of Intent with.
  3. And, it treats "every scholarship student-athlete" the same -- no matter what school you played for or sport you played.

For those who feel the requirements are too severe -- the NCAA could easily pay out a "lesser percentage" to those who transferred to another school or, failed to play all four years or graduate...

What do you think?