Reforms Won’t Solve NCCA’s Problems
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By DERON SNYDER
Paying college athletes always has seemed wrong to me for a number of reasons. All college athletes aren’t big revenue producers. There’s no way to devise an equitable compensation system. Athletes in nonrevenue sports need the funds generated by big-money sports. A college education, along with training, equipment, travel, etc., has real value that shouldn’t be ignored.
But the past few years have loosened my grip on the position, making it harder and harder to defend. Now the NCAA has come out with major reforms regarding financial aid, academic standards, summer basketball recruiting and scholarship limits.
Yet it feels like a case of too little, too late.
I’ve always contended that scholarships are the fairest, most equitable way to “pay” all athletes across the board — as long as the NCAA avoids crazy rules that prevent them from earning income available to other students. College sports are akin to work-study programs at the very least, and they should provide comparable compensation.
Among the sweeping changes it announced last week, the NCAA will allow conferences to vote on providing up to $2,000 in spending money for athletes — what the NCAA calls the full cost of attendance. A similar stipend existed for college athletes until 1972.
