WSET.com - ABC13The King's Court for April 18, 2011

What To Do About the NCAA by Nick King

Recently, it seems as though there's been more talk than ever about the suggested fallacies in the NCAA's rules and bylaws. I watched a piece on PBS' Frontline that included a sit down with NCAA President Mark Emmert (in which Emmert did himself no favors, coming off as less than likable), followed by an HBO: Real Sports round table discussion the following night. Both of these programs wondered, more than anything, "do Division 1 football and basketball players deserve to be paid?"

The simplest way to answer this question is that there absolutely is no simple answer.

I think most everyone outside of Emmert and his cronies would admit there are problems with the current system; the folks in shirts and ties are making too much money, while the ones earning them a sizable portion of their paychecks, the players, find trouble as soon as any green comes their way. And if the players do receive any money, in whatever "illegal" fashion it may be, it's too much of a toss-up as to how they will be punished. If you're the Ohio State football players, your suspension will wait until the following season, so as not to take away their "unique experience" of playing in a bowl game. But if you're Georgia's A.J. Green, you're suspended the entire year, eliminating his "unique experience" of even being a collegian athlete. As for violations recruiting those players, Bruce Pearl was suspended eight games at the beginning of 2010 for an offseason violation; Jim Calhoun will be suspended for one game at the beginning of 2011 for a violation at the same time.

The thing is, often times these players really do earn much more for their school than they will receive in the form of a scholarship. It was estimated the Duke basketball players on their 09-10 national championship team brought in $1.2 Million EACH to the University. When Michigan's Fab Five came to Ann Arbor in the early 1990's, the spike in memorabilia sales was through the roof. After they left, that spike reversed itself. Obviously, none of these players were (legally) paid.

It's not as easy as paying the football and basketball players based on their successes however, because those guys are paying for every other sport on campus. The baseball, lacrosse, tennis, wrestling, etc. teams just can't bring in revenue. The television money isn't there, and the fan support will never be the same. If you pay the Alabama football team, how are you possibly going to maintain the non-revenue sports? And how would you differentiate the pay for the starting quarterback and the 60th man on the roster?

Before this comes to an abrupt end, I will say again, there is no simple answer. Even from those declaring there ought to be a "revolution," II haven't heard anyone come up with anything that comes close to a good answer. Yes, there do need to be changes, because the NCAA by and large feels corrupt. But it's not happening overnight.

Let's just hope the current outrage propels a change in philosophy that we can be happy with a decade from now.