Thousands of fans flock to the fields and courts of LSU Athletics every year, generating millions of dollars that form a sizeable portion of the University’s revenue. But the collegiate players who step onto the fields, courts and tracks don’t collect multi-million dollar paychecks. Instead, they receive thousands of dollars worth of athletic gear, training, education and media exposure.
That’s not enough.
College athletes who develop marketable images make millions for the University during game time and through merchandise sales. Student athletes should receive compensation for commercial uses of their images following graduation.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Mark Emmert disagrees. In December 2013, Emmert reiterated the association’s firm stance against paying college athletes cold hard cash: “There’s certainly no interest in turning college sports into the professional or semi-professional.”
Emmert, with most college representatives, feels the $100,000 to $250,000 spent on training, tuition, board and meal plans for each student-athlete adequately compensates players for their work and talent.
But this system is far from perfect.
While colleges provide athletes with scholarships and training, their educations are hardly free. Student athletes are expected to perform in top condition and must complete dozens of mandatory and “voluntary” training hours every week. Schedules packed with schoolwork, training and performance time leave little room for outside jobs, which must be approved by the Athletic Director during the academic year.
LSU Athletes cannot accept financial aid that exceeds the cost of attending LSU. The rule aims to eliminate unfair recruiting and bribery, but it also limits the amount of money student athletes can earn while in college.
In 2012, LSU Athletics reported nearly $115 million in revenue, making LSU one of only 23 colleges that earns enough money to cover its athletic expenses.
LSU and the NCAA generate a large portion of their revenues through commercially licensing video games, reruns, jerseys, oftentimes after collegiate athletes have graduated or dropped out for the draft.
Student athletes never see a dime.
In 2009, former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA for its use of past student athletes’ images in licensed merchandise. He argues that collegiate players should receive compensation for the commercial use of their images following graduation.
The NCAA disagrees, saying the organization will take the matter as far as the Supreme Court.
“This is a very important issue and principle for what is or is not a definition of college athletics,”
Emmert said.
Emmert defends the amateur nature of collegiate sports, but the only true amateurs are the players. The coaches, agents, television stations with prime time slots and the association with its exclusive licensing agreements treat collegiate sports like the multimillion-dollar industry that it is.
In the 2009-10 academic year, 14 percent of LSU’s gross income came from football alone. The NCAA reported revenue of $871.6 million in 2012.
Talented players become celebrities. Legions don Tyrann Mathieu’s No. 7 athletic jersey for $59.95 each and the “LSU Tigers #33 Shaquille O’Neal Player Plaque” for $29.95 on lsushop.net.
Recently, the NCAA removed players’ names from the backs of jerseys, recognizing that selling personalized jerseys for profit could be seen as hypocritical. However, universities such as LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M continue to sell jerseys embossed with the numbers of prominent players.
The issue is the current system, which bars college athletes from the unique market value of their collegiate image – an image that makes the University and NCAA millions.
Some argue successful athletes such as Eric Reid, Lolo Jones or Seimone Augustus don’t need more money; collegiate sports paid these athletes with the exposure they needed to join the professionals. But the number of athletes who play for professional leagues following college is small. In football, only 255 out of 67,887 college players made the cut in 2012. For women’s basketball, less than one percent of college players play professionally.
For an overwhelming majority of student athletes, college is the only time they can create a marketable image.
It’s time to compensate players. It’s ridiculous that student athletes cannot benefit from the sale of a University or NCAA-approved t-shirt, DVD or video game that bears an athlete’s name, number or likeness following graduation.
As ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said, “It’s not about need. It’s about exploitation. Any time an entity or a person makes money off of another entity or person, while at the same time restricting that person or entity, that’s exploitation.”