Don’t Treat Players Like Gladiators

Today there is a tremendous disparity in how the NCAA treats its student athletes and the way it treats its member institutions. Student-athletes are treated like gladiators—revered by fans and coveted by member institutions for their ability to produce revenue, but ultimately viewed as disposable commodities. They are given no ability to negotiate the contents of their scholarships, often punished severely for even the smallest NCAA violations, and discarded in the event they suffer major injuries.

Meanwhile, member institutions are often given free passes amid NCAA violations so that they can protect their and the NCAA’s financial interests (punishment of institutions generally comes after years of neglect). At the end of the day, both the NCAA and its member institutions are focused on the money they can make off student-athletes, not on the student-athletes’ best interests.

There are a number of reforms that should be put in place to protect student-athletes. At the very least: 1. They should be able to hire a lawyer to represent them in analyzing and negotiating the contents of their scholarships, and the NCAA should permit its member institutions to compete more with one another relating to the contents of scholarships they offer; 2. Student-athletes should be given greater procedural safeguards in the disciplinary process, particularly so they are not scapegoated; and 3. Student-athletes should be given sufficient protections so that the ill effects of injuries suffered in service to member institutions do not fall disproportionately on them.

Student-athletes are not permitted to have a lawyer give them advice about NCAA-sanctioned scholarships. That is a problem. As it stands, the NCAA and its member institutions hold all the bargaining power and preclude student-athletes from negotiating and understanding the entirety of scholarship obligations. That bargaining position leaves the student-athletes at a severe disadvantage.

Not that a scholarship system should be abolished, but student-athletes should be given more financial aid than they currently receive. Student-athletes are limited in the number of hours they can be employed because of the time they devote to playing college sports. The NCAA should take that into account and compensate student-athletes more fairly while they are playing sports for the member institution and the NCAA.

Additionally, student-athletes should be given more protection in the interpretation of NCAA rules and their enforcement. Scholarships should be revoked under only the direst circumstances, such as criminal convictions or failing to maintain a sufficient GPA—but in all cases, the student-athlete should be able to contest scholarship revocation. Often the punishment far exceeds the potential wrong. For example, a basketball player went on a trip with some friends over the summer. On that trip, someone gave the player a free meal and hotel room. That player was recently suspended for six games. The punishment does not seem proportionate to the alleged wrong. Further, the NCAA will use student-athletes for profit and then discard them after the financial gain has been made. The NCAA and its member institutions, for instance, will allow a top player to participate in a bowl game to maximize earning potential, and then punish the player severely after the NCAA and the institutions have cashed in on the event.

If student-athletes suffer injuries while playing an intercollegiate sport at an NCAA member institution, their scholarships should be guaranteed all the way through their undergraduate studies there. In addition to having a lawyer or representative bargain for them, student-athletes should also be allowed to form the equivalent of what are players’ unions in professional sports, so they can have a self-appointed group of representatives to speak on their behalf. The student-athletes, not the NCAA or its member institutions, should be the ones choosing which individuals represent them.

Furthermore, the student-athlete’s rights to the use of their images or likenesses, both before and after their playing days, need to be acknowledged. Certainly an institution should be able to broadcast games, but reasonable limitations must apply. The student-athletes must have some control over the marketing of their images and likenesses during and after college. If, for example, an institution were making money off jersey sales with a particular player’s number on it, the player should be given some control over how the jersey is sold and over the revenues. Moreover, if a player wins an individual trophy or is given some other object, with the mind-set that he or she will be able to keep that item, then why can’t the player do what he or she wants with it?

Athletics may play an important part of a college student’s life, whether as a student-athlete or a fan. There is nothing wrong with that. Athletic competition has many virtues, as I can attest. But the system must be fair, particularly for the relatively powerless student-athletes. The reforms discussed above are just a few ways in which the scales may be brought back toward a reasonable balance.

Oscar Robertson is a former college, Olympic, and professional basketball player. He is a former president of the National Basketball Association’s Players Association.