Autonomy for the Power 5 conferences to implement their own rules when it comes to the benefits student-athletes receive finally puts the emphasis of college athletics where it belongs – on the athletes. The stodgy NCAA of yesteryear is much different than the caring one today because of a vote in August 2014 by the Division I board of directors allowing the schools in the Power 5 conferences and Notre Dame to write many of their own rules regarding student benefits.
The greatest development for athletes, a cost-of-attendance stipend, was approved in January. The amount of the aid the athletes receive is a federally calculated figure that covers costs that extend beyond their cost of education such as school supplies, two trips home per year, food and other miscellaneous expenses. Most receiving the aid have stipends between $4000 to $5000, which is a significant figure for the eight to nine months athletes are in school annually. That’s right, athletes are actually getting paid, a burning topic in past years. Their stipends may be only about $550 a month when they are in school, but that amount can sure pay for plenty of groceries and essentials.
The next phase of proposals to be voted on in January includes more potential developments that ensure the athlete is the priority.
Can you believe consulting with an agent may be permissible for some athletes in about three months? If the vote passes in January, a baseball prospect deciding between the pros and college out of high school can call upon an agent to help in the process as long as the agent does not provide any benefits. The prospect pays for the services without any future arrangements with the agent.
While some may have reservations of the idea – will the agent really not provide benefits? – it is a home run for these baseball players to adequately bargain for their future and gauge what they deserve based on the market. As it is today, the athletes and their parents mostly negotiate. The peril for colleges concerning this idea of course is the baseball player becoming attracted to the pros because of a richer signing bonus rather than attending college.
The opposite view: Because of the information provided by agents, the athletes may discover they deserve more than what a pro team is offering, increasing the possibility the athlete attends college.
What’s most important here is the idea that the autonomous Power 5 will look out for the welfare of its existing and potential athletes.
Another potential development with the vote in January includes permitting a student-athlete to use his/her name, image or likeness to promote his/her own business, provided it is not athletically related. If a student-athlete operates a hair-cutting business, for example, he or she can use their image as an athlete at the university to promote that business.
This is not hurting anybody. In fact, it’s assisting the student-athlete to build an entrepreneurial spirit for the future beyond sports. The Power 5 programs are receiving enough money from lucrative TV contracts to not care whether an athlete is making money from a school’s name and their affiliation with the athletic department. Developments such as this suggest the NCAA has finally looked in the mirror and noticed the hypocrisy. The schools can make money off the student-athletes but the athletes can’t make money off their affiliation with the schools? That will change in January if this vote passes.
Other potential rules that may be instituted to benefit student-athletes:
— Increasing the number (from two to four) as a definition of family (more than only the parents) an institution may pay for during a prospect’s official visit.
— Permitting student-athletes to purchase additional tickets for postseason events. They are currently provided six complimentary tickets.
— Prohibiting the use of a travel day as a day off. Coaches will have to readjust their practice schedules because finally common sense will come into play that a travel day is not a day off for athletes because their day is occupied at the airports or on the team bus, etc.
— Prohibiting athletic activities during an eight-hour window between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., with the exception of competitions, to provide student-athletes with more time for academics, a social life and rest. The before-the-break-of-dawn 5 a.m. runs will be a thing of the past.
The kinder, gentler NCAA with its athletes may be a result of the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit challenging the organization’s use of images of its former student-athletes for commercial purposes. That lawsuit and a groundswell of student-athletes desiring more liberties and amenities is making the NCAA realize it is better to take care of them rather than try to fight them in court.
(via I. Brekken, AP)
The most significant issue to come of the autonomous power of Notre Dame and the Power 5 conference institutions is other Division I schools believing they are at a disadvantage.
Other leagues can opt to adopt the same rules although many schools can’t afford measures like cost-of-attendance stipends. That could create an even larger competitive imbalance between schools in the power conferences and those in leagues like the Sun Belt, MAC or Mountain West.
The best remedy for this situation is to separate the Division I institutions between the power conferences and the mid-majors and have each compete for their own championships. If the mid-majors want to remain with the power conferences on a competitive field than they must adapt to this autonomy.
The overriding factor is the student-athletes are finally becoming a priority, not plodding administrators.
Feature image via G. Schroeder/Twitter
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