A brave new world for college athletics
By Chris Rickerson | Sports writer
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled against the NCAA in a unanimous decision and decided to increase education-related compensation for Division I student athletes.
The court’s ruling only applies to schools with NCAA Division I basketball and FBS football programs.
Under the previous NCAA rules, student’s scholarship money was capped at the cost of attending school. The NCAA now can provide student athletes unlimited education-related compensation for things such as computers, internships, tutoring, or anything else education-related.
“The last three years there is a trend toward giving the student-athlete more rights and helping them to be able to do the things a normal student can do,” said Augusta University men’s basketball coach Dip Metress. “I think that is what’s happening right now: if the normal student can go get a job or an internship and get paid, then why can’t student athletes.”
The NCAA argued that the decision by the Supreme Court would make the players amateur status impossible to maintain if the athletes received pay, even for just education-related expenses. The argument was rejected by the court.
“I think anything that benefits student-athletes is good; we just have to be careful,” said Metress.
In the past, there have been student-athletes and sports journalists who have argued that the athletes should be paid salaries for their efforts playing. Many have argued that the NCAA makes too much money in revenue for athletes not to get paid or make money from their name and image.
“I think it is headed in the direction that you can get a scholarship and get some amount of income coming in for your image and likeness,” said Metress.
The NCAA agreed on June 30 to allow all college athletes around the country to make money off their name, image and likeness. This will allow college athletes to profit off things like autographs, endorsements, public appearances and more.
College athletes are already signing endorsement deals and even creating businesses to make money off their fame.
Antwan Owens is believed to be the first college athlete ever to sign an endorsement deal. Owens is a defensive end from Jackson State University, and he signed a deal at midnight on July 1 with 3 Kings Grooming, a hair product business.
Jordan Bohannon is a guard for the University of Iowa basketball team. Bohannon has already created his own website with his own clothing line and trademark and is even making appearances to sign autographs. Likewise, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Armando Bacot has a deal with Jimmy’s Seafood in Baltimore, Md.
How these changes to college athletics affect the product on the field remains to be seen.
Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.
