By
Connor Doyle
It seems that yet another trial for NCAA basketball is on the horizon. If players leaving early for the NBA, terrible officiating, and Bob Knight weren't enough to worry any fan about the future of college basketball, now some of the top collegiate players are arguing that they are entitled to a cut of the revenues that the NCAA will be making with its next television contract.
Experts are guessing it will be worth upwards of $6 billion dollars.
College players asking to be paid is nothing new. But the stakes have been raised. The players speaking up, lead by erudite All-Americans Shane Battier and Casey Jacobsen, are now considering the formation of a psuedo-union to represent players' interests. In past years, that level of organization would have been considered untenable - at the most the players are in college for only four years, and many weren't willing to do the work necessary to organize. However, the players' level of determination is rising, and a union is no longer a flight of fancy.
The reason that so many of these players are angry is this - there is a great deal of money being made in college basketball, yet many of the players involved are being forced to struggle financially and don't have the ability to make money legally during the season. They question how the NCAA can make so much money, and deny them access to it, or at least to jobs which will allow them to pay the bills.
The NCAA contends that the revenues generated from television contracts and other sources allow them to better support the thousands of scholarship athletes that play in Division I sports. Because all DI athletes are peers in the eyes of the NCAA, they cannot justify paying basketball players without paying all of the other student-athletes in other sports equally.
Imagine how the UA women's softball would feel if the men's basketball team was paid and they weren't - after all, the softball team plays almost twice the number of games than the basketball team does and has just as rigorous a travel and practice schedule. In fact, all athletes probably find themselves with the same financial woes that men's basketball players face.
These athletes deserve to live comfortably. Unless their parents are wealthy, they don't have any other ways of making money during the season. Sure, they get their meals for free, but their stipends can't cover all of the other living expenses that are common for college students.
Rigorous practice schedules, travel, and studying leave them with little or no time to work, which may force them to turn to agents or other outside sources of revenue, all of which are forbidden by the NCAA.
Just last summer, former UA guard Jason Terry admitted to taking money from an agent to cover basic costs of living. Terry - the most high-profile athlete at UA two years ago - couldn't pay his bills without others' help. His situation was one that many other players have and will continue to share.
Players believe the solution to the problem is increasing their stipends during the season. While it would go toward solving the problem, or at least alleviating it, here are some other solutions that should be considered first.
The players concern of a schedule which can't accommodate a part-time job can be directly addressed - cut the weekly practice time in half. The players have argued that even with reduced practices, many employers won't be willing to deal with their travel schedule. There's a solution for that as well: have schools establish positions for student-athletes on campus, where their employer would be a little more sympathetic to their schedule demands.
If it's determined that the athletes cannot work during the season, allow schools to give them loans during their playing season that can be paid off during the off-season. Allow banks to issue the players loans based on future earnings. Work out some way that these players can sustain themselves without having to turn to agents or boosters.
The bottom line is that plenty of students are able to juggle the demands of class, a job, and extracurricular activities. All the NCAA should do is make sure that student-athletes have the ability to work - then if they don't, the blame rest on the players. Plus, how cool would it be to have Loren Woods take your message when you call your academic advisor?
There are other concerns raised by the players - some valid, others not. However, allowing the players to remain amateurs should be paramount. Without that distinction, the point of maintaining college basketball is lost. If college players want to get paid, they can go to the NBA. Plain and simple.
