Times Are Changing, And The NCAA Isn’t

Times+Are+Changing%2C+And+The+NCAA+Isnt

JB Gidez, Student Journalist

The University of Connecticut’s basketball program is one of the nation’s best. The men’s teams have won 4 national championships and the women’s teams are arguably the best ever, racking up 11 national championships.

These student-athletes on the teams put in so much time and effort into crafting their skills and preparing for a long season, and sometimes sports can even be more time-consuming than school itself. 

Whether it is practice, traveling, or games–the sport dominates their life, not allowing for student-athletes to get any sort of job while in school.

 These top teams sell-out arenas and sell close to tens-of-thousands of dollars of team-merchandise; the universities and the NCAA make so much money off of these players and teams. 

But how much money do the student-athletes themselves make? 

None. No money at all.

 They get no money from the universities or from the NCAA, even though one season of any sport could generate upwards of $2 million dollars for the NCAA. But why don’t the athletes get any of the money? 

The NCAA up until this point has made it clear that they want students to be playing against students, and not professionals or “employees.” 

Well, times are changing, and so should the rules.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy calls it “a civil rights issue” because he thinks the student-athletes are essentially working for a profit industry, and not getting compensated.

Very recently in fact, Murphy established a bipartisan group along with fellow Senator Mitt Romney to help address the issue of supporting the “Fair Pay-To-Play Act” after no substantial progress was made with the NCAA’s promise to look into this legislature. 

Here at Ludlowe, Athletic Director Mr. Parness, a college athlete himself at Eastern Connecticut State University, also has his opinions on the topic.

He feels student-athletes should get paid, but with regulation. Parness believes that it should be equal across all sports, and not just the ones that statistically make the most money for the school. 

However, some argue that with paid athletes, the college sport’s atmosphere would become dissolved. The passion of playing for one’s school and against other student-athletes would be ruined. 

Despite all of that, Parness does not think it would ruin the highly-idealized atmosphere of sports, if done correctly, “if it was kept equal among all sports.”

Current Ludlowe student and future D-1 athlete for the University of Connecticut Women’s Lacrosse Program, Georgia Hoey, also said student-athletes should get paid. Hoey remarked how the compensation they currently receive “isn’t enough,” and payment would be “giving back to [the student-athletes] for all the time they put in.” 

Professional athletes all across the country have been calling the NCAA out, and clearly the push for student-athletes to get paid seems to only get bigger in size and more of a priority. 

The NCAA needs to think about adapting to the future and realize that it is much more than just school sports games, it’s a business.