Paying athletes would help NCAA avoid full-fledged revolution

As the NCAA prepared for its crown jewel, The Final Four, it certainly heard the whispers that built into a collective roar as the week wore on. 

No, these weren’t celebratory cheers. They were cries for a revolution. With the whistle being blown on college sports’ corruption at a dizzying pace— from UConn’s improper benefits scandal to Auburn’s alleged pay-for-play system—the mainstream media’s dissatisfaction seems to be at an all-time high. 

While we probably don’t need to get our hypothetical pitchforks and torches ready, it’s time to force the NCAA’s hand. 

It’s time to pay big-time college athletes. The NCAA continues to try and hide behind the veil of amateurism, while it’s crystal clear that the organization is the epitome of big business. The business model, though, is clearly broken. It doesn’t make capitalistic sense that those that generate billions never see a penny. Instead, coaches and administrators have benefited financially from an antiquated system. 

Let’s get something clear. People tuned into the NCAA Tournament this year to watch players like Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette, not to see university presidents. 

Prized recruits enter a system where they are owned in perpetuity by the powers-that-be. Even after players have graduated and moved on to the next phases of life, the NCAA still can capitalize off of their careers.

With the advent of increased merchandising, video games and ever-expanding television coverage, college legends still remain financially valuable. 

We are constantly beaten over the head with the NCAA’s message that “most of its student-athletes will go pro in something other than sports.” Don’t you think there are some former college stars who could use a pittance of what the NCAA makes off of them.

That’s what makes Ed O’Bannon’s recent lawsuit intriguing. The former UCLA guard, who led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA Championship, hopes to turn the tables and make it possible for post-career compensation.

Even if O’Bannon wins, it’s not enough. Current big-time athletes need to be fairly compensated for their play. It does not, however, make fiscal sense to pay all college athletes. At the risk of sounding elitist, Notre Dame’s national champion women’s soccer team does not generate as much money (or media attention) as the Fighting Irish football team.

It just isn’t fiscally responsible to pay everyone. Instead, The NCAA should institute a system that would equate to a network of paid internships. Powerhouses like Texas football and Duke basketball would get to use a sizeable chunk of its revenue to pay its “interns.” Small-sport athletes could still retain the current scholarship system. 

I know this seems like a radical shift, but it beats our current system. Right now, we have coaches like John Calipari, who essentially recruits semi-pros. They’re in one year and out the next, all at the financial benefit of their coach.

Calipari is like a pimp dressed in Armani. Over the past 20-plus years, Marcus Camby, Derrick Rose and John Wall have all turned tricks for him. Of course, Camby went around the current system, hooking up with an agent while at UMass. 

We should just cut out the middle man and accept that the old system is hypocritical. Sure, there are still those who believe in the myth of amateurism. They claim that paying players, and in turn stripping their amateur status, erases the sanctity of the student-athlete. That it could possibly lead to even more corruption. 

As a traditionalist, I’d like to share their sympathies, but it’s all a bunch of hypocrisy. For better or worse, television money has rendered amateurism to the likes of Santa Claus or Sasquatch. 

We know the NCAA is masquerading as big business, so it’s time for a better business model.