NCAA looks to Congress to set compensation standards By Jordan Conestabile
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the NCAA cannot prohibit college and universities from providing modest compensation to student athletes. The ruling concerned only payments and benefits related to education, but could have larger implications, particularly if there is another, broader legal challenge.
“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate and under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The N.C.A.A. is not above the law.”
States have already started to move toward establishing individual standards giving student athletes the ability to receive compensation for use of their name, image and likeness. In response, the NCAA has called for Congress to pass legislation to set a national standard. This comes after decades of the NCAA imposing restrictions against student athletes earning compensation as amateurs.
Different state laws “threatens the NCAA’s ability to provide uniform NIL opportunities as well as fair, national competition” said Mark Emmert President of the NCAA. The ability for universities to recruit is also an issue.
“We recruit nationally, even internationally,” explained Mark Few, head basketball coach at Gonzaga University. “Not to have the ability to compete on some sort of level playing field with people that can provide monetary gifts and endorsements or things like that put us at a disadvantage that we couldn’t make up.”
Photo from SUNY
Congress is divided. Republicans tend to prefer not getting involved or adopting narrow compensation, while Democrats tend to favor broader compensation, including healthcare and educational benefits as well.
Time is a factor as well. Several related state laws are set to begin on July 1st.
Jordan Conestabile is a Political Science student at Utica College
