Cash, check, or charge?

Sporting News, The, July 1, 1996 by Douglas S. Looney

The absurdity of the athletes--can't--work theory was demonstrated recently when Northwestern running back Darnell Autry was told by the NCAA it was against the rules for him to play a small part in "The 18th Angel," a film being made in Italy. ("Don't blink or you'll miss me," Autry says. The NCAA paid no attention to the fact Autry wasn't going to accept payment and that his college major is theater. There was a flurry of legal nonsense and dark threats that the NCAA would rule Autry ineligible to play any more football. Ultimately, common sense did prevail: Autry is in the film--just like any other real student could be--and he is eligible to play football this fall.

4 Give each scholarship athlete--male and female, everything from field hockey to golf to football to basketball--to 50 100 seats in prime locations to all home games.

What do they do with them? Hey, this is America. They sell them. They give them away. They lose them. College is a learning experience. They do whatever they want. And if sports are for the students, as is loudly proclaimed, well ...

Certainly, it is understood that there is essentially no market for field hockey tickets. So be it. What could be more fair than that? Duke's DeVenzio says this would mean that some athletes "would go to schools where his tickets would be most valuable." Universities that have successful basketball teams, for example, charge substantially more for tickets. Why shouldn't athletes be able to do the same? Athletes, like everyone else, should benefit from their abilities.

5 Ten percent of each sport's net, profits could be distributed to the players.

New Mexico's Johnson, who went on to play extensively in Europe and beyond, says the way this works is obvious: If a sport doesn't make money, the athletes have none to share. He waves his hand across an Albuquerque restaurant and says, "If this place doesn't make money, it closes, right? Well, that's fair. That's capitalism."

Militants on this issue suggest not 10 percent of the net but 10 percent of the gross. That's excessive, since the schools have to pay all costs associated with athletics and the players none. The most recent "Revenues and Expenses of Intercollegiate Athletics Programs" put out by the NCAA reports that large schools spend about $29,000 a year per scholarship athlete.

6 Dramatically increase the Special Assistance Fund.

In 1991, this emergency fund was started by the NCAA with $2 million. It has now jumped to $10 million. It almost certainly is heading higher. The idea of it, according to Gene Smith, who chairs an NCAA committee studying the fund, is to be able to provide needy athletes with funds for emergency trips home, dental care, eye care, necessary clothes. Smith says he hopes to find ways to "liberalize" the use of the fund. As is often the case, such thinking is laudatory, but the potential for abuse is enormous. Who truly needs the money and what truly constitutes an emergency? And is Venus made of blue cheese?

7 Let athletes sign with agents whenever they want.