Money Talks

In my last blog post, I discussed about how last October the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) voted to “start the process of modifying its rule to allow college athletes to profit from their names, images and likeness ‘in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.’”  While I was doing research for my last blog post, this seemed like this was the last thing that they have done in regards to this topic. Come to find out, I was wrong.

During my time scrolling through articles, I came across an article, “NCAA, Two Conferences Spend $750,000 on Lobbying,”  by the New York Times. This article says, “The NCAA spent $690,000 last year on in-house and outside lobbyists.” According to vocabulary.com, a lobbyist is, “someone hired by a business or a cause to persuade legislators to support that business or cause.”  The article goes on to say that some of the larger conferences (Big 12 and ACC) in Division I athletics also spent a large amount of money on lobbyists also.  What this is saying is that the NCAA and several conferences have been paying money to people and organizations to get them to support them in what they want. This would make sense due to the fact that this topic has been gaining steam in state governments and is making its way to national legislation.  As I have mentioned before, up to 30 states have created bills that would allow college athletes to be able to make money off of their own names, images, and likenesses. A poll by AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that “about two-thirds of Americans support college players being permitted to earn money for endorsements.” 

In what was once an issue where the majority of people agreed with the NCAA has now flipped, leaving the NCAA agreeing with the minority. An article by 247sports, “NCAA, Allies Spent Nearly $1 Million Lobbying Lawmakers in 2019,”  believes that this is being done to “influence Congress on ‘legislative and regulatory proposals affecting intercollegiate athletes.’”  I believe that the NCAA does not like what these states are doing, and because they feel threatened, this is their attempt to counter.  

Subsequently, this is all happening, while the groups that are in favor of athletes being paid, are not bribing any lobbyist with money.  While this might seem like something that could inevitably change the outcome to be in the NCAA’s favor, Tom McMillen, President and CEO of the LEAD1 Association, a trade group for Division I athletic directors, believes the opposite.  In the same New York Times article, McMillen says that, “You can have all the lobbyists in the world, but it doesn’t really make a difference,” while Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) believes there’s “no question” the NCAA has been effective in lobbying for its own goals.  He believes this because there has been “little to nothing done” and that if the athletes had the correct federal representation “we’d be much further down this path than we are.”Therefore, I agree more with Walker’s statement.  As I have said before, not much has really happened recently and I feel like this could be some of the reason why.  An article by whio.com says that, “Organizations like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) want Congress to come up with national rules for how and when college athletes get paid.” 

It is critical for something to be decided soon, before each state has its own laws regarding athletes getting compensated. An athlete deciding which school to attend, will go to the state which offers the most compensation, which changes the playing field.  I don’t understand why everything becomes an issue surrounding money. We can no longer trust the process because we have people able and willing to “pay” lobbyists to vote and fight for their interests. So it would only make sense to pay the people who make these decisions so that when and if it happens, the decision will be in their favor.