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Get It Right

Get it Right is an occasional feature created to provide accurate information on NCAA-related issues.

Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Rosenberg jumps on the “pay-for-play” bandwagon with other media in his August 26 piece “Change is long overdue: College football players should be paid." The problem is Rosenberg and others have not done their homework.

Rosenberg’s claim: The schools are within their rights to make as much money as they can. My objection is to what they dowith the money. Schools are essentially taking money from football and basketball players so they can give out scholarships to volleyball players and swimmers—and pay millions of dollars to coaches.

Fact: The financial model across academia is one in which some majors essentially pay the bill for others who cannot...that provides a wide range of educational opportunities for students.  The athletics model is no different. Rosenberg also has not done his homework on how many football programs actually generate enough revenue to pay expenses...only 57 percent in the FBS. He’s also off the mark on coaches salaries—only a portion of those salaries are covered by institutional dollars. Rosenberg, like many others in the media and elsewhere, continue to confuse the issue by suggesting that college sports is an amateur enterprise. It is an enterprise in which the athletes are amateurs. There is a very big difference.