(U-WIRE) EAST LANSING, Mich. – For many athletes, after the roaring crowds and television cameras leave, the glitz and glamour of college sports evaporates, leaving them to scrimp and save what little money they can find.
This phenomenon has led many to argue that college athletes, who often play a major role in earning millions for universities and shoe companies, should receive a share of the revenues.
The NCAA has yet to make a rule permitting college athletes to reap some of the profits they help create, but with revenue dollars for major conference schools rising into the millions every year, athletes may receive an allowance in the future.
Opponents argue that paying players will only lead to corruption within the ranks of what is now an amateur sporting league.
MSU football coach Bobby Williams isn’t necessarily in favor of paying college athletes, but some of his players certainly are.
“College sports have been going on for years and they haven’t been paid anything over and beyond the scholarship, so why is that an issue now?” Williams said.
According to the 1998-1999 university budget, MSU’s athletic department brought in a robust $5.7 million – up 20 percent from the previous year. This figure was measured from July 1, 1998 to July 30, 1999.
Considering that 72,000 people come to watch the football team play six times each fall and the football players never see a cent of the profits, there is cause for debate.
Just ask the players.
“I think we do deserve to get some money, bringing in all the money that we do. Basically people are coming to watch us,” said Josh Smith, sophomore center on the football team.
“It’s a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week job.”
College coaches, despite often opposing paying players, have certainly benefited from the financial boom in collegiate athletics.
Williams’ base salary is $160,000, but with money from endorsements and television and radio deals, his salary for next season will amount to about $435,000.
Former football head coach Nick Saban’s base salary for 1998-1999 was $175,000, but when included with the total package, Saban made about $697,330.
In 1998-1999, MSU’s revenue sports (basketball, football, hockey, cheerleading and band) brought in $18,606,000. This was offset by $7,078,213 in expenditures for those sports.
That difference, or profit, is added to revenue from investments, donations and summer camps to foot the bill for non-revenue sports and events and operations.
Total revenues for 1998-1999 totaled $22,506,000 – the exact amount the department spent that year.
In order to pay athletes, MSU would have to either raise revenue or cut expenditures.
Further complicating the issue would be the payment of non-revenue athletes.
If the NCAA decided to allow schools to pay athletes, would every athlete receive the same pay, or would non-revenue sports pay players less?
“It should be based on how much money the sport brings in,” Smith said, knowing his team earned a major share of revenue for the school.
“Maybe on how good the team does, too. If next year we don’t do as good, we won’t draw as many fans and our paraphernalia won’t sell as well.”
NCAA rules prohibit athletes from holding a job when they are in season. Because of this, athletes can have trouble finding spending cash.
Sophomore quarterback Ryan Van Dyke said he and his teammates deserve an allowance for all their hard work and the entertainment they provide people on Saturdays.
“It is a job. What we do is a job,” Van Dyke said. “We do have our scholarships paid for, but it’s kind of hard sometimes to scrounge up spending money.”
Van Dyke disagreed with Smith, however, saying the allowance should be evenly distributed to all athletes on campus.
Because of the need for money, many athletes in basketball and football are leaving college early to pursue their professional dreams.
In college football there is a rule stating that players must stay in college for three years or until the completion of their junior year. College basketball has no such rule.
Former Spartan wide receiver Plaxico Burress played at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia for a year, and then attended MSU for two years.
After declaring his eligibility for the NFL Draft following the Citrus Bowl, he is currently projected as a top-10 NFL draft choice.
Freshman running back T.J. Duckett said he has been strapped for cash this year, and he will definitely get a job this summer.
“I have family that helps me out a lot, but I want to go out on Friday and Saturday nights and have a good time, without having to worry whether I have enough money to do something during the week,” Duckett said.
Duckett said the players should be given petty cash, or enough to be able to take someone out without worrying about future dollars. He argued that all athletes are entitled to money, and even said an academic stipulation might be a good idea.
“Maybe they could have it where you get money deducted if you miss class,” Duckett said. “That would help players go to class.”
Junior golfer Dennis Riedel thinks a weekly allowance would help him and his teammates as well.
“I don’t know if we should get paid, but some spending money would be nice for all of the time we sacrifice,” Riedel said.
