Student-Athletes for so long have been used by schools to make a profit whether it be because of their name or the team that the play for.  They are deemed a profitable asset that will create revenue for the school and the NCAA in terms of viewership.  One of the overarching and main reasons this is still in place is because there hasn’t been to date any recommendations or suggestions that would allow for these athletes to make money because of this.  I am not an expert in this area but I do have some insight into how these changes can be made. To best dive into this, I will look into some further insights that I made last week.

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To start off, the NCAA needs to create a union for the athletes so their voices can be heard.  Each university is required to have student-athletes be apart of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for each perspective team.  My though is why not add to this role and have representatives also be reps that sit in on the union and bring forth ideas, suggestions and issues that are brought forward to their schools already in these meetings then to the NCAA.

Secondly, I feel as though students need to be offered the chance to go pro directly from high school.  The reason I mention this is because by having athletes who go to school for 1-3 years in some sports, but leave early with no degree, simply because they are jumping through hoops to go pro, it does nothing beneficial for them in the long run.  By letting kids go straight out of high school, it will allow them to do so, or they can go the university approach and sign to do 4 years, with a maximum of 5 to get their degrees.  This will allow student-athletes in post-secondary to ensure a betterment of their future whether it be pro sports or in the work force.

The universal stipend concept will only work if universities can agree upon a set number throughout all schools in each division: 1, 2, & 3.  This can only be done through negotiation of a union between school reps, the NCAA and student-athletes.

Ultimately for anything to change, it all boils back down to communication.  Unfortunately their is a gap that is bridged between student-athletes and administrators in their respective university institutions.  By opening the conversation, this will close the gap in what can be deemed as ‘fairness’ for student-athletes.