Las Cruces Community Radio 101.5 FM
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Listen
    • Archives
  • Schedule
    • Programs
  • Underwrite
  • Merch
  • About Us
  • Events
  • Contact Us

Walt Rubel Commentary: Future for NCAA on display now at Olympics

7/7/2021

 
When the New Mexico Legislature passed SB 94 earlier this year, allowing college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness, some lawmakers feared we were picking a fight with the mighty NCAA.  If that was the case, the masters of collegiate sports just cried uncle.  The NCAA changed its rules last week, just as new laws here and in other states were taking effect. College athletes will now be able to hire agents, sign endorsement deals, make commercials, leverage their presence on social media and get paid for promotional appearances, autograph-signing sessions and coaching.
It wasn’t just states pressuring the NCAA to change, Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the NCAA’s request for immunity from antitrust laws. In that ruling, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, “The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.

“All of the restaurants in a region cannot come together to cut cooks’ wages on the theory that ‘customers prefer’ to eat food from low-paid cooks. … Movie studios cannot collude to slash benefits to camera crews to kindle a ‘spirit of amateurism’ in Hollywood.”

The court ruling in that case did not mandate that athletes be paid, but it’s not hard to see where this is leading.  For a glimpse into the future of the NCAA, all we need to do is look at Summer Olympics, which will start later this month in Tokyo, Avery Brundage, who led the International Olympics Committee from 1952 to 1972, was just as fierce in his devotion to the purity of amateur sports. But by the 1990s, when the Dream Team took the court in Barcelona, all of those barriers had come down.

The athletes who will represent the United States in Tokyo will be paid, but they’re a long way away from our concept of a professional athlete.  A recent documentary titled “The Weight of Gold,” looks at both the mental and financial strain placed on Olympic athletes. It features swimmer Michael Phelps, who talks frankly about his bouts with depression.

Phelps won an astounding 23 gold medals, making him one of the few athletes able to cash in on their Olympic fame. Every four years there are a handful of athletes who attract our attention, but even for them the window is short. When’s the last time we heard from Apollo Ohno? Simone Biles won’t still be making GrubHub ads next year at this time.

Those are the best of the best. The vast majority of Olympic athletes are just scraping by.  Athletes are now able to receive both stipends from their national organizations and commercial sponsorships, as well as prize money for winning events. But that’s often not enough to come close to paying the bills. It’s estimated that about half of the track and field athletes ranked in the top 10 in their event earn less than $15,000 a year from competing.

At $45 million for a 16-game season, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will likely make more money in one game than the entire Olympic archery, badminton, bicycling (BMX, mountain and road) canoe/kayak, equestrian, fencing, handball, judo, karate, rowing, shooting, volleyball (gym and beach) and water polo teams make combined in a year.

College sports will be no different. Almost all of the money will go to football and basketball players. Those in big cities and power conferences will rake in the most, and men will have far more financial opportunities than women. 
​
I’m not sure what that will mean for competitive balance or compliance with federal law mandating gender equality.


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected]​
Listen to the audio version.

Comments are closed.

    Shows

    All
    All About Books
    Cafe Con Leche
    Commentaries
    Coronavirus Update
    Delving In
    Earth Matters
    Eye On Government
    Just Community
    Live From The Market
    Live True
    Local Vibes Live
    Mesilla Valley Sports Show
    Speak Up Las Cruces
    Special Broadcasts
    Take On Faith
    The Sunday Show
    Think Again
    This Week In Las Cruces

    Music Shows

    You can find a two-week archive of all of our music shows and nearly every other one of our shows by going to our Schedule page.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly