Sports and Antitrust: Should College Students Be Paid to Play
![handle is hein.journals/tndl65 and id is 214 raw text is: Sports and Antitrust: Should College Students
Be Paid to Play?
Lee Goldman*
I. Introduction
Amateur athletics at the major college level is big business. It is
marketed, packaged and sold the same way as many other commercial
products. Last year's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
basketball tournament generated over $70 million in gross receipts.' Fi-
nal Four participants received direct payments of over $1.3 million.2
Merely making the tournament earned invited schools almost $275,000.3
Football revenues were similarly lucrative. During the 1988-89 season,
bowl games generated $66 million, $53 million of which was distributed
to participating schools.4 The sale of television and radio rights to regu-
lar season games provided additional income to NCAA member schools.
A successful college athletic program can also generate substantial indi-
rect revenues. Schools can convert their athletic programs' prestige and
notoriety into generous alumni donations and increased enrollment.5
Nevertheless, the NCAA prohibits payments, beyond educational
scholarships and specified expenses, to the athletes who are responsible
for producing those revenues.6 NCAA rules also restrict the ability of
college-athletes to earn outside income.7 Thus, in a study sponsored by
the NCAA, football and basketball players reported having less money
available after expenses than nonathlete students.8 Almost fifty-eight
percent say the money they have is inadequate.9 Many students are not
even provided the education that is promised them.'0
* Associate Professor of Law, University of Detroit. B.A., Queens College of C.U.N.Y.; J.D.,
Stanford University.
1 See NCAA News, July 19, 1989, at 1, col. 4.
2 Id.
3 Id. These revenues may soar under the NCAA's new billion dollar contract with CBS Sports.
See N.Y. Times, Nov. 22, 1989, at 1, col. 5.
4 See McManus, Another Bowl for Miami?, Sporting News, May 29, 1989, at 61.
5 See G. WONG, ESSENTIALS OF AMATEUR SPORTS LAW 22 (1988); Jensen, Taxation, the Student
Athlete, and the Professionalization of College Athletics, 1987 UTAH L. REV. 35, 44 & n.39 (1987); N.Y.
Times, Mar. 31, 1989, at 47, col. 1; N.Y. Times, Feb. 15, 1989, at 45, col. 1.
6 See infra notes 45-48 and accompanying text. The NCAA also limits the ability of students to
receive government assistance to fund living expenses. See infra note 335.
7 See 1989-90 NCAA MANUAL 140 (1989).
8 See CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF ATHLETICS, REPORT No. 1: SUMMARY RESULTS FROM THE 1987-
88 NATIONAL STUDY OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETES 32-33 (Nov. 1988) [hereinafter REPORT No. 1].
9 Id. Sixty-one percent of black and 40% of nonblack football and basketball players reported
they had less than $25 per month for personal expenses. See CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF ATHLETICS,
REPORT No. 3: THE EXPERIENCES OF BLACK INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETES AT NCAA DIVISION I INSTITU-
TIONS 20-21 (Mar. 1989) [hereinafter REPORT No. 3].
10 See, e.g., Gup, Foul!, Time, Apr. 3, 1989, at 54-60; Norton, .Vo Time For Classes, Calif. Law.,July
1984, at 46 (a survey of professional football players indicated that two thirds had never received a
college degree; similar results had previously been obtained for college basketball players). The
recent Norby Walters trial revealed some of the academic abuses occurring on college campuses. See,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/tndl65&div=16&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Sports and Antitrust: Should College Students Be Paid to Play
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