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NCAA president Charlie Baker claims making student-athletes employees will result in 95% of all college sports being disbanded.
In December, the NCAA was sued by over a half-dozen states to allow unlimited immediate transfers for every student-athlete.
Earlier this month, a landmark ruling was laid down by the National Labor Relations Board which determined that Dartmouth College basketball players are actually employees of the school.
Then, last week, a US District Judge delivered a preliminary injunction ruling that the NCAA was temporarily barred from enforcing any of its NIL rules.
So, basically, at least for now, all NCAA sports are now officially the wild, wild west.
On Friday, Charlie Baker told a group of reporters that if the ruling making student-athletes employees stands it essentially will be the end of college sports.
Baker says historically Black colleges and universities, as well as Division II and III schools, simply can’t afford to pay their student-athletes.
“You’re talking about 95 percent of colleges that probably spend somewhere between … $40 million and $5 million on college sports, and they lose money,” the Associated Press reports Baker said. “They don’t have TV contracts and nobody can look at their income statements or balance sheets and conclude there would be a way for them to make money.”
Baker, much like he predecessor Mark Emmert, believes the solution is government intervention in the form of a limited antitrust exemption for the NCAA. If granted that exemption, it would free the NCAA up from the barrage of lawsuits it has been facing since the NIL rules went into effect.
“I think in the end, we are going to need Congress to do something,” Baker said. “Because people will draw a lot of conclusions from court decisions. And then there will be new ones.”
Unfortunately for Baker and the NCAA, there are already legislators that oppose such a move.
“The NCAA has a well-established history of backroom deliberations that produce unfair punishments for athletes, coaches, and universities. Until the NCAA gets it act together, any ‘get out of jail free cards’ for them are dead on arrival in Congress,” Senator Marsha Blackburn told the Associated Press. “The NCAA has damaged its priorities in Congress by pursuing its unfounded accusations against schools like the University of Tennessee and handing down unfair punishments.”
Senator Chris Murphy also advised the NCAA that instead of looking for Congress to step in and help, the organization should “start negotiating directly with the athletes to come up with an entirely new model that gives them the pay and protections they have long deserved.”
Perhaps Rick Pitino was actually on to something when he suggested college sports start developing some sort of salary cap.