It started eight months ago with a tweet: Chris Murphy, a Democratic Senator from the United States of Connecticut, told the world how much he liked the editorial work of Draymond Green on the Washington Post, labeling the NCAA as “a dictatorship” and asking for higher compensation to college athletes.
Green went to Murphy’s office to thank him for the tweet. Murphy is a huge sports fan – the Boston Celtics are his NBA team – so he was excited to hear from an all-star about the three-time Golden State Warriors champion. They have been collaborating ever since.
“It’s really cool,” Murphy told ESPN this week. “There are not many direct partnerships between athletes and politicians. We hope to be able to present a unique voice on this topic.”
A result of the partnership is an editorial published on ESPN.com. ESPN asked NCAA officials for key parts of the operation. “Thank you for the opportunity to comment, but we are going to decline right now,” NCAA spokeswoman Emily James told ESPN.
Prior to teaming up with Green, Murphy had already paid one of his pet cases for college athletes fairly. As of March 2019, his office has published three reports under the title “Madness Inc.” highlighting what Murphy considers structural inequalities underlying high-profile college sports. Reports focused, respectively, on: how much a small portion of the estimated $ 14 billion in annual revenue generated by college sports filters for scholarship athletes; the tendency of the best programs to favor sports over academics, sometimes in a scandalous way; and the lack of guaranteed health care and scholarships for players suffering from life-threatening injuries.
Murphy also highlighted the disparity in graduation rates between white and black athletes, and for both green and Murphy, the fight for what they see as fair compensation is part of the wider struggle for social and racial justice. .
Murphy, green: College sports cannot return to work as usual
Murphy’s first two reports came out before California’s famous Fair Pay to Play Act, which from 2023 will ban California colleges from punishing athletes who profit from their names and similarities. (LeBron James and former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon were on hand when Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill. O’Bannon was the lead actor in a lawsuit, first filed in 2009, claiming that the NCAA clearing limits were an antitrust violation.)
Green appreciated the fact that Murphy’s reports offered concrete solutions: to guarantee four-year scholarships; provide health coverage to athletes who have continued beyond college years in the event of life-threatening injuries while participating in sports; establish guarantees that guarantee athletes enough time to focus on lessons; by instituting tougher crackdowns on universities involved in academic fraud scandals.
“Everyone wants to talk about the problem, but nobody wants to be part of the solution,” Green told ESPN. “What really came to Senator Murphy’s mind is that it wasn’t just a lip service. It was, ‘OK, this is bad, what can we do to change it?'”
The NCAA has changed its rules, but often under pressure. As the O’Bannon case gained momentum, some schools began offering four-year scholarships rather than scholarships that they could renew – or not renew – on an annual basis. Federal courts ruled in the O’Bannon case that schools had to increase the benefits to cover “the cost of attendance” – a salary usually several thousand dollars, according to legal experts – but some schools had already started doing so as O ‘The Bannon case has continued.
Two months ago – and four months after California’s Fair Pay to Play law passed – the NCAA announced plans to allow players to profit from their names, images and similarities. The NCAA working group on the subject made it clear that these payments would come from third party lenders and not from the universities themselves. The NCAA said it would elaborate a proposed formal modification and will vote no later than January.
Even before the announcement of the NCAA, officials from several states had launched plans to develop legislation similar to California law. Last Thursday, Marco Rubio, Republican senator of the United States from Florida, presented a federal law that would allow college athletes to earn money from their names and similarities, albeit with limitations designed to prevent university boosters from using sponsorship offers as a recruiting tool. Rubio’s bill also included the linguistic protection of universities from the legal challenges related to his proposed new regulations.
Murphy made a statement applauding Rubio’s effort, but expressing concern that Rubio’s proposal didn’t go far enough.
For Murphy and Green, the NCAA’s moves are too uncertain and too late. “They are taking small steps when the whole system is broken,” said Green.
“I think we have to admit college football and, to a lesser extent, college basketball are the unpaid minor leagues for the NFL and the NBA,” said Murphy. “IS [the players] nothing is paid. It’s an abomination. “
Professional leagues can tackle this problem from their end. The NBA recently created a new career path for eighteen year olds who want to skip college and become professionals. Potential Elite customers can sign up for the G League and earn up to $ 500,000 a year.
According to Murphy’s office reports, of the Power 5 NCAA conferences, only 12% of the revenue generated by college sports is allocated to scholarships for athletes, less than the amount earmarked for coaches’ salaries. The reports are full of personal stories from players who found that basketball or college football represented more than a full-time job, leaving little time for traditional loads of academic courses. Some schools have become adept at channeling athletes into classes and majors that require little attendance or courses, reports say. Some universities were surprised that tutors did the students’ work for them.
“They throw the word ‘student-athlete’, but it couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Green. “You are an athlete who appears to be a student. You don’t have time to find a job and provide for yourself, or send money home. This is a $ 14 billion sector and workers are unpaid.”
He arrived home for Green during his first year at Michigan State University when the Spartans made the Final Four in Detroit – less than two hours from Saginaw, Green’s hometown. Dozens of Green’s family and friends wanted to come and see. Green was awarded only three tickets. He and his family could not afford to buy more. LaMarr Woodley, a longtime NFL starter who grew up with Green, paid for part of Green’s family – including Green’s grandmother – to participate.
“My whole family would have lost a great moment in my life,” said Green. “And why? Because of the NCAA rules that suppress all rights for college athletes.”
Green has become an NBA star after four years in the state of Michigan, and plans to earn nearly $ 75 million in the next three seasons. Green said he often thinks of former college stars who derive huge NCAA following but don’t make it to the NBA.
“Take a guy like Scottie Reynolds to Villanova,” said Green. “He was an American, and he wasn’t enrolled. He should have already made money in college.” (Reynolds now plays in Europe.)
Murphy said he would support a system where universities paid athletes a direct salary. “It wouldn’t be what you get paid as a professional athlete, but you get paid something decent – with the school writing the check,” said Murphy. He called that system a simple form of “revenue sharing”. Murphy acknowledged that such a system could widen the gap between schools of power and everyone else. “This has already happened in college football,” said Murphy.
For both Murphy and Green, the pillars of the type of compensation system of athletes that provide – guaranteed scholarships, solid health care, salaries – concern wider dynamics of power. Athletes at risk of losing scholarships often fear talking about NCAA violations and unethical practices: excessively harsh football practices in the summer heat; coaches who make return decisions when this should be the domain of medical professionals; academic fraud; and racist comments.
“The power of these trainers on children is almost absolute,” said Murphy. “There is no way a child can speak if he feels his situation is unstable.”
Murphy said he would support the abolition of the NBA’s one rule. He would also like to see the NFL shorten the time for college football players to join the project. According to the rules of the NFL, a player must be removed from high school for at least three years to be eligible.
“Football is the last place you should be forced to free up labor to get a paycheck,” said Murphy, citing the risk of head injuries. “Football should allow children to move faster from college to professionals.” (The NFL has argued that sport on a professional level is so physical that players need time to acquire the strength they need to compete.)
Green and Murphy have not met yet. They hope that once the coronavirus pandemic will subside. But they plan to continue their collaboration by challenging the NCAA rules.
“Now more than ever it’s time to make a change,” said Green. “We are not going away.”
.
