NCAA Exec Dir Cedric Dempsey dedicated much of his annual
address Thursday to the issue of paying student athletes.
Dempsey said paying athletes "is not only unreasonable but also
next to impossible."  "Armed with charts, pies and graphs,"
Dempsey explained, "There's a perception that athletic programs
are making tons of money.  That's far from true."  Dempsey said
that for Division I schools, there was an average athletic
deficit of $174,000 (Jerry Lindquist, RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH,
3/31).  However, Former NCAA Exec Dir Walter Byers disagrees.  He
says the current system involves a "plantation mentality," where
coaches and administrators make money as "overseers who own the
athlete's body."  Most athletes also call for some type of pay
(Wendell Barnhouse, FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 4/1).
     BETTING CONCERNS:  Much of the discussion also involved
gambling on college campuses.  In a panel discussion Friday
entitled "Sports Betting and the Media," the peer pressure
athletes may feel on campus was examined.  The NCAA last year
discussed denying media credentials to the NCAA Tournament to
publications that publish betting lines on college sports.  A
recent survey by the Freedom Forum revealed that of the 50
largest newspapers in the U.S., only the N.Y. TIMES and WALL
STREET JOURNAL do not publish point spreads (George Willis, N.Y.
TIMES, 4/2).