ESPN’s Jay Bilas on Tuesday maintained that NCAA athletes are being exploited and that college football and basketball are “pro sports in every way, except the athletes go to school.” Bilas headlined a panel titled “Should College Athletes Be Paid?” panel discussion in Charlotte that also featured Big South Commissioner Kyle Kallander, Davidson Univ. President Carol Quillen, and former NFLers Jason Sehorn and Dré Bly. All five panelists agreed there was no model that could universally compensate college athletes, but they disagreed on whether or not the athletes should be paid.
LAWSUITS DRIVING FORCE: Bilas said the momentum for compensation already is building after the lawsuit by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and pending lawsuits of Shawne Alston and Martin Jenkins that are being led by attorney Jeffrey Kessler. Bilas said Kessler was “about to drive a truck through the NCAA” and that he is “the one to be afraid of.” Bilas said any claim that athletes are already paid in the form of scholarships is flawed. Bilas: “The inescapable conclusion is that their ‘pay’ is capped and it’s capped industry-wide across the board. ... We are not far away from players striking because it’s been discussed. And it’s been discussed of late as we’ve gotten toward some bigger events.”
DIFFERING OPINIONS: Sehorn, an ESPNU commentator, was on the other side of the debate, saying that schools are allowing student-athletes the “opportunity to showcase” skills and talent. Sehorn: “You don’t have to take that opportunity. ... If you don’t want to go to college and abide by the rules that are set, go do something else. The NCAA didn’t say you couldn’t go play in the NFL ... the NFL did.” Sehorn, Bly and Quillen agreed that a full cost-of-attendance stipend that could be paid to athletes across the board would be fair, but that it could not just be given to football and basketball athletes. Kallander said D-I institutions “have a spending problem,” but that he would be “concerned” with paying athletes because he does not think people “are thinking through the consequences.” Kallander said he believes “government intervention” is needed to control institutional spending. He also suggested that if a pay-to-play model was adopted, then Olympic sports likely “would be dropped.” Quillen expressed concern with the competitive balance in D-I if there were a pay-to-play model since schools like Davidson would be going up against “a stacked deck.” Quillen: “Let’s not take in kids under false pretenses, any kid that we have no intention on educating."
