Univ. of Texas men's AD Steve Patterson said that the college sports landscape will "look radically different" if college athletes are allowed to unionize and get paid by their schools, according to Brian Davis of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Patterson believes most schools, including UT, would "play football, men’s basketball, baseball and maybe hockey," and "that’s about it." Patterson said that he is "very comfortable being an anti-union voice among college administrators." He is "supportive of a measure that provides athletes with the full cost of a scholarship." At UT, that would "mean giving each scholarship athlete an extra $3,752." Given a "full allotment of 260.2 scholarships spread across all of UT’s sports, that would be an extra $976,270 that the department would have to generate." Patterson said that many schools "simply couldn't afford that kind of added expense." So if schools "had to pay players like professionals, Patterson believes most colleges would stop competing in most NCAA sports altogether -- except football, men’s basketball, baseball and hockey up north." Patterson: "Then, you wipe out the women's sports or you get down to satisfy Title IX. You'd see smaller rosters on the football side. NFL plays with 55. Why do we need 100-plus? So you whack it down to 55 or 60 football players. You whack it down to 12 or 13 men’s basketball players. So you're all in with 70 or so student-athletes. On the women's side, that means women's basketball and rowing. And that's it. You're done. Everything else goes away" (STATESMAN.com, 4/17).
LAWYER UP: Patterson said Northwestern Univ.'s attempt to unionize "smells of guys in the legal profession looking for a fee." Patterson: "Guys like [attorney] Jeff Kessler are trying to destroy the college system to get a percentage or a fee. If they do that, they'll be destroying the greatest thing to happen to the college system aside from the G.I. Bill." Patterson admitted Thursday that he "felt the NCAA and the schools were losing the public relations battle" (ESPN.com, 4/17).
