Outside view: College football players are students, not professionals

This commentary from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view of The Spokesman-Review’s editorial board.

College football is, without a doubt, big business – at least for schools in the major conferences (with ginormous TV contracts) such as the PAC 12, Big 10 and SEC.

So it’s hardly a surprise the players want a piece of the action.

But, to this point, the effort to have players recognized as employees entitled to pay rather than student athletes has not gotten far. The National Labor Relations Board last week declined to assert jurisdiction in the Northwestern University case after football players were deemed to be employees by the regional NLRB director last year.

Effectively, the decision is a win for the NCAA and its quest to keep the status quo.

And the NCAA has sought to bolster its position by allowing athletes on scholarship to be given a stipend to cover the cost of attending college. It was a prudent move politically. It was also the right thing to do for student athletes. Travel and incidental expenses should be covered by scholarships – whether athletic or academic.

If the NCAA can deal with the player concerns this way, it would benefit the student athletes over the long run. The fact is football makes the bulk of the money in college sports, and much of the profit is used to keep the other sports operating.

The vast majority of college football players – 98.3 percent, according to the NFL – do not go on to pro careers. For most involved in college athletics it is about playing a sport they enjoy, the experience of being on a college team and getting an education.

Yet, at least a couple of college football coaches seem intent on messing it up for the NCAA and college athletes.

At Virginia Tech, coaches have put in place a system to take away part of an athlete’s stipend for violating rules. According to a display photographed by the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper, players are fined $20 for missing treatment and $10 for missing study hall or a tutoring session. They were also assessed fines of $100 for flagrant or unsportsmanlike fouls or wearing the wrong equipment and $50 for having a dirty dorm room.

The University of Cincinnati football program is putting a similar program in place.

While coaches certainly have the authority to impose these rules, taking away part of the players’ newly granted stipend as punishment feels like docking their pay. And that’s probably why Virginia Tech is now distancing itself from the concept. Cincinnati should rethink it too.

That’s not ignoring the megamillions college football takes in every year or that the current system is far from equitable. The business of college football has purchased more than one mansion for big-time coaches.

But if the new stipend system is to work, students on athletic scholarships should be treated as students, not professionals.