Stipends Remain A Hot Topic Big-Money TV Contracts Leave Ncaa Asking Again If Athletes Should Be Paid

Like a shark gliding quietly toward swimmers, the issue of pay-for-play circles the NCAA.

It is one reason fans won’t see a football playoff any time soon. It is the one thing that just about everyone agrees could end college sports as we know it.

And it has taken on new life since last month when the NCAA signed a $1.75 billion basketball tournament contract with CBS. Then last week, retired longtime NCAA head Walter Byers shocked his former colleagues in a philosophical about-face by saying he favors paying athletes.

To the college sports establishment, the issue is no longer a bothersome annoyance. It is a clear and present danger, and the establishment will fight for its life.

“Paying players would fundamentally change what we’re about,” said Judith Albino of Colorado, head of the NCAA Presidents Commission. “If we suddenly start paying players to participate in these events, we’re no longer educational institutions.”

Before adjourning this week, delegates will wrestle with such matters as academic requirements and restructuring of the NCAA itself. Accorded vast significance now, these issues will look irrelevant the day college sports finally confronts head-on what one delegate termed “our secret 600-pound gorilla.”

“I think the day that our members decide it’s time to pay players will be the day that my institution will stop playing,” said Joseph Crowley, president of the University of Nevada and outgoing president of the NCAA. “I believe there are other ways of addressing that question.”