If would be one thing to suggest that Trevor Lawrence, the dynamic Clemson quarterback, be paid $173,000 this season. But what about the long snapper at Bowling Green? And it would raise few eyebrows to say that Luka Garza, the University of Iowa basketball star, should be paid $115,600. But what about the backup point guard at Portland State?

As the N.C.A.A.’s amateurism model — the one that has turned college sports into a billion-dollar industry — has been increasingly under assault in courtrooms and legislative halls, Senator Cory Booker on Thursday produced the most ambitious swing at it yet. He put forth a multipronged bill with a provocative element: It would give every athlete in a handful of revenue-generating sports a share of profits.

The proposal, called the College Athletes Bill of Rights, would also provide lifetime scholarships, government oversight of health and safety standards, public reporting of booster donations, unrestricted transfers and create a commission with subpoena power to ensure compliance.

The bill stems not only from Booker’s experience as a former football player at Stanford, he said, but from conversations he has had in recent months with college players, which he said have centered on the racial inequities of an unpaid, largely Black work force generating millions for largely white coaches and administrators.

Source: New York Times

Powered by NewsAPI.org