With the influx of profit the NCAA and big-time colleges have seen over the last half-decade, Cavaliers veteran forward James Jones says it's time for the system to do away with partial scholarships and walk-ons.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - With the influx of money the NCAA and big-time colleges has seen over the last half-decade, Cavaliers veteran forward James Jones says it's time for the NCAA and its power conferences to do away with partial scholarships and walk-ons.
"I feel as the revenues that are generating from these athletes continue to increase, on a basic note, the least we can do is make sure that every athlete on the team is a full scholarship athlete," James said to cleveland.com.
"In a lot of sports, you have a maximum of 20 players, but the school only kicks out 12 scholarships. So, guys and girls have to split scholarships and get partial scholarships. I don't think that when you talk about sports as a whole, that there should be resistance to making sure at minimum, that all athletes on these teams are fully scholarship athletes."
Jones, the secretary-treasurer of the National Basketball Players Association, says mega-television deals and sold out venues have transformed college athletics into a lucrative billion-dollar industry.
The 13-year veteran decided it was time to speak publicly on the matter after reading a Yahoo! column on the massive amounts of money in college sports, virtually none of which is going to the student-athletes. This is something most NBA players have seen and experienced.
In the column written by Dan Wetzel, he revealed the University of Michigan sports program secured $152.5 million in 2015, up approximately $30 million from 2011. The upsurge is largely due to the conference's Big Ten Network deal.
Other major conferences have similar television distribution deals in place and are receiving the same kinds of boosts in income. With all that cash, schools have hired more staff and restored and built facilities, but the athletes have seen little in return. Full scholarship totals have been kept the same and no sports programs have been added.
The new money has found its way into the wallets of those who preach that the system is fine and that it's providing a "free education" for those in need.
Although Jones is advocating full scholarships for all who compete at power conferences, he also understands that in today's world, a full scholarship isn't enough.
He says stipends need to be increased, and athletes should be approved to pursue employment without restrictions, like regular students can.
"I think it's an unbalanced system," he said. "People like to use the word 'fair.' I think 'fair' is relative to your vantage point, but everyone can recognize what's balanced and unbalanced. Having rising tuition costs versus the increase in revenue that these colleges are generating, it's a wide gap.
"The argument is that the athletes get a full ride, they get their needs met, yet these scholarships don't take into account the extracurricular costs of being an athlete. As a 6-8, 225-pound person, I eat more food than the average person because in order to feed these muscles, you need more food. In order to clothe yourself, you can't buy what the average person buys. You have to buy specialty clothes.
"When you talk about living arrangements as athletes, you're talking about big guys occupying smaller spaces, so a lot of times, guys need larger spaces, bigger apartments."
And student-athletes who choose to use the system for their own benefit are ridiculed. An athlete who turns pro at the end of the semester and uses college to enhance his draft stock is often mocked for tampering with the integrity of college athletics.
"It's really a proposition that they give the athlete that if you want to go to school, if you want an education, you just sign over everything to us," Jones said. "You give us unlimited access, the ability to market and use your likeness and promote the program as we see fit, and we'll make sure you'll have a scholarship."
Ultimately, Jones said he wants transparency and justice. He feels there's plenty of gold in the pot, and the student-athlete deserves a larger portion.
". . . Now, you look at these big schools, the Big Ten, the SEC, these places are bringing in 110,000 people every weekend. The Big Ten Network, SEC Network and everyone else, they're striking billion-dollar TV deals from the business side, and that money is being reinvested in front offices, it's being reinvested in coaches, it's being reinvested in facilities.
"It's all these things that benefit the university primarily and trickle down to the athletes. But at the end of the day, when the athlete leaves, they're leaving with a scholarship, but the school, the employees are leaving with bigger salaries, bigger retirement, bigger pensions, bigger facilities, bigger staffs. From the outside, it looks like the athlete is just signing everything over for a four-year run and at that point, they have to move on."
That pattern for so many years has gone unchallenged. But if players of Jones' stature continue to voice their displeasure, change may eventually come.
His parting message: "If the NCAA is truly reflective and really is about displaying the talents, the gifts of all student-athletes, then I think it's a no-brainer for all student-athletes to have full scholarships with this money that's coming in."
