The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
"There were times where I was pretty much broke. I definitely went without some stuff that I could have used." Nick Bradford, last year's team captain
Kansas senior forward Kenny Gregory dunks during a game against Syracuse last season. Gregory refuses to allow the University to use his name for profit. Photo by Matt Daugherty/KANSAN
In the battle for bucks, players get slammed
Continued from page 1A
"They're getting a great thing when they're getting their educa
Troy Fairchild, Topeka freshman, looks at replicas of Kansas men's basketball team jerseys for sale. The University pockets the money made from the sale of the jerseys, and the players get nothing. Photo by Laurie Sisk/KANSAN
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes.
soon.
"That doesn't mean there won't be some compromise reached where the student-athletes receive some stipend for playing," Martin said. "Factoring in miscellaneous things like going to the laundromat, gasoline costs and out with friends would help."
Gregory worked part-time summer jobs at K-mart and a metal company in Columbus early in his college career and saved some money for college living expenses. His family provided the rest.
"I definitely don't think that's fair," Gregory said. "With any business you should reward the people you are making proceeds off of."
"It's impossible," he said.
"There's no chance that can happen with the schedules that we have."
Paying the bills
A supportive family kept Gregory on his feet during college and helped him make ends meet.
Gregory said his family shouldn't have to support him because he should be paid for playing basketball.
Nick Bradford, last year's team captain, had to use his own savings, in addition to help from family funds, to pay his expenses. He said most KU players had to make sacrifices because money was limited.
Gregory said the time spent on basketball and academics made it unrealistic for him to have a part-time job, even though NCAA rules allowed it.
"Ihad to conserve my meals—and I eat a lot," Bradford said. "You'd have to not eat an appetizer or another course in a meal. You have to conserve on the things that you wear and the things that you do."
profitting even from non-basketball ventures.
"There were times where I was pretty much broke," Bradford said. "I definitely went without some stuff that I could have used."
When Jayhawk guard Jerod Haase wrote *Floor Burns*, a book about a year in the life of a college basketball player, NCAA rules prohibited him from selling it until after his career was finished.
Kansas senior swingman Luke Axtell released a self-titled country music CD during the summer of 2000, only to have it yanked from the shelves. The NCAA threatened to suspend Axtell if he didn't stop selling his CD, even though basketball wasn't mentioned in his songs or the CD liner.
from the album might be linked to Axtell's celebrity status as a college basketball player.
Axtell doesn't think the NCAA ban was fair because it did not promote or exploit his basketball talent. The NCAA counters that profit
A lthough Axtell couldn't benefit from his own celebrity status to sell his $15 CD, the NCAA and the KU Athletic Department exploited that same celebrity
status to sell $50 jerseys with
Axtell's name on the back.
Axtell said it was just another way the NCAA disrespected student-athletes 'effort.
"It would be tremendously expensive.As soon as we start paying student-athletes, all equity issues are going to be raised and we'll be paying everybody." Bob Frederick KU Athletics Directio
Players wanting money can also declare for the NBA draft and try their luck there, as Pierce, now a star for the Boston Celtics, did.
Kansas sophomore forward Drew Gooden considered but rejected leaving early for the NBA. He admits he doesn't have the financial burdens some of his teammates have.
"It's pretty sick if you ask me, all of the money that's made from us playing ball," Axtell said.
David Katzman, KU professor and chair of American Studies, was a three-year member of the University Athletic Board and has
Williams said NBA scouts told him Gooden would have been drafted in the first round. He would have earned at least a 3-year, $2.6 million rookie contract as an NBA player, with an additional multimillion-dollar signing bonus. Instead, he will work as a KU player for his $15,000 scholarship — money he will never actually see.
Now that his basketball career is finished, he is free from NCAA restrictions. His CDs are available for purchase again, and he said he was beginning work on a second album.
Assistance options and restrictions
Recent early departures for the NBA by college stars caught the NCAA's attention. In April, the NCAA responded by announcing that basketball players considered likely first-round draft picks could take out a $20,000 bank loan that would be repaid once the player was drafted.
This rule was implemented in response to complaints that premier college players were leaving for the NBA because they needed money they could not obtain at the college level.
The NCAA recently took one step to benefit the college game's elite olavers.
Although the rule would have applied to Paul Pierce, the last KU player to depart early to the NBA, Frederick said he didn't think a $20,000 loan was the solution to keeping college basketball's stars in school.
"I don't think you can buy a Lincoln Navigator for $20,000, or whatever's the hottest thing at the time," said Frederick, who recently announced his resignation as athletics director as of June 30. "I don't know how they reached that number, but I think that's a pretty
Despite allowing a $20,000 loan, Martin said everyday expenses still would not be covered by scholarships, so players not considered NBA material would receive no extra financial help.
small number to convince guys to stay in school."
Former Missouri Tiger Albert White left for the NBA after his junior year because he said he needed to support his family, and playing college basketball for free was a financial burden. White went undrafted and played in the CBA until the league broke up this year.
THE RIVER RUNS DRY
Porter was suspended at the end of his senior season for accepting $2,500 from a sports agent. He gave the money to his mother so she wouldn't be evicted from her home.
Others, such as former Auburn standout Chris Porter, turn to sports agents who are deemed illegal by the NCAA.
studied and lec-
taught and材ured about intercollegiate athletics. He said student-athletes shouldn't have to rely on families for financial support and that universities should pay players a fair wage for their work.
Katzman blames universities nationwide for allowing the NCAA to impose
such constricting rules on studentathletes, rather than treating them as paid employees who are providing a service. He said the current system was set up by universities to serve their own interests, not those of players.
"We're in the business now of entertainment at the University, not just education," Katzman said. "One of the areas we offer entertainment is sports, but we do it by exploiting the athlete rather than allowing them to accrue some of the economic benefits from their production."
The NCAA won't allow student-athletes to consult sports agents for advice, even though universities have professional consultants and attorneys, Katzman said. Players should have the opportunity to get advice from sports agents to find out their value as an athlete, he said.
"For the kids this is a unique experience for them and their families, but whatever they negotiate with the University is not equal," Katzman said. "The University and the NCAA insure that it isn't equal by saying you cannot get professional advice from the people — agents — who know this system best. You have to negotiate with experienced people, and we're going to ensure that you are naive and underrepresented. We've rigged the system to screw them."
Frederick said players could access that information by consulting their coaches and having them contact NBA scouts and coaches to determine their value.
"I think a player on Kansas' team could ask coach Williams where they'd be drafted coming out early," Frederick said. "He would talk to some NBA people and he'd tell them honestly I
don't think you have to deal with agents."
What if players were paid?
Gregory doesn't think players need to make the millions that NBA players earn, but he suggests that they get some financial reimbursement for their work, perhaps a monthly stipend for living expenses.
"We do get our education and that's a positive; that's good," Gregory said. "But on the flip side, you look at the numbers and the CBS package that the NCAA has worth billions of dollars, and you have to think that you could take a couple thousand dollars to give out to the players that you're making money off of.
"I don't think it would hurt their wallets too much."
Martin said paying student-ath-letes to play could be financially devastating for smaller universi
ties but that larger programs could do it.
Paying a salary, or even an extra stipend, could require athletes to pay taxes on all of their benefits, Martin said.
"If you were also being paid for your play, then you would be working for the athletics department and institution as an employee," Martin said.
That would require decisions about Social Security, health insurance, retirement and other employee benefits, she said.
Katzman said the enormous surplus produced by college basketball and its $1.725 billion TV contract with CBS should make paying basketball players feasible.
"It would be tremendously expensive," Frederick said. "As soon as we start paying student-athletes, all equity issues are going to be raised, and we'll be paying everybody. You're talking about tremendously raising the costs of running a program."
The basketball team's projected income this year was $4.75 million, with expenses of $1.8 million, for a profit of almost $3 million. The athletics department spent just $164,366 for men's basketball player scholarships this year, only 3.5 percent of the season's total income.
Frederick said those numbers were deceiving because the school's non-revenue sports — soccer, volleyball, rowing, track and field, golf, swimming, tennis, softball and baseball — were all supported by men's basketball revenue. He said KU would have less money for those teams if basketball players were paid.
Need money? Go somewhere else
"There's no administrator getting rich from the CBS contract," Frederick said. "Those young people are generating a lot of revenue, but its going back to the student-athletes on their campus."
If college players desire compensation beyond an education, Frederick suggested they consider the ABA or the NBA's developmental league now in the planning stages. He said not all basketball players belong in college and that those leagues might present better options for some.
"The new NBA developmental league wants to have an age limit of 21, but I wish they'd made it 19," Frederick said. "There's a percentage of young people coming out of high school to play college basketball for no other reason than to increase their opportunity to play professionally. They have no interest in school. If that's the case, then maybe they should be in the NBA developmental league instead of college."
For the majority of KU players, such as Bradford, their basketball careers end after college, meaning they never see cash for their talents. Bradford was cut by the ABA's Kansas City Knights this year. His dream of playing professionally is over.
Like too many college players, Bradford didn't complete his college education, which is his only compensation for playing basketball. He will finish his degree this spring and hopes to begin a coaching career.
Axtell dropped all of his classes this semester and moved back home to Austin, Texas, to undergo treatment for his ailing back and may never complete his degree at Kansas.
Only 54 percent of KU basketball players have graduated during the last five years, based on the NCAA's six-year allotment.
Although Gregory has used up his eligibility, he still has one semester of classes remaining. He plans to earn his degree, but will focus now on succeeding in professional basketball.
If he is not selected in the June NBA draft, Gregory's basketball career —like Bradford's —could be over.
He had his opportunity to be adored by KU fans while defying gravity with his dunks, but he sometimes had to look under his couch cushions for coins when he wanted to go to the movies with friends.
— Edited by Jacob Roddy
— Designed by Jason Elliott