NCAA Athletes In Olympic Sports Should Keep Earnings<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The NCAA, in the face of many legal challenges, has been desperately trying to hold on to its cherished ideal of the student NCAA athletes\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NCAA Athletes In Olympic Sports Should Be Able To Keep Earnings; Rules Need Changing\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The NCAA, in the face of many legal challenges, has been desperately trying to hold on to its cherished ideal of the student NCAA athletes\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-17T16:00:49+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-17T16:38:10+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Franklin-M-and-Lochte-R-2013-US-Nats-0789.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4188\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2787\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brent Rutemiller\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brent Rutemiller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brent Rutemiller\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3f0d5ee9c9fea2a52c6207e2869b0ba3\"},\"headline\":\"NCAA Athletes In Olympic Sports Should Be Able To Keep Earnings; 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{"id":123054,"date":"2015-02-17T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=123054"},"modified":"2015-02-17T09:38:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T16:38:10","slug":"ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-athletes-olympic-sports-able-keep-earnings-rules-need-changing\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Athletes In Olympic Sports Should Be Able To Keep Earnings; Rules Need Changing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary by Sandy Thatcher<\/em><\/p>\n

TEXAS – The NCAA, in the face of many legal challenges, has been desperately trying to hold on to its cherished ideal of the \u201cstudent-athlete\u201d even while the business of big-time college sports has become ever more commercialized. But at what price to NCAA athletes in the so-called minor sports like swimming?<\/p>\n

NCAA rules prohibit any college athletes participating in events. like the Arena Pro Am, from accepting prize money or money from endorsements. Thus an Olympian like Missy Franklin has been compelled to choose between competing for her Cal Bears college team and earning money as a professional in her sport. (In the photo above, Ryan Lochte took the money and Missy had to decline.) Yet why force anyone to make this hard choice? Ms. Franklin, and many other top college swimmers like her, already compete in the national and international meets where prize money is offered, with the encouragement of their coaches, both college and club. Why should they not reap the financial benefits?<\/p>\n

Unlike basketball and football, there need be no concern here about burdening universities with any additional expenses. These pro events all have sponsors that put up the prize money; no funds come out of any university\u2019s budget. Indeed, one might even argue that allowing top athletes to keep prize money could enable universities to offer scholarships to some athletes they cannot support currently, because the top-earning athletes in pro competition would not need athletic scholarships to pay for their college educations. Just to use one example of a swimmer who graduated from USC in 2012, Katinka Hosszu, her earnings in her first two years as a pro topped a half million<\/a> <\/p>\n

Exactly how does allowing a college athlete to compete as a pro run against the ideal of the student-athlete and the principle of amateurism anyway? Ms. Franklin intends to complete her education at Cal, so will remain a student while she is denied the privilege of continuing to compete as a member of the Cal team. And as for amateurism, the International Olympic Committee has long since abandoned that ideal as governing the participation of athletes in the Olympics. The NCAA is itself inconsistent. It allows high school tennis players, for instance, to earn up to $10,000 a year from tournaments without forfeiting the eligibility to play in college. Why not allow high school and club swimmers participating in Grand Prix meets to do the same?<\/p>\n

The way the judicial system is reacting to suits like that brought by Ed O\u2019Bannon should also make the NCAA worry that denying the ability of athletes to earn money is a failing strategy. The handwriting is on the wall here, and it may not be too long before some future Missy Franklin steps forward to challenge the NCAA\u2019s archaic rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"