The latest erosion of the NCAA’s founding principle of amateurism comes from an unlikely place: Monaco.
Track and field gold medalists will become the first athletes to receive international bonuses at the Olympics, the international athletics governing body said on Wednesday. Each gold medalist will receive a $50,000 bonus for their individual win. Monaco-based World Athletics has also pledged to award bonuses to silver and bronze medalists from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement: “It is important that we start somewhere by ensuring that some of the revenue generated by our athletes at the Olympics is returned directly to those who make the Olympics the global event it is. people.”
What remains unclear is whether current college athletes will receive the bonus. The NCAA currently prohibits athletes from accepting bonuses at events like the U.S. Open or golf, which feels like an outdated relic of college sports. The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the World Athletics announcement.
While the NCAA does allow funds to be paid to Olympic athletes in college under its “Operation Gold” program, the rules specify that the money must come from the athletic governing body in the athlete’s country. They can accept payments from their national governing bodies and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee; the USOPC currently awards $37,500 per gold medalist, $22,500 per silver medalist, and $15,000 per bronze medalist.
In that very special environment, college athletes can get paid to play their sport and they can maintain NCAA eligibility. Basically in any other environment they can’t.
It’s long past time for the NCAA to allow athletes to accept hard-earned bonuses, regardless of which governing body awards them. This should include World Athletics, whose prize money comes from IOC revenue. This should also include individual professional sports organizations such as the United States Tennis Association or the United States Golf Association, which would allow college tennis players and golfers to earn bonuses while maintaining college eligibility.
The situation is at the center of a lawsuit filed by University of North Carolina tennis player Reese Brandtmeier, who argued that she and other athletes like her should keep the prize money they earned by playing and winning tournaments. For now, they can only keep enough to spend.
Meanwhile…these athletes see Caitlin Clark in national television commercials and quarterbacks peddling headsets through lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) deals while retaining NCAA eligibility.
“I can’t think of another situation where an organization could impose a harsh quid pro quo that prohibits you from accepting money that you earned with your own sweat,” said Tyler Thomson, associate head coach of tennis at the University of North Carolina. Competitor Brandtmeier filed the lawsuit last month. “I just think it’s really wrong, especially in the era of NIL.”
This is all the more poignant in an era of “zero” where supporter-backed collectives pay false wages. These zero-percent deals effectively allow donors to pay athletes to play at specific schools — a ridiculous workaround in a world where schools and conferences can’t pay athletes directly. The argument that tennis players’ acceptance of bonuses is too closely tied to pay-per-game doesn’t hold up compared to what happens in sports like football and men’s basketball.
University of North Carolina tennis player Reese Brantmeier is suing the NCAA for not allowing college athletes to accept bonuses and maintain their eligibility. (Preston Mack/NCAA Photo via Getty Images)
Regardless, the current system likely won’t last long, as a series of lawsuits continue to undermine the NCAA’s long-standing legal arguments defending its version of amateurism. Meanwhile, the organization and all college athletes are stuck in something of a gray area, as rules that might once have made sense persist until the spotlight is shined squarely on them.
This dawn has exposed the NCAA’s hypocritical stance on the bonus issue. It shines brightly against the backdrop of multi-million dollar NIL deals and recruitment inducements that should not have been inducements. It’s crazy to think that college sports governing bodies might force tennis players to turn pro instead of allowing them to take classes and compete in college competitions while accepting bonuses at various events. Or, the NCAA could ban the world’s fastest collegiate sprinter from accepting money from World Athletics simply because it’s not run through the USOPC.
These draconian rules will only force elite athletes to leave campus early. Whether intentional or not, this is not what the NCAA should be doing.
So, this is an opportunity to right the wrongs. This is a chance for a common-sense victory after repeated defeats in court. Let college athletes keep their bonuses — and their eligibility.
(Athing Mu leaves Texas A&M to turn pro ahead of the 2021 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, celebrating her women’s 800m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)
