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One suggestion: Insure the college athletes
While it might go against our national spirit, many around sports continue to search for ways to keep high-profiles athletes from turning professional, especially in basketball.
In today’s Chicago Tribune, two professors from George Mason University, Thomas W. Hazlett and Joshua D. Wright, have a theory: Make the colleges pay to insure those star players for future wages potentially lost by staying in school.
So the answer, given that universities cannot pay athletes market wages, is to at least insure them. Were underclassmen to be appraised, via draft rankings, and then offered compensation in the event—post-graduation—they slipped by some increment, they could hedge this very considerable exposure.
This publicly became known as a practice in a famous instance with Willis McGahee, the University of Miami running back who suffered a significant knee injury in the 2002 national championship game against Ohio State. Had he not been able to go pro, he had money coming because he secured insurance.
The two George Mason professors feel that athletes wouldn’t be so anxious to leave school if they knew the money was waiting for them one way or another. Get hurt? No problem, the check’s coming. Not drafted as high as you thought? We can pay the difference.
The NCAA allows players to insure, but the player pays even though it is largely the university (and its fans) that benefits. Moreover, policies can only insure against career-ending injuries, leaving the more common outcomes—less serious injuries and performance-related changes in draft status—terrifying prospects.
It’s an interesting thought, asking the school to pay for this coverage, although it’s just one instance of the ongoing argument about what colleges owe the athletes who help make millions upon millions of dollars for the athletic departments (and the NCAA).
This could be both an olive branch to help share some of the wealth and, perhaps, make a player or two think twice. If you know the money’s going to be there regardless, you might not be so quick to sign the agent papers.
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