Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports, said paying athletes for the use of their names and images would change the way college sports are perceived by the general public.
Testifying in a landmark antitrust case brought against the NCAA, Neal Pilson said giving athletes money for the use of their images on television broadcasts might also set off a “land rush” among conferences and schools to spend whatever is needed to attract the best football and basketball players.
“I have a substantial concern it would change the fabric of the sport,” Pilson said. “A significant number of people in the public see one concept of college sports being that young people are playing for the joy of the game would convert into a sense that, well, this is just another professional sport.”
Pilson, who said he spent 20 years trying to figure out what sports the American public wanted to watch while at CBS, said he believes fans have an appreciation of college sports that are rooted in the fact that athletes compete on behalf of long established schools and do so without demanding anything more than scholarships and room and board.
Paying them for the use of their names and images as sought by the plaintiffs in the trial, he said, would change the way college sports are perceived by the general public.
Under cross-examination, though, Pilson acknowledged that he wasn’t sure how much money athletes would have to be paid to negatively influence fans, or if paying them only after they were done with school would be an issue. Still, he said, the idea of paying players could be a real game changer.
“If the Boston College basketball team will share revenues from television and, lo and behold, each member of the Boston College basketball team is entitled to $200,000, I just think that’s a negative,” Pilson said. “I think that’s a problem for the public.”
