In a set of talking points issued to school leaders late last week, college sports’ largest governing body urged school leaders have a unified voice on the topic that could dramatically alter college athletics.
This document includes some traditional points of emphasis for the NCAA — that school leaders want athletes to focus on their classwork, the NCAA has liberalized rules to allow athletic departments to purchase items such as suits and members continue to work on legislation to provide money to cover the full cost-of-attendance.
But the NCAA also warned that “scholarships would be cut or eliminated. The number of championship experiences would be dramatically reduced. Smaller sports would lose funding.”
It also said support services such as academic support, career counseling and tutoring could all be “cut significantly or eliminated.”
“Do we really want to signal to society and high school students that making money is the reason to come play a sport in college, as opposed to getting an education, which will benefit you for a lifetime?” the NCAA memo reads. “That’s not the message I want to send.”
The talking points were issued as the National Labor Relations Board weighs a decision by a regional NLRB official clearing the way for football players at Northwestern to form what would be the nation’s first union for college athletes. The NCAA, Big Ten Conference and Northwestern all oppose the move, and the school has appealed.
