WASHINGTON — College football and basketball players are being exploited by businesses such as fantasy leagues and video game makers, and the NCAA is doing nothing to protect their interests, former athletes told the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics recently.
"Until something is done about it, it is exploitation," said Craig Krenzel, quarterback of Ohio State University's 2002 champion football team.
"The NCAA should be leading the fight for the student athlete," said Nick Buoniconti, former linebacker for the Miami Dolphins and a member of the Knight Commission. He said the NCAA response on the issue has been "lukewarm" and "to my mind, they're not defending the student athlete."
Witnesses told the commission that fantasy sports leagues and video games use images and characteristics of college players in commercial ventures without the permission of the players or any benefit to them.
Former players distinguished between the benefits that colleges and universities receive for their services, such as ticket sales and television rights — which are repaid at least on some level by their scholarships and education — and the profits that third-party interests earn.
NCAA rules prohibit a student athlete from profiting from his or her name or likeness, said Wally Renfro, vice president of the NCAA.
But the former players said the funds from licensing fees could be collected into a trust fund or used to pay for medical insurance or some other acceptable payment for student athletes — and not just the marquee players.
Jeremy Bloom, an Olympic skier and former University of Colorado football player, stopped playing college sports in order to accept pay for endorsements. He said it is hard to tell the difference between the NFL brand and NCAA brand in actual football, or in fantasy leagues.
Bloom scoffed at NCAA rules on jersey sales that forbid the player's name from being on the back. The University of Florida and jersey manufacturers are profiting from the skills and popularity of quarterback Tim Tebow by selling number 15 jerseys whether or not Tebow's name is on the back, he noted.
College football is a commercial venture and student athletes are part of that commerce, he said, adding, "What is wrong about additional benefits for the people that the whole system is built upon?"
The former players dismissed the notion that the main purpose of fantasy leagues is to educate fans.
"For a personal level, fantasy (play) provides no added value to the sport it represents," said Kerry Kenny, a former basketball player at Lafayette College and chairman of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He complained that college players have to put up with "walking across campus and have someone yell, 'hey, you screwed up my fantasy team this weekend.'"
"It is laughable for people to argue that a fantasy league is informative," said Krenzel. He said the leagues are "just another way for organizations to make money" — by attracting visitors to Web sites, for instance, so more can be charged for online advertising.
"The first step is putting together a group to go out and get the money for the student athlete," he said, then decisions can be made on how to get the funds to the athletes.
Renfro said the NCAA probably does not have standing to file lawsuits in such cases, because the publicity rights belong to the individual college athlete.
After the hearing, R. Gerald Turner, co-chairman of the commission and president of Southern Methodist University, said in a stratement, "College athletes in fantasy games and video games may seem trivial to some, but these and other forms of new media pose new challenges to the long-held distinction between commercial activity featuring teams and that which focuses on individual athletes. We continue to believe that universities need to treat athletes fairly and equitably, and for third parties to use them in commercial products and advertisements violates that principle."
The Knight Commission was formed in 1989 to investigate scandals related to college athletics and seek reforms on such issues as commercialization, low graduation rates of college athletes and illicit recruiting practices.
Bob Dart's e-mail address is bobdart@coxnews.com