OKLAHOMA CITY – Any collegiate athlete whose likeness or performance is used commercially in a video or an electronic game should be compensated, state Reps. Mickey Dollens and Monroe Nichols contend.
Consequently, Dollens has authored, and Nichols has co-sponsored, legislation that would allow Oklahoma collegiate student-athletes to be compensated for use of their image or likeness. Both are former Division 1 college foot- ballplayers. Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, has dubbed his proposal the “Fair Pay to Play Act.” His measure would adopt the Olympic model for compensating athletes, he said. “Olympians are allowed to secure endorsement deals, get paid for signing autographs, and be compensated for their name and image,” Dollens said. “The Olympic model would allow the NCAA to keep up the spirit of amateurism,” said Dollens who participated as both a Division 1 football player and as a member of the U.S. bobsled team. “It also would allow college student-athletes an opportunity to get paid at no additional cost to the school.” When he participated on the Team USA bobsled team in 2012-14, “We didn’t receive a salary or stipend,” Dollens recalled. “They paid for our food and housing, and that was it. If you were lucky, you could get a sponsorship – but only the top guys got those.”
‘LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD’
Under his legislation, college athletes would not receive payments from their schools, Dollens stressed, “so there would be no Title IX violations.” His bill would “level the playing field,” he said, “like any other college student whose talents or image are used to get endorsement deals.” If an art student paints a portrait or makes a statue and sells it, he or she “gets compensated for the labor involved,” Dollens noted. Likewise, if an English major writes a best-seller, he/ she “gets to keep some of the proceeds from that book.” Or if a student launches a successful start-up company, “the student gets to keep the profits from that business.” Male football, baseball and basketball players would not be the only beneficiaries of his legislation, Dollens said. So would female athletes, such as swimmers, gymnasts, and track-and-field contestants. “There may have been a time that a scholarship was adequate compensation for the revenue a student-athlete brings an institution,” said Nichols, D-Tulsa. “That time has passed.” Dollens said his proposal is simply a “free-market approach.” A college athlete who sponsors a sports training camp for youngsters cannot even charge an admission or entry fee to offset expenses, because the NCAA considers that an infraction, he said.
NCAA ‘CAPITALIZES OFF STUDENTS’
The NCAA is “a $15 billion industry that capitalizes off students,” Dollens said. College athletics is “a multi-billion-dollar industry built on the work and sacrifice of student-athletes,” echoed Nichols. “If we in Oklahoma believe collegiate athletes have the right to participate in the free market, then we need to pass a bill in the Legislature that embodies the Olympic model.” Dollens submitted a request for his proposal to the House of Representatives’ legal staff; the measure had not yet been assigned a specific bill number as of Friday, Jan. 3. Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. is the deadline for filing bills and resolutions for consideration in the Second Regular Session of the 57th Oklahoma Legislature, which convenes at noon Feb. 3. Nichols played wide receiver for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team. Dollens was a defensive lineman for the Mustangs football team at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, which he attended in 2006-11. SMU was the first, and to date only, college football program to receive the NCAA “death penalty.” The university was investigated and punished for massive and repeated violations of NCAA rules and regulations over a period of several years between the late 1970s and mid-1980s. The most serious violation was maintenance of a slush fund used for “under the table” payments to players and their families to entice the athletes to come to SMU to play. The NCAA barred SMU from participating in the 1987 football season, and school officials canceled the 1988 season, as well. The SMU football program resumed in 1989, but in the three intervening decades the Ponies have had a winning season just six times (including 2009 and 2011). In the 31 preceding years the Mustangs had 14 winning seasons.