A Catalyst for Change: World Athletics’ Olympic Prize Money Rule Challenges NCAA to Rethink Athlete Compensation
The most recent stain on the core principle of amateurism in the NCAA came from an unusual place: Monaco.
The international governing body of track and field said on Wednesday that the first athletes to collect international prize money at the Olympics will be the gold medalists in the discipline. Every individual gold medallist will receive $50,000 for their accomplishments. World Athletics, the body in charge of track and field with its headquarters located in Monaco, also pledged to award rewards to the winners of the silver and bronze medals at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement.
It is still unclear if current college players are qualified to win that reward money. It may seem like a relic from a bygone age of college sports, but players are not allowed to get payment for winning events like the U.S. Open in tennis or golf. The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the news made by World Athletics.
While payments to Olympic athletes during their college years are allowed under the NCAA’s Operation Gold program, the regulation explicitly states that the money must come from the body that manages the athlete’s sport in their home country. They can be paid by their nation’s governing body as well as the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which now grants $37,500 for each gold medalist, $22,500 for each silver medalist, and $15,000 for each bronze medalist.
In that one, extremely specific environment, college athletes are paid to play their sport and are nonetheless permitted to maintain their NCAA eligibility. In virtually every other context, they cannot.
It is important for the NCAA to allow its athletes to accept their merited accolades from any regulatory organization. This is really past its prime. That should include World Athletics, whose prize money is covered by funds it receives from the International Olympic Committee. Additionally, this may apply to certain professional sports associations such as the USTA or USGA, allowing student tennis and golf players to earn money while maintaining their eligibility to attend college.
University of North Carolina tennis player Reese Brantmeier filed a complaint alleging comparable conditions. She contends that the prize money earned from competing in and winning events should be kept for herself and other athletes of a like caliber. Right now, the only thing they can retain is what they require to cover their expenses.
These players, who are still eligible to play collegiate football, see quarterbacks pushing headphones through lucrative name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals and Caitlin Clark in nationwide television commercials.
“I can’t think of another situation where an organization can have a draconian quid pro quo where you are prohibited from accepting money you earned with your own sweat,” UNC associate head tennis coach Tyler Thomson told The Athletic last month when Brantmeier filed her lawsuit. “I just think it’s really wrong, and especially in the age of NIL.”
The point is even more relevant in an era of NIL defined by pseudo-salaries given by collectives sponsored by supporters. These NIL agreements essentially give donors the option to pay athletes to play at a specific school in cases where conferences and schools are unable to pay athletes directly. This is a ridiculous fix. The argument that prize money acceptance in tennis is too strongly linked to pay-for-play collapses when you compare it to what is happening in men’s basketball and football.
The NCAA’s long-standing legal defenses of amateurism are being methodically undermined by a number of cases, thus the current system may not continue much longer. Until they are exposed, rules that were formerly reasonable are now unquestionable, keeping the organization and all collegiate players in a state of limbo.
The NCAA’s inconsistent stance on prize money has been made clear in this context. It is obviously brilliant in the context of million-dollar NIL transactions and unethical recruitment inducements. It is nonsensical to think that tennis players are being pressured to become pro by the body in charge of collegiate athletics instead of being allowed to attend classes, participate in collegiate competitions, and earn money from other events. Alternatively, the NCAA may prohibit a collegiate sprinter who breaks the world record from receiving funding from the USOPC just because World Athletics does not use it.
Varsity athletes are compelled by these stringent rules to leave college earlier than they would want. Whether intentional or not, the NCAA ought never ever behave in such a way.
The moment to make apologies is now. A chance for common sense wins out despite numerous court losses. Permit collegiate athletes to keep their award money and eligibility.
(Top photo of Athing Mu, who left Texas A&M to turn pro just before the 2021 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, celebrating her gold medal in the women’s 800-meter at the Tokyo Olympics: Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images)