The Blue Devil\u27s in the Details: How a Free Market Approach to Compensating College Athletes Would Work

Abstract

Everyone involved in the business of major college athletics, except the athletes, receives compensation based on a free market system. The National Collegiate Athletic Association\u27s (NCAA) cap on athlete compensation violates antitrust law, and athletes should be allowed to earn their free market value as everyone else does in this country. This Article provides a detailed approach to compensating college athletes under a free market model, which includes a salary cap, the terms of a proposed standard player \u27s contract, a discussion of who can represent players, and payment simulations for football and basketball teams. A free market approach would not only be feasible, but it would likely improve the product on the field and the court, as well as the lives of those college athletes who provide the labor for major college athletics, which is currently an $11 billion-a-year industry