NCAA Prez: We Won’t Pay Student Athletes, Give Jersey Royalties

New NCAA president Mark Emmert said today that collegiate athletes won’t be cashing paychecks any time soon.

“As long as I’m president of the NCAA, we will not pay student athletes to play sports,” Emmert said, in a keynote speech at the IMG International Athletics Forumpresented by Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily.

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NCAA Basketball Trophy

When Emmert got off the stage, I had a chance to talk to him for a bit, where he elaborated.

“Compensation for students is just something I’m adamantly opposed to,” Emmert said.

When asked if elite players whose numbers are used on jerseys will ever get compensated, Emmert also said no way.

“We’re providing athletes with world class educations and world class opportunities,” Emmert said. “If they are one of the few that are going to move on to become a pro athlete, there’s no better place in the world to refine their skills as a student-athlete.”

What’s interesting about Emmert’s comment is that it’s a hard line that even his predecessor the late Myles Brand didn’t take. In December 2003, Brand told he would look into fairness of using specific numbers of current players on replica jerseys. Nothing ever happened.

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