(THE PICKET) – A lawsuit seeking payment to NCAA student athletes was again victorious on the side of the NCAA in a Sept. 30 ruling by a three judge panel in the northern California district of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The decision was a result of a lawsuit filed in 2009 by Ed O’Bannon, a former U.C.L.A. basketball star. O’Bannon sued the NCAA for using his name and image in television broadcasts and video games.
Shepherd University football players were unanimous in their support for payments to athletes, primarily because they recognize their games brings revenue to the school.
“Yes they should get paid, scholarship counts as getting paid- it pays for their stuff, like school, that would usually be out of pocket money,” said Shepherd University quarterback Calvin Reighard.
Inside Linebacker Noah Harmon agreed with Reighard.
“Yes, If you’re an athlete, you’re putting in so much work, you don’t have time to get a job, so you’d be getting paid to make up for the fact that because of the ties of your sport you can’t work on your own,” he said.
Tre Anderson, an outside linebacker said, “If your name is on the roster, you should get money, scholarship or not. You’re putting the same amount of work in as the guys who get scholarship, you should get money to put towards housing or whatever you need to.”
Many university athletes aren’t on full scholarship, and so deserve payment, said defensive-lineman Shaquille Melvin.
“Not all athletes have a full ride scholarship,” he said. “Even when they do it doesn’t cover weekend and clothing stuff. Scholarship doesn’t count for being paid, it counts for the tuition. If you come from a less fortunate family- you can’t do anything outside of school. There was a star point guard- he’s starving and eating Ramen even though he has a full scholarship because he can’t afford to buy anything else.”
Matt Crawford is a staff writer for The Picket. He can be reached at mcrawf05@rams.sheperd.edu.