VOA教育报道2024--US College Athletes May Soon Get Paid

The National Collegiate Athletic¹ Association (NCAA) and the five biggest college sports conferences recently agreed to pay almost $2.8 billion to settle claims from college athletes.

The NCAA is the organization that runs college sports in the United States. It oversees² about 500,000 college athletes from some 1,100 schools.

The claims came up over the past 10 years. The legal files argued that the NCAA and the conferences prevented college athletes from making money while playing sports for the schools.

The agreement calls for the NCAA and the conferences to pay $2.77 billion over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes.

The settlement still needs approval from a U.S. federal judge and different parties to the legal case. If it is approved, students who play sports for their colleges will be permitted to be paid, like professional athletes, directly by the schools.

Under current NCAA rules, college athletes, also known as student-athletes, can only receive payments from outside groups that use their names, images, and likenesses in commercial efforts, such as advertisements.

In a statement, NCAA President Charlie Baker³ and the school representatives said the agreement was "an important step in the continuing reform of college sports."

Steve Berman, a leading lawyer in the cases, said with the settlement, "college athletes are finally able to receive a fair share of the billions of dollars of revenue⁴ that they generate⁵ for their schools."

Ramogi Huma, a strong supporter of college athletes' rights, played football at the University of California, Los Angeles in the 1990s. He called the decision "groundbreaking", adding that "there's no going back from there."

More questions remain

Although the decision provides a reason for celebration for some current and former students, it leaves more questions for others.

Earlier in 2024, members of Dartmouth College's basketball team voted to join a labor⁶ organization, called a union. The move means that the student-athletes on the team could have the right to negotiate⁷ a working contract like other university employees.

Chris Peck⁸ is the leader of the union that represents the Dartmouth basketball players. He criticized the decision to settle by calling it "a workaround."

Peck noted⁹ that the agreement, calling for universities to share money from television deals and ticket sales with athletes, does not answer whether students who play sports are school employees. The union wants a clear answer. Are students who play sports employees? Or, are they more like those who participate in non-study activities like singing in a group?

Dartmouth has yet to accept the students' union vote. And the NCAA is asking the U.S. Congress to step in and say student-athletes are not employees.

Tim Walton coaches the women's softball team at the University of Florida. The school belongs to one of the large conferences that will have to pay millions of dollars into the settlement.

Walton wants to know what will happen to sports like women's softball that do not bring in money like men's football or basketball. He asked: "Are they dropping programs? Are they dropping sports?"

In addition, there is a law in the U.S. known as Title IX that requires women and men to have equal rights in education. Does the law require female student-athletes to get paid like men?

Michael LeRoy is a sports law professor at the University of Illinois. He said there will be a concern if "women get short-changed."

Christina Stylianou is a sports lawyer in New York. She and LeRoy both said regular payments from universities to students will make it easier for the students to argue that they are indeed employees.

LeRoy said the NCAA would like to be able to pay student-athletes but not consider them employees. That, he noted, would mean the NCAA "is going to be treated differently than any other business in America. You cannot have separate pay."

But one college softball player, Tiare Jennings of the University of Oklahoma, did not seem too concerned about the legal questions. She was celebrating the fact that she might have some money saved after college.

She said it will be nice for players to know they have money to, in her words, "kick-start your life."

Words in This Story

conference -n. a group of colleges and universities that work together to put on events such as sports

athlete -n. a person who plays sports

revenue -n. money that comes in from business sales

coach -n. a person who leads and manages athletes or sports teams, often used in place of "manager" in the U.S.

kick-start -v. (expression) the act of starting a motorcycle by kicking the pedal to start the engine; now often means an amount of money that funds the beginning of a project

1 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

2 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 revenue   

n.总收入，财政收入，税收；税务局

参考例句：

• The country diminished the revenue by reducing tax.这个国家通过减税而使税收减少了。
• A government's revenue and expenditure should be balanced.政府的财政收入和支出要平衡。

5 generate   

vt.生成，产生（光、热、电等）导致

参考例句：

• We need someone to generate new ideas.我们需要有人出新主意。
• This book will continue to generate excitement for a long time.这本书将在很长一段时间里继续使人们为之激动。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 negotiate   

v.洽谈，协商，谈判，顺利通过，成功越过

参考例句：

• I'll negotiate with their coach on the date of the match.我将与他们的教练磋商比赛的日期问题。
• I managed to negotiate successfully with the authorities.我设法同当局进行了成功的协商。

8 peck   

v.啄，啄食；n.啄痕，啄食，（口）轻吻；配克，（口）大量

参考例句：

• The cock gave me a peck.那只公鸡啄了我一下。
• She gave him a light peck of farewell.她给了他一个匆匆的吻道别。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。