An FBI probe reignited the debate over whether collegiate basketball players should be compensated. But Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman has one suggestion that could fix the issue: let top athletes go to the NBA straight out of high school.
“I think that if these top players can start earning those big dollars more quickly, that would be an instant correction,” she said Wednesday. “And that would help, as well, in the kinds of issues that were surfaced in this criminal investigation.”
Her argument echoes the sentiment of ACC Commissioner John Swofford, who on Tuesday told Cheddar there should not be a pay-for-play system in college sports.
The statements come as the federal government investigates recruiting agents and more than 20 Division I schools for giving players under-the-table bonuses or other perks, violating NCAA rules.
Some say that the NCAA, which generated more than $1 billion in revenue in the year ending in [August 31, 2017](http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2016-17NCAAFin_FinancialStatement_20180129.pdf), should pay student athletes. But Ackerman told Cheddar that players get other kinds of compensation.
“I was a student athlete at the University of Virginia. I got my education paid for, we didn’t make any money,” she said. “There’s a quid pro quo that I don’t think gets talked about enough.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-big-east-tournament-returns-to-madison-square-garden).
The Tokyo Games have arrived at last, after a yearlong delay. They're a multinational showcase of the finest athletes of a world fragmented by disease.
Cheddar recs the Olympic Opening Ceremony, 'Tig Notaro: Drawn,' 'Bosch' Season 7, and 'Flatbush Misdemeanors' for streaming the weekend of July 16, 2021.
American swimmer Becca Meyers has pulled out of the Paralympics because she says the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee won’t let her bring her mother to Tokyo as her personal care assistant.
Fireworks burst over the Brisbane River and high-rise buildings across the city as people cheered, danced and celebrated the confirmation of Brisbane's bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
A Nashville Predators prospect has come out as gay. Luke Prokop posted on Twitter he is no longer scared to hide who he is.
Candace Parker grew up playing video games and now she’ll be the first female basketball player on the cover of one.
Fans will be banned from the Tokyo area’s stadiums and arenas when the Olympic Games begin in two weeks.
American champion Sha’Carri Richardson cannot run in the Olympic 100-meter race after testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana.
Gewn Goldman got to be a Yankees' bat girl on Monday night at age 70 — a full 60 years after she was turned down because of her gender.
At the 2021 U.S. Olympic track trials, Sydney McLaughlin finally outraced Dalilah Muhammad to earn the victory, and the record, that Muhammad kept grabbing whenever they met.
