University athletic departments across America are struggling to fill revenue holes left by canceled games and playing in empty arenas due to the COVID-19 crisis. But that doesn’t make much difference to the athletes themselves, who never have been cut in on the billions of dollars that they generate each year for the schools, conferences and the NCAA.

Former players have had mixed results in seeking compensation for the NCAA’s use of their images in marketing and lucrative merchandising. And active players have won some concessions, including longer periods to complete their degrees when they can’t get the courses they need during practice and competition seasons, payments for school-related expenses, and a few others.

Now, congressional Democrats led by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who played football for Stanford University, have introduced the NCAA Athletes Bill of Rights, which fundamentally would alter college sports.

Booker’s bill guarantees NCAA players monetary compensation, long-term health care, lifetime educational scholarships and revenue sharing. It would dissolve national letters of intent, thereby vastly increasing recruited athletes’ options for longer periods. It would bar coaches and administrators from influencing an athlete’s academic decisions. And, crucially given the evidence of the long-term health impacts of football and other contact sports, it would provide for long-term health care.

The bill has only Democratic sponsors and it’s not clear whether some aspects of the bill are realistic. For example, it would require programs to share 50% of revenue with athletes after accounting for scholarships.

But the legislation elevates the quest for players’ rights to a new plane. Players who receive no nonscholarship compensation while playing for coaches who are paid millions of dollars a year, finally have a real shot at getting a piece of the billions that they generate for others.

— Tribune News Service