Charles Barkley thinks paying NCAA athletes is a turrible idea

By Cindy Boren March 11 at 1:21 PM

Charles Barkley (center, with Reggie Miller and Marv Albert) has a hot take on paying NCAA athletes. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)

Every year during March Madness, colleges and the NCAA make millions upon millions of dollars on the backs of uncompensated athletes, inspiring a chorus of voices to chirp about the unfairness of it all.

Charles Barkley isn’t among those voices.

“You’re missing the boat if you think everyone should get paid,” the TV hoops commentator said at CBS and Turner Sports’ NCAA Tournament Media Day (via USA Today). “First of all, there’s not that many good college players. Less than one percent are going to play in the NBA. What about the other 99 percent that are getting a free education? Think about it.”

Paying them would bankrupt the system and just isn’t feasible.

“Think about all these people in debt that had to borrow money to go to college,” he said. “There’s only a couple of players on the college team that actually can really play in every sport, so sometimes you have to look at the big picture. All of those kids are getting a free education. But let’s say we do it your way … we have to pay the diving team, the swimming team. That’s crazy.”

Most Americans agree, according to a YouGov poll conducted for the Huffington Post last month. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they strongly or at least somewhat oppose paying all student-athletes with 30 percent strongly or somewhat favoring payment. A quarter of respondents were unsure.

Barkley also sees an inherent unfairness in allowing athletes to get endorsement deals.

“The endorsement thing is tricky because only the good players are going to be endorsed,” he said. “The bad players, think about it, let’s say hypothetically the quarterbacks do endorsements. He can’t do anything without a running back or an offensive line. So that’d be like only paying the good player on the NBA team.”

After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.