Time demands for student-athletes likely to be next big NCAA issue
The 44,000 responses to a recent survey conducted by the NCAA regarding student-athlete time-demands have been analyzed.
And they say that athletes are looking for more down time.
According to Brad Wolverton, who covers college sports issues for The Chronicle of Higher Education, the following requests are some of the biggest takeaways from the survey conducted earlier this year:
- A half-day rest following road trips
- 7-10 days off during the season
- 2-4 weeks off after the season is over
- More time for internships and/or study abroad programs
The survey, which was conducted by the NCAA’s Division I Council, asked “several dozen” questions regarding the current time commitment of athletes from each sport. Many players are reported to spend more than 40 hours per week on their sports, which far exceeds what is supposed to be a 20-hour per week limit.
To further push the argument that player time demands are going to be a big topic soon, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke about it during a Monday Q&A session during an appearance at an Associated Press Sports Editors meeting on Monday.
When asked about the next big issue to face the SEC, he responded:
“The time expectations that we place on student-athletes is front and center right now. So I’m going to elevate that at a national level. We had a conversation in Jan. prompted by three pieces of legislation that I think were well intentions but needed more development. The NCAA is engaged in a research effort right now and we’ll see results and will have additional dialogue on the appropriate structures around student-athlete’s time and their time expectations. As I’ve traveled the campus and I said I’ve been on campus probably three or four times on each (SEC school), I’ve had the opportunities to talk to the student-athletes. I’ve really had good feedback about experiences. I’ve said that we do things really well – but we’re not perfect so don’t misinterpret that – but we talked about where they have days off during the season or a day of, how it works on a consistent basis, all of which is done without legislation. How soft tissue recovery might work in football, the timing of travel.
“One of the things that seems to be top of mind for young people are internship opportunities, student-teaching with your student-athlete, co-ops. We’ve seen stories on an ad hoc basis of that happening in the Southeastern Conference now, but I think nationally that probably needs to go right up to the top of that time expectation. Now how do we facilitate it?”
If the numbers in the survey indicated it, and commissioners like Greg Sankey are already trying to get out in front of it, there’s a good chance that we’ll be hearing more about it as a topic of concern in the near future.