The Collegiate Athletes Coalition

The Collegiate Athletes Coalition

May 28th, 2004

EC334

Assignment #3

The Collegiate Athletes Coalition (CAC) was formed on January 18th, 2001 by the former linebacker, Ramogi Huma, for the University of California, Los Angeles. The CAC was created by UCLA athletes in order to address student-athlete welfare issues. The mission statement of the CAC is as follows: "The Collegiate Athletes Coalition is an organization that seeks to improve the conditions and lives of student-athletes." The ultimate goal of the CAC is to form a players association for all Division I-A football teams in an attempt to exercise some influence over NCAA legislation. The CAC only organizes football and men's basketball players at the present time, but hopes to help players in all sports. The organization wants to balance the power that the NCAA has and give student-athletes a platform to voice their opinions about matters within NCAA sports. (CAC, 2004)

The CAC has a strong bond with the United Steel Workers Association (USWA). Many of the CAC's activities are funded by the USWA who helped them set up and organize the group. The USWA decided to help the CAC because they believe in supporting people who are exploited in their field. (Hannah Gordon, 2002) As the CAC grows, chapters of the organization have been formed at USC, Stanford, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Boise State, Hawaii, and St. Louis University. If a school wants to open a chapter of the CAC at their school, there are three steps they must go through: 1) members of the football and/or basketball team must generate a registered student group on campus, 2) generate support from all the members of the team, and 3) form an affiliation with the CAC. (CAC, 2004)

There are four main recommended changes for intercollegiate sports proposed by the CAC. The first is to secure health coverage for all sports-related injuries, including those sustained in "voluntary" workouts. The CAC wants student-athletes to be covered if anything were to happen to them during any time in which they're playing sports or even participating in voluntary workouts. The second recommended change is to increase life insurance policies for student-athletes. The CAC wants to give families of current or prospective students access to their child's death benefit if they die in any university-related workout. They are also considering raising the benefit from $10,000. The third recommended change is to increase monthly stipends. The monthly stipend is defined as grant-in-aid. The NCAA classifies grant-in-aid as tuition, books, and room and board. The total for these three expenses often fall short of the total cost of attending the university. The fourth and final recommended change by the CAC is to eliminate employment restrictions. Currently, student-athletes are only allowed to make up to $2,000 during the academic off-season and are not allowed to make any money doing work related to their athletic talent. This means they're not even allowed to do coaching at summer camps. (CAC, 2004)

The only recommendation by the CAC that relates in any way to Zimbalist's recommendations is the one in which Zimbalist recommends