Rep. Kam Buckner: this is the ‘perfect storm’ against the NCAA

Democratic Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner sat down with Yahoo Finance’s Reggie Wade and Aarthi Swaminathan to discuss the recently passed college athlete bill, which requires the NCAA to pay athletes for the usage of their name, image, and likeness.

Video Transcript

REGGIE WADE: In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the NCAA's restriction on education-related benefits for college athletes violated antitrust laws, thus paving the way for collegiate athletes compensation. A few days later in Illinois, governor JB Pritzker signed a new law that allows student-athletes to sign endorsement deals and profit off their name, image, and likeness. Kam Buckner, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and a former college athlete, drafted the bill and was instrumental in its passing. Representative Buckner joins us now on Yahoo Finance.

Representative, thank you for being with us today. How are you?

KAM BUCKNER: Reggie, Aarthi, thanks for having me. I'm great. How are you guys?

REGGIE WADE: Doing well. First off, as a former college athlete, how do you feel that it was your bill on collegiate compensation that was the one signed into law?

KAM BUCKNER: I think the bill that we signed into law was huge. It really came together after a bunch of conversations with stakeholders, with the universities, with college athletes. And as a former college athlete myself-- Speaker of the House in Illinois is a former college baseball player-- we really worked with a singular focus to make sure that we were being fair, we were being transparent, and we're giving our young people a chance to benefit off of their name, likeness, and image, and so I'm happy to see that we really perpetuated some movement throughout the country.

AARTHI SWAMINATHAN: So, it has taken us a long time to get to where we are right now, and now there's a big momentum. This was on a Thursday, speaking when a lot of other states have also pushed for this action to be taken. So what is the significance of this, when you look back at the history of how we got here?

KAM BUCKNER: This is huge. This will fundamentally, Aarthi, change the landscape of college sports as we know it. I'm from Illinois, the land of Lincoln, and old, honest Abe once said that public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

That has become convincingly clear in the case of the student-athlete name, image, and likeness, and even student-athlete compensation conversation. I think that there is so much that has come to the forefront and that people are now thinking about, when it comes to student-athletes and compensation and just the unequal playing field that exists in the NCAA economic structure, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of this collapsed and then creating a more, once again, equal and parity-based playing field.

REGGIE WADE: Representative, when this was signed by the governor, did you think back about yourself and your fellow athletes when you played college football at University of Illinois and how this could have helped you guys when you were coming up?

KAM BUCKNER: Absolutely. When I look back to 20 years ago, when I was a high school recruit, and 15 years ago, when I was a college athlete, it becomes very clear to me that we really were left out of the economic conversation, that we were used as commodities, that we were used to bring in revenue, and we had no ability not just to be compensated for what we did on the field, which is a separate question, but just having the ability to profit off of our very own name, our very own image, our very own likeness, just like every other American can do.

Reggie and Aarthi, as a college athlete, I lived out of my car for a number of months because I did a cost-benefit analysis, and it made more sense for me to have money in my pocket than to spend the money getting an apartment. And so I pocketed my scholarship money that was meant to pay for my housing for a number of months 'cause it just made more sense to me.

I think a lot of people look at college athletes and see the rosy things that we see on TV, and they say, scholarship is enough, and room and board is enough. But we know that many of these students are living very meager existences while they, once again, create billions of dollars of revenue for these institutions.

AARTHI SWAMINATHAN: It's really stunning, because you lived out of your car. But again, these institutions-- millions, billions of dollars some of these schools are making. It's a huge gap between how student-athletes are paid and what schools are making from sporting events.

But when you look ahead to the next 5 to 10 years, there's still a lot of reform that, perhaps, needs to be done. So what is your vision for the next 5 to 10 years?

KAM BUCKNER: I think the prevailing model, as you alluded to, Aarthi, rest on the fact that money is generated by athletes who are most likely Black and low-income, in many cases, and they're making a lot of people rich.

Right now, what we're seeing across the country is really the perfect storm for the NCAA, and they brought it upon themselves. You have state legislators that are being unapologetic about allowing opportunities for our young student-athletes. You have the Supreme Court saying that this whole thing, the whole amateurism thing, is a sham. You have the fact that because of name, likeness, and image, many corporate sponsorships may dwindle now that these athletes can use their own name, likeness, and image.

You've got COVID-19. There were many of the health inequities [INAUDIBLE] some of the NCAA's revenue streams, and you have the Black Lives Matter and subsequent social movements that have given student-athletes a real voice. What we have seen, what we will see, is the economic model as we know it continue to be torn down. And so what this calls on the NCAA to do, what this calls on the folks who are charged with protecting these student-athletes to do is to be bold, be intrepid, and be creative and find ways to, most importantly, be fair.

REGGIE WADE: Representative, you talk about protecting these student-athletes. Are you worried in any way that some student athletes might lose focus on honing their craft and getting better at what they do because they're too busy thinking about making money, signing endorsements?

KAM BUCKNER: Listen, the truth of the matter is that there is a possibility that folks may get mired down in the thoughts of what the next endorsement looks like, what the next paycheck looks like. But I'll tell you what. From personal experience, it's much easier to get sidetracked when you're worried about where your next meal is coming from or how you pay your rent or how you keep your lights on.

I don't think the argument that these young folks may get sidetracked or that these young folks may not know yet how to deal with these economic windfalls is a good enough argument for me to run afoul of the system of capitalism that many of us have bought into. This would not be allowed in any other industry, in any other labor environment, but for some reason, we've allowed this since the 1950s in college sports.

AARTHI SWAMINATHAN: The people who are gonna gain from this change is pretty clear, but can you think of any losers who might feel like they are being left out and they also need their voice heard?

KAM BUCKNER: Yeah, I'll say this. I think the main pushback on this has come from the NCAA. It's come from some of the institutions. And I'm thankful that the institution that I went to has come to the table and been a partner in this. They helped me draft the bill, and they've been a real advocate for this.

But what happens is, when people see that money is going elsewhere, they wonder where their cut is. And this is a finance platform, so let's just talk about numbers. From 2006, I think, to 2016, athletic departments at the Power Five conferences, America's big-time programs, saw their revenue double, nearly, from $3.5 billion a year to $6.7 billion a year.

I'm a Fighting Illini, so let's talk about the Big Ten Conference. One of the country's longest and most passionate football rivalries is Michigan versus Ohio State. And when the team in Ann Arbor went to the team in Columbus, I think, just 10 years ago, the coaching staff earned $6.5 million and $5.7 million, respectively. 10 years after that, that number went up from to $15.5 million and $17.3 million, and we know that student-athletes are getting none of this.

In 1994, the NCAA announced a $1.3 billion deal with CBS to cover March Madness. The next version of that deal was about $6 billion, and the final version of that deal that they're under right now is $11 billion deal. We're talking about real money here. And so, whenever you start messing with the economics and messing with the bottom line, there are gonna be many folks who feel like they're left out and that will have something to say.

But, however, this is the right thing to do. Once again, to me, this should not be a novel idea. We're just giving these young people the opportunity to do what everyone else can do, and that's earn off their own name, their likeness, and their image.

REGGIE WADE: Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner, thank you so much for joining us today on Yahoo Finance.

KAM BUCKNER: Thank you all.