Carbondale (WSIL) -- On Monday, the U.S Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the NCAA in a case that addressed the associations' ability to have national limits on benefits related to education for student athletes.
"It is historic because the NCAA has been operating in the same way for so long and only recently are student athletes are stepping up and fighting for what they deserve," said Student Athlete Advisory Committee President Kailyn Stone.
This ruling allows athletes to receive education-related benefits such as graduate school tuition, post grad internships and study abroad opportunities, SIU athletic director says the ruling raises concerns but does further recognize the contributions of athletes.
"It acknowledges the hard work and efforts of the student athletes across the country and values what they do," said SIU athletic Director Liz Jarnigan. " We see that their voices are being heard. We also know that collectively they can be a big force for good in this world."
However Jarnigan argues this ruling brings on financial concerns
"It widens the gap and makes it more challenging for some schools that don't have that same donor base or aren't in a major metropolitan area with a lot of corporate sponsorship, or the big media contracts that is really the driver of all this big money we are talking about in the NCAA," said Jarnigan. "I struggle with it when I think about the collegiate model and how important it is to our society to have a level playing field. Competition is more fun when that playing field is even."
This ruling also comes at a time when schools are already struggling from lost revenue due to the pandemic.
"We've gotten our calculation well up to over 4.3 million in loss revenue aside from additional expenditures that have occurred because of Covid," said Jarnigan. "That is a financial problem in and of itself. Moving forward to get to a place where we are fiscally whole from one year to the next remains a challenge. Adding the ability to pay more for scholarships etc. just challenges are ability to balance the books as well."
While providing scholarships and opportunities for student athletes is a crucial component of recruiting, Student Athlete Advisory Committee President Kailyn Stone challenges that the idea that schools like Southern Illinois won't be able to compete for big name players.
"When student athletes are coming to get recruited, they are going to look at the facilities and they are going to meet the coaching staff and they are going to see the community and how involved they are and how much they invest in the student athletes and all of the great things that SIU already offers us as student athletes and they are going to want to go hear anyways," said Stone.
