Jim Harbaugh: ‘Anyone profiting from student-athletes, give 5, 10 percent [to the players]’
HOUSTON — Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t backing down from his stance on revenue sharing for college football players — not be a long shot. In fact, he doubled down Saturday at National Championship media day in calling for the student-athletes to get their piece of the pie in addition to tuition, room and board, etc.
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Fans come to watch the players, Harbaugh noted, not the players or administrators. And in a world in which the revenue is ever growing, he added, the student-athletes should get their share.
“Who could argue against them? And when is that going to change?” Harbaugh said. “When is everybody going to start using their voice to say, ‘hey, this is wrong — this isn’t right?’ There are guys out here not even getting paid minimum wage, and I’m not talking about just football players. I’m talking about all student-athletes that need to participate. The talent needs to participate in the ever-growing share of the revenue. I’d like to see that change.
“We’ve seen a whole conference go into a portal. If those kinds of things can happen overnight, things we saw this year … II don’t know how the sausage gets made completely, but there are a lot of smart people that do, that know a lot about revenue sharing. They know a lot about how those algorithms and economics work. And the real issue is there’s no voice for the players. The organizations, conferences, universities, NCAA — they’re well-represented. They have legal firepower at every angle. And the student-athletes, they don’t have a voice; they’re not represented in any way, and that needs to change, too.”
He’s hoping it can happen soon, he said, beyond just the NIL that has lined some students’ pockets. It’s working better at some schools than others — Michigan is lagging, for example, though they’re working on it through the ‘Those Who Stay’ fund just implemented — but in large part, the high-profile athletes are the main ones benefiting.
That’s wrong, senior receiver Roman Wilson told us last week. Harbaugh agreed with him.
“People say, ‘well, NIL,’ and that’s cool, but guys are working for that,” Harbaugh continued. “In a lot of ways, you have to be a pitch man. You’ve got to go do something. They really are earning it with what they’re doing on the field.
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“There used to be a saying from old coaches — my dad’s used it, my brother’s used it — ‘hey, we’re all robbing the same train here. Coaches, administrators, media, television stations, conferences, NCAA … the ones that could really get hurt are getting a very small piece. That needs to change, and it’s one thing for somebody to say, ‘well, they’re getting NIL.’ But the billions that are being generated, they’re not getting much of it. A very small percentage. They’re getting the same amount as I got in the ’80s. You’re getting a scholarship, room, board, books and tuition. Come on, man. Let’s do the right thing here.”
He’s waiting for other voices to join him, he added, to go after the organizations who continue to hoard. It’s time for them to share, Harbaugh said.
“Anyone who is profiting from the student-athletes right now, myself included, coaches — take 5 to 10 percent less,” he said. “That would go for any administrator, any coach, any conference, any university, NCAA ‚ take 5 to 10 percent less and maybe a 10 percent tax from the television station more, put it into one pot for the student-athletes. Maybe that’s a start.
B”ut some conversations [need to start] here on how to get it done, because I don’t know if people know this, but I’ve been told the TV contracts are maybe going up another 17 percent next year. It’s ever-growing, ever-increasing revenue that’s right for the student-athletes — not just football, all student-athletes — to share in.”
