Marcus Mariota wasn’t shy about expressing one potential benefit from the “Big Five” conference schools receiving autonomy.
The star quarterback who is worth approximately $2,572,980 million, based on the University of Oregon’s athletic department income was open to the idea of having his parents visit more often – a luxury that could become more accessible with the new ruling – possibly presenting additional compensation for travel expenses.
Outside costs such as food, living expenses and traveling have all been concerns amid the recent debate over player compensation and it’s something that is intriguing to players like Mariota that drive in much of the Oregon athletics revenue.
If the recent decision goes into effect after a 60-day veto period, barring any majority disagreement, student athletes among the five richest conferences and their 65 universities will receive the full cost of attendance instead of tuition only, by January 2015, which is estimated to be a couple thousand dollars more.
As the ruling on the Ed O’Bannon case favors paying student athletes, the landscape of the NCAA could also experience another drastic change by granting the Big Five conference full autonomy, further distinguishing upper and lower class conferences in Division I athletics.
For a nationally recognized program like Oregon football, the benefits of autonomy in the Big Five Conference may be legitimate, but they could eventually lead to some troubling outcomes.
Considering Oregon is virtually unaffected by the potential benefits of recruiting (bringing in recruits from non-Big Five conference schools), the focus will now turn to its student athletes in top tier programs like football and basketball.
In addition to the aforementioned bonus of providing the full cost of attendance to student athletes, topics such as four-year scholarship guarantees, medical insurance security and consulting with agents are all on the table.
This is not necessarily a direct victory for schools in the Big Five Conference.
By granting full autonomy, the Big Five Conference may just be looking for a short-term fix to retain its top tier student athletes (i.e. football, men’s basketball) and if that’s the case, the opening of the floodgates for future problems may be on the horizon.
Top tier student athletes are always weighing the costs of staying in college versus making the leap to the pros and for now, the new ruling would likely ensure that many of them will reconsider staying in college.
Initially, the Big Five Conference will likely see a direct correlation between player retention (when it comes to jumping to the NFL or NBA) and its added annual benefits of roughly a couple thousand dollars.
But in the long haul, players who aren’t as genuinely invested in putting the team first like Mariota, will be looking for more.
As a business, revenue-generating programs like Oregon football can’t realistically expect its most valuable players to ignore the real costs of attending college. Eventually, there will be an effect to the cause of granting full autonomy, it just won’t be certain until it is officially passed.
Mariota may be content with his parents visiting more often, but there are a large group of players that will be wanting more. More so in the coming years than now.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim