The Duke Model: A Performance-Based Solution for Compensating College Athletes

Abstract

College athletes should reap what they sow. They create a product in the multi-billion dollar business of college athletics, namely football and men’s college basketball games, that relies on the athletes’ skills, dedication, and performances to thrive. The Duke Model provides a detailed, comprehensive, and flexible structure for compensating these college athletes in a fair and reasonable manner. The time has long come for the NCAA, its member institutions, and college athletes to sit down and discuss compensating college athletes for playing. Once the parties begin that conversation, this article provides a starting point, if not a complete model, to determine how to compensate college athletes.

Keywords: antitrust law, labor law, sports law, amateurisum, paying college athletes, college athletics