NCAA Tournament 2018: Charles Barkley not sold on idea of paying players

Written By Michael McCarthy
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NEW YORK - Pay the players, pay the players. That has been one of the drumbeats as the scandal-plagued NCAA prepares to tip off March Madness.

But should colleges pay all student-athletes, or just a select few from revenue-generating football and basketball programs? That's one of the questions Charles Barkley is asking.

Sir Charles acknowledged Tuesday that the amateur athletic system is in need of an overhaul, but he added that no one should be surprised if student-athletes begin to squabble over money if the Pandora's box of paying players is opened.

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"Everybody acts like this is an easily solved problem. It's not easily solved. They say, 'Pay the players.' Who are we paying? Are we paying the men's basketball team? Football team? Got to pay the swimming team. Got to pay the diving team. Got to pay the women's team. Wow. Now all this money they're talking about it is going to go real quickly if we start paying everybody," Barkley said during a CBS-Turner event here previewing tournament coverage. Barkley will appear on TBS's "March Madness Selection Show" Sunday night (6-8 p.m. ET).

The popular suggestion du jour? Allow student-athletes to make money from sales of their jersey numbers and the use of their likeness in multimedia and video games. That might sound reasonable, but Barkley had a warning about that.

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"[I] heard a couple of people say, 'You should be able to use your likeness.' Well, let me tell you something: As a big, old fat offensive lineman, if a quarterback is selling his jersey, and the running back is selling his jersey, and they're making an extra $400,000 to $500,000 a year, and I'm not getting a dime of it, I'm not going to be really happy with that. Think about that. There's nobody buying no big offensive lineman's jersey, but I'm doing all the damn work and the pretty-boy running back and quarterback are making a nice extra half a million dollars on their jersey. I ain't blocking for their ass. I'm not."

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He also pointed out that student-athletes still get a free education while other grads, including some of his supervisors at Turner, are weighed down with college debts.

As usual, Barkley, Jim Nantz of CBS and other CBS/Turner personalities held court on multiple subjects at the press preview, but this March feels different.

The 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament will take place against the backdrop of an FBI probe into the seamy side of college sports. CBS and Turner will combine to televise all 67 games across four networks: TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. Will the investigation hurt ratings? CBS Sports boss Sean McManus doesn't think so.

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He said the country is so divided politically that sports fans are looking forward to some Madness. CBS and Turner won't go deep into the FBI story, but they won't avoid it, either. Most of the discussions about those stories will be during studio coverage rather than the selection show or game telecasts.

"I think this is an opportunity, not whitewashing and not forgetting all the issues involved, to just enjoy some really good college basketball. I think that's fine," McManus said. "We're not going to ignore the issues. I don't think we'll whitewash them in any way, shape or form, but a big part of our job is covering the basketball games as much as it is covering the FBI or the Department of Justice."

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McManus said CBS and Turner will "absolutely" cover any big news that breaks regarding the FBI during the tournament.

"Again, if there's no news, I don't see us harping on it and devoting a lot of time to it, but we'll reference it, and certainly if something breaks we'll be all over it," he said.

Nantz, who's poised to call his 33rd NCAA Tournament for CBS, said it's best to leave the discussion to studio analysts who can spend more time on big-picture topics.

"If a fresh story develops, and my sense [is] there very well could be some news coming out in this three-week stretch, the great majority of that will be handled during studio times. For those of us who are covering the games, we got a game to cover," he said.