Poaching out of control?

Is poaching of amateur basketball players out of control? Lately, it seems like every week, a new case of a player being unethically recruited by another college or university hits the sports pages. Players expected to stay with their mother school unexpectedly jump ship. Various reasons are given, like family, more opportunities. Curiously, the course the student-athlete wants to take is almost never brought up. How can this be regulated?

There is actually a law governing amateur athletes, their status and protection. Republic Act 10676 or “An Act Protecting the Amateur Nature of Student-Athletes in the Philippines by Regulating the Residency Requirement and Preventing the Commercialization of Student-Athletes, otherwise known as the Student-Athletes Protection Act” aims to do what it says. Unlike many new laws, it also has accompanying Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) which explain the terms and how to enforce them. And it describes plainly what schools are allowed to give student-athletes, at least to a certain degree. Let’s look into this a little further. 

Student-athletes are allowed quite a few perks and privileges. Among them are gadgets, tuition, full board and lodging, medical services, insurance, physical therapy and rehab, discount or privilege cards, school and athletic uniforms, supplies, equipment, and even trips abroad for training and competition. But there are two provisions that stand out. Section 7.4 of the IRR mentions “a reasonable regular monthly living allowance, the amount of which shall be set and standardized by the athletic association to which the school is affiliated with. Meanwhile, Section 7.6.2 of the IRR includes “reasonable cash incentives for excellent performance in athletic competition.“

What is a reasonable monthly living allowance? What defines reasonable cash incentives? For that matter, what is “excellent performance”? Is it decided by capacity to pay? Is it determined by the whims of the league? Is all this information public knowledge? We’re back to the pro salary cap question all over again. If the school calls it a “loan,” “transportation allowance” or something else, will it be covered by the rules or not? What is the maximum for allowances and incentives? And who will police transactions? This is the gray area where the manipulation, corruption and commercialization of athletes thrives.

With no paper trail, how can anything be proven? Once those involved circle the wagons, who will blow the whistle? Everyone complicit will keep their mouths shut, because the gravy train keeps going. 

Worse, recruiters now think ahead, going after high school basketball players to skirt residency requirements, which, thankfully, have been reduced to one year overall. Now, parents, relatives and so-called agents and managers get greedy earlier. In the NBA, this development created lopsided contracts and back-loaded deals that unbalanced salary structures. It all boils down to a question of enforcement. Who will do it?