Pay the student-athletes

Every weekend, thousands of fans troop to the venues to watch their favorite University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) teams.

The demand for tickets is staggering. During the Final Four, students camp outside the offices of their athletic departments to secure precious seats. They know that scalpers and online resellers jack up ticket prices to five digits — an outrageous amount no ordinary student can afford.

Away from the arena, the league’s commercial engine is running even harder. Anyone watching a UAAP game on television or a streaming platform is bombarded with advertisements at every turn. Games run unusually long, not just because of their fierce intensity, but also because of the extended airtime the league and its broadcast partner give sponsors to pitch their brands to their target audience: the youth.

The Season 89 men’s basketball game between the University of the Philippines (UP) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) last Wednesday, 21 October, is a very good example. The game went into double overtime, but long before the Fighting Maroons finally emerged victorious, a mountain of ads had been aired, turning a fierce battle between two giant programs into a virtual digital billboard.

Prior to the UP-UST clash, De La Salle University survived the University of the East in a thrilling battle that also went into overtime. Again, an extra period means extra airtime that equates to extra income for the league and its broadcast partner.

Indeed, the UAAP is making money — a lot of money. But are the student-athletes getting a slice of the pie? Definitely not.

Since the league’s founding in 1938, student-athletes have not been directly compensated for their efforts in representing their schools. Aside from free college education, lodging, food, and a modest monthly stipend, the schools do not compensate their student-athletes despite the staggering amount the league earns from its commercial revenue.

Some athletes are lucky to have corporate sponsors. But the fact remains that the schools’ support for their student-athletes, who help increase enrollment by representing them in the UAAP and other major tournaments, has been very limited.

The majority of student-athletes come from working-class families from the provinces. Between early morning practices, academic requirements, and late-night games, they have no time for part-time work to support their families or earn extra money to finance additional training and hire coaches.

Giving them a share of the commercial pie will surely uplift their families’ standard of living, removing the financial anxiety that distracts these student-athletes from performing at their best.

Moreover, these funds can be earmarked for sharpening their athletic skills. Elite sports performance requires modern equipment, strength and conditioning, private skills training, sports psychology, and high-level food and nutrition. When athletes are given the financial resources to reinvest in their physical development, the overall quality of competition across the league will definitely rise.

The league often cites the risk of eroding amateurism or violating Republic Act 10676, or the Student-Athlete Protection Act. But the truth is that compensating athletes through structured revenue sharing, transparent NIL (name, image and likeness) frameworks, and standardized performance subsidies does not destroy amateur sport — it modernizes it.

The United States’ National Collegiate Athletic Association, for one, has pivoted toward this reality, proving that revenue sharing and elite collegiate sports can coexist without compromising academic integrity.

The UAAP should not just be a platform for school pride and commercial profit; it must also serve as the primary breeding ground for future national team members.

In the recent 20th Asian Games, all three gold medalists came from UAAP schools. Carlos Yulo studied at Adamson University before transferring to Teikyo University in Japan, where he blossomed into one of the world’s best gymnasts, while Ernest John Obiena and Jeus Gabriel Yape donned UST colors before winning gold medals in athletics and taekwondo.

Aside from Yulo, Obiena and Yape, other notable UAAP athletes who played for Team Philippines in the prestigious continental showpiece were members of the men’s 3x3 basketball squad, including Koji Buenaflor and Nic Cabañero of UST, and Doy Dungo and Luis Pablo of De La Salle University.

Also representing the country were the beach volleyball tandem of Sisi Rondina of UST and Bernadeth Pons of Far Eastern University, and football players Fonsi Gonzales, Jian Caraig and Joshua Meriño of UP; Dov Cariño and Mateo Lacson of Ateneo de Manila University; and Iñigo Castro and Joaquin Collo of La Salle.

In short, when we dignify our student-athletes, take care of their needs, and fund their athletic growth, we pave the way for them to transition seamlessly onto the international stage, ready to carry the national flag in the Southeast Asian Games, the Asian Games, and the Olympics.

It is time for the UAAP and its member universities to establish a formal mechanism that grants their investments — the student-athletes — a share of the league’s massive broadcast and advertising revenue. Since the league is making good money, it should craft a system that shares it with the student-athletes who work hard carrying their schools’ colors.

Compensating these student-athletes is about respect, fairness and human dignity.