The Need for a Global Amateurism Standard: International Student-Athlete Issues and Controversies

Due to the immense pressure to recruit highly talented prospects and an overwhelming desire to have winning college athletics programs, the recruitment of international prospective student-athletes at NCAA Division I institutions has drastically increased in recent years. NCAA rules founded on localized amateurism ideals are now being applied on a global scale, in countries where there is no similar concept of amateur athletes. This Note argues that the current NCAA amateurism rules inadequately address the potential amateur issues related to prospective student-athletes from various countries. Examples and evidence of the difficulties of apply localized amateur rules to international recruits are examined and discussed. The background of the amateurism idea and according interpretations by U.S. courts of NCAA rules are explained. This Note argues that because amateurism standards differ by country, there is no longer competitive equity between domestic and international college athletes. Although possible solutions have been presented to deal with this disparity, such proposed solutions do not sufficiently resolve the problem. Rather, as this Note suggests, a global standard of amateurism that would be applied fairly to all prospective student-athletes regards of country of origin is needed. Until such a standard is implemented, problems will continue to arise with the amateur standard of international student-athletes.