Travel allowance not 'extra' money, NCAA reminds

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- The rule that allows Arkansas football players to pocket hundreds of dollars for postseason travel was not intended to be a moneymaking scheme, an NCAA official said.
"In some instances ... it may result in money in their pocket ... but it wasn't legislated to make them extra money," said Steve Mallonee, the NCAA's director of membership services. "It's not a free trip to anywhere in the United States."
NCAA rules allow schools to give players a travel allowance for a bowl game. Instead of flying on the team charter, players can take the money and arrange their own travel.
Players use the opportunity to make money by finding airfare or car travel for less than the check they receive.
At Arkansas, which is playing in the Las Vegas Bowl, players received checks for 30 cents per mile to and from Las Vegas. The originating point can be the campus or the player's hometown, whichever is longer.
Even though the checks are figured on mileage -- for instance, a 3,000-mile round trip from Little Rock pays $900 -- the players don't have to drive.
None of the Razorbacks chose to go on the school charter, Coach Houston Nutt said last week. Only four are driving. The rest scheduled commercial flights, most tickets ranging from $250 to $400.
The players are allowed to keep the difference. They also can pocket their per diem, about $300 this year, because bowls often provide free meals to the players.
The rule is supposed to provide a benefit to players who stay on campus during the holidays when other students get to go home, Mallonee said. It is intended to pay travel expenses to send players home.
Arkansas players qualify for the expenses because they will be going to their hometowns after the bowl game Thursday.
"The theory behind it was somewhat of a benefit, but it wasn't just we're giving them money for Christmas," Mallonee said. "And a lot schools, to be quite honest, don't do it that way."
Some schools make travel arrangements for players, like a chartered jet. Then if there is money left over, the school will distribute it to the players.
Mallonee also said he was aware that many schools allow players to make their own arrangements.
For many college administrators, it's difficult to begrudge the players the one chance they have during the school year to make a few dollars.
"As long as we're in compliance of the rule, we can't be controlling of the peripheral things," said Katie Hill, Arkansas' senior associate athletic director.

This article was published on Saturday, December 16, 2000

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