Ex-Wisconsin player Nigel Hayes says team discussed game boycott to protest NCAA compensation

Steve Berkowitz | USA TODAY

Former Wisconsin men’s basketball player Nigel Hayes said Tuesday he and his teammates discussed boycotting a game early in the 2016-17 season to protest the NCAA’s limits on what athletes can receive while playing college sports.

At the time, Hayes was -- and he still remains -- among the named plaintiffs in one of two ongoing lawsuits challenging the NCAA’s current system, under which athletes basically can receive tuition, fees, room, board, books and money to cover certain incidental costs of attending college.

Now playing for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, Hayes told the story of the boycott discussion while appearing on a panel at an Aspen Institute event in Washington D.C, titled “Future of College Sports: Reimagining Athlete Pay.” The idea behind the program was for participants to discuss what the implications would be if the NCAA’s schools chose – or were forced – to allow athletes to receive compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses under a system modeled on how Olympic athletes are allowed to be paid.

Hayes said that during his senior season, he proposed to his teammates via a group chat that they refuse to play in a game against Syracuse that was part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and being televised on ESPN. The game was played Nov. 29 in Madison, and, at the time, both teams were nationally ranked.

Hayes said that when he offered the idea, he did so figuring that while the game was high-profile, it would have no impact on team goals like winning the conference championship or advancing in the NCAA tournament. But he said that he proceeded with the caveat that if even one member of the team was against the idea, it would be abandoned.

“I knew 90 percent of the guys were on board from the get-go, before I asked the question,” Hayes told USA TODAY Sports after the panel discussion. “But I let them know that if one of you guys says no, we won’t do it because, obviously, we’re a team and we’re going to stick together.

“In hindsight, I think those guys that said no would change their mind now. That’s usually what happens. The guys who don’t go on to the NBA, once they leave college, they look back and say, ‘Wow, I was exploited -- and now I have nothing to show for it.’ … So, I think we missed our opportunity, but hopefully this word gets out and it will inspire a group of kids that in college now or will be in college.”

During the panel discussion, Hayes predicted that if the NCAA’s current limits are not changed, a player-boycott eventually will occur.

“With all the money that’s being made that the players are not receiving, there’s going to be a point where the players don’t play,” he said. “It’s going to take the right player or the right team in the right big-game setting … but if you want to get something done, boycott it. That’s the best way to get anything done. … I think it’s something that if we did go through with it, we’d probably be having a very different conversation right now.”

Afterward, he predicted what type of team might be the right one to undertake this type of protest.

“I think it will be a smaller school where they know, ‘OK, I’m here to do my sport. I know I’m not going to the NBA. I know I’m probably not playing professionally overseas. But I want to make my experience here better and for those that are going to follow me here.' …

"For us not to (have played) in the game, we would have blown the roof off of this NCAA thing. But maybe it was just not in the cards for me to be a part of that. Maybe I’m supposed to inspire a younger person to do that. I just know that I’m trying to do the right thing. I’m on the right side of this, and I’m just going to do what I can to make it better.”

Hayes discusses the boycott starting at 1:25:35 on the YouTube video below: