[A]fter an inquiry that took me into locker rooms and ivory towers across the country, I have come to believe that sentiment blinds us to what’s before our eyes. Big-time college sports are fully commercialized. Billions of dollars flow through them each year. The NCAA makes money, and enables universities and corporations to make money, from the unpaid labor of young athletes.
Slavery analogies should be used carefully. College athletes are not slaves. Yet to survey the scene—corporations and universities enriching themselves on the backs of uncompensated young men, whose status as “student-athletes” deprives them of the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution—is to catch an unmistakable whiff of the plantation. Perhaps a more apt metaphor is colonialism: college sports, as overseen by the NCAA, is a system imposed by well-meaning paternalists and rationalized with hoary sentiments about caring for the well-being of the colonized. But it is, nonetheless, unjust. The NCAA, in its zealous defense of bogus principles, sometimes destroys the dreams of innocent young athletes.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO: MLK biographer Taylor Branch has an essay in The Atlantic titled "The Shame of College Sports," and while there's not a lot that's new it's still a Longread worth your time. Here's a taste:
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Ridiculous. Yes, slavery analogies should be used carefully. Generally they should be used to describe things that are analogous to slavery, a list that includes, basically, just forced labor. Even if college players were unpaid, it wouldn't equate to slavery for reasons that do not even need to be articulated (but, if you must, the ability to opt out of playing football is a good starting point). But, more to the point, college football players are neither unpaid or uncompensated, at least at the Division 1 level where billions of dollars are flowing through the sport. They may not receive as big a cut of the income to the University as the head coach, but the wage gap between executives and employees is at historic levels throughout America. The fact is, the NCAA simply does not need to pay anything more than scholarships. Hundreds of thousands of people come to games each week and millions more watch on TV because of the connection to the schools, not the players. The players' value is entirely dependent upon the affiliation with the school. If the players think they can get a better deal elsewhere, let them. It's not a question of due process deprivation, its a question of economic leverage.
ReplyDeleteUntil the pros require college diplomas, it will stay this way. If you have a great athlete at your school, you have a small window to market the student until they turn pro. So you're going to get every ounce of them before they head to the team that is going to pay them big American (or Italian or Japanese) dollars.
ReplyDeleteWhat's sad is the thousands of guys who accept scholarships with no intent of going pro, but rather to get a degree and improve their lives. Many of these are underprivleged kids (white and black) who use their athletic prowess to get a leg up in life.
ReplyDeleteVaccaro is right. One percent of athletes earn 90 percent of the money. The interesting thing is some of the remaining 99 percent use some of that cash to get an education. (Wow? Really?)
I remember one story on ESPN of the big lineman from some rural southern town whose Mom rode him hard to get his degree in four years. He went on to become a first round draft pick, but that didn't mean near as much to him as watching his Mom cry when he got his diploma. Now there's a woman who had her priorities straight.
When I was a kid, I used to live and breathe Michigan football. I used to think the world would stop if they lost. Then I learned that it didn't. And I survived. I'm still a fan. In fact, I enjoy the team more now that each week is a mystery instead of a 70-0 whitewashing of Navy.
Abolish the corrupt bowl system, allow student athletes spending money to use on food and trips home, and set up a trust fund that any athlete who GRADUATES can access when he leaves school.
There is a such a thing as a student athlete, and if there's a any cash to be distributed to the athletes, it should be tied to academic performance.