Truth Behind the Money-Making College Sports

WARNING ESTIMATE READING TIME IS 23 MINUTES

Introduction

Imagine yourself as the star of the basketball team of the University of Michigan. You saw endorsements on The Fab Five every day. You were on the front page of Sports Illustrated, and shoes printed with your name and jerseys numbers sold for seventy-five dollars. At the same time, you are driving a beat up car and do not have the money to fill the tank up. Even more, you and your teammates had to pull money together just to get to Taco bell. If this was you, how would you feel? This is the story of Chris Webber, an all-star NCAA basketball player. Like his teammate, Jimmy King would put it “life is not fair” (Hehir, March 13, 2011). You might ask where did the money go and why wasn’t a penny given to me. This is the because of NCAA forbids players from getting any financial gain in any way including getting a discount on tattoos, borrowing money from the coach for food, or asking for financial help so that you can fill your tank with gas. What is more, according to “Follow Campus Money” (2014) published on Phi Kappa Phi Forum, John Harding exposed a stunning truth that, “In men’s Division 1 basketball, schools amassed a combined profit margin of 25 percent on $1.3 billion in revenues”. They were telling the athletes that paying them were immoral while they were benefiting from it in any way possible. Undoubtedly, there must be some form of compensation towards the college players since the schools were making billions of dollars. Yet, the regulation of the NCAA punishes players for a single dime they take. That was the life of many “student athletes”. When executives were making billions, players did not gain any profit. "Non-profit" public colleges and universities, the NCAA, and highly paid coaches exploit student-athletes, illustrating the need for justice and financial assistance in college sports.

The story behind NCAA

It all started when a photo of a bloodied college football player was leaked. President at that time, Theodore Roosevelt was upset by the photo. In order to preserve the sport of football, the president decided to set up rules and guidelines for all 68 colleges in United States. That was the start of National Collegiate Athletic Association which later known as the NCAA. For the next 50 years, the NCAA has no staff or office to speak of not to say its authority to imply any rules. Then, an opportunity came. There were scandals of players that were receiving cash from gangs. Needless to say that the institution reacted quickly by suspending the University of Kentucky from playing. Also, the trend of live broadcasting college sports started and everyone chooses to stay home and watch their favorite game. Although, the colleges back then saw it as a threat as they imagined people will stop coming to the games if they prefer watching it at home. The organization sized the opportunity to claim the right to negotiate with television networks on the behalf of the college. As a matter of fact, they took advantage of the nontransparent exercise and decided to take a 60 percent cut for the NBC 1 million dollar contract (Branch, October 2011, p. 85). Soon after, the market for live college sport boomed and the NCAA never looked back. Till today, the NCAA make 90 percent of its revenue on media right and ticket sales and the last broadcasting deal brought them a profit of ten billion dollars. (Bergman & Zachary, 2011) It all started from the day of signing their first deal with NBC.

What goes on after the big games

In an interview from The Fab Five (2011), Ray Jackson, the starting player from Michigan University questioned the reason for “playing their butt off” (Hehir). To the participant, they got a great deal of media attention which projected them as rock stars. Paradoxically, the money do not go to them. Then, where did the cash go to? As in Digital Media Law, a program guarantee people online have admittance to the lawful assets, tells that “people can be sued for using someone’s name, likeness, or other personal attributes without permission for an exploitative purpose” (Using the Name or Likeness of Another. 2008, July 30). Institutions including academy and the NCAA were profiting from selling peripheral goods with the name or image of their player without their permission. The reason behind is athletes join any one of the colleges or universities that plays in the NCAA, which is almost every big universities in the United States, must agree to their handbook. The agreement noted that athlete must read the 444-page book, which student-athletes were directed to ask a sport program director, the school's assistance officer or the NCAA questions: instead of an outside lawyer. This is offending the athlete right of knowing. Not to say it is extremely hard for a kid coming from high school to comprehend a 400 pages legal document on the right he is giving up, and read the entire manual in the first place. On the 70 page of the NCAA manual (2014), it amplifies that, “Any commercial items with names, likenesses or pictures of multiple student-athletes may be sold only at the member institution at which the student-athletes are enrolled, the institution’s conference, institutionally controlled outlets or outlets controlled by the charitable, educational or nonprofit organization”. From the on, they lost their image to the NCAA and the relative seminary until the day they graduate. It would mean that they will never be allow to sell anything with their face during the time at university. Either will they be able to play their own game tapes to a friend because he is benefiting himself which would be considered as commercial use.

What the court said

Until the year of 2009, two brave men, former college athletes that includeing UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and Arizona State University quarterback Samuel Keller took the injustice to court against the NCAA, video game manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), and Collegiate Licensing Company for benefiting their likeness without their consent (Strauss, 2014). Because he found out that there was a game published with his image in it but he was not informed of it nor to say to paying him for using his “sweet jump shot” (Hehir, March 13, 2011). Notably, when National Basketball Association and National Football League players were paid by the billions to authorize gaming company to use their face in a game. The case was closed on the year of 2014 on the district court level. The ruling did not instruct that players be paid, but advised that colleges should share their income by raising the value of the scholarship to cover the full cost of attendance. The ruling leaves questions regarding the revenue split from television cooperates. Conversely, it was a ruling from the district court. For sure the NCAA was not satisfied with the result and swear to bring it to the Supreme Court. There is need for sharing a piece of the pie with the people focused by the spot light. It is a huge unjust while chief executive of the NCAA was making billions of dollar and crying to the world that taking away part of his cut for the athletes. They were the one who created his job in the first place.

Oh but they are getting a great education out of it though.....

Certainly, many people assumed that players themselves were playing for the school are because they were famous. Therefore, schools have every right to own their image and use it as their asset. To add on that, amateurism played a huge role. As many claimed that audiences tuning in the game because college-students were not playing for the money but the pride and love of the game. Even the players themselves claimed that, “Paid athletes would destroy the integrity and appeal of college sports” (Branch, October 2011, p.86). However, it is a slippery slope fallacy. There is no guarantee that they will not share the same level of success on the stages of NBA or NFL. For them, they can take their talent overseas and play with foreign player. To be honest, playing as a professional athlete could get them a bigger deal from multination corporations. The academies did not own their success to any extend because the coaches did not force them to train but their hopes and dreams of being a professional athlete.

Needless to say, there is not a definition of “amateur” within the 400 pages instruction, even any documents during the court case. The term “student-athlete” was invented in the 1950s when the NCAA was being sued from a player that died from a head injury received while playing college football in Colorado. For the family, they believed that football scholarship caused the deadly collision which should be classified as work-related accident. In order to win the argument, they intentionally used the “student-athlete” defense, colleges have compiled a string of victories in liability cases since they were not in the football business (Herald, 2014, Sep 25). The term was purposely cryptic. The phrase acknowledged athletes during game but a student when in class or after practice. The two title contraindicates itself as implying athlete were student and professional at the same time. That is probably the reason for the NCAA shying away from defying the phrase in the first place. As for the role of amateurism play in games, that was not the reason for forbidding member of the NCAA from getting paid for using their likeness.

Although it is right that it will decrease the popularity if the participant were paid, it has little to say with the catechism of college players. The rule was implied to ban players to receive cash from gangs for not performing their best. Most of all, before the set-up of the NCAA, they were getting paid by the schools (Branch, October 2011, p. 87). Nor did consumers considered the feelings of the players when they were hustling in every play. The most critical thing is that the view point of the audiences have nothing to do with the malpractice of not paying them right. If it were to decrease the viewer’s when athlete were paid, they would care less about it since their pay did not relate to their pay. As a result, schools and amateurism have little to nothing to do with the right that competitors deserved in the first place.

Is it really for the passion of the game?

In the meantime, coaches and institutions were making a huge chunk of money by not paying the market value of individual players. Regarding the rules of being paid in the “encyclopedia”, there are 30 pages combined covering the issue of contestants receiving benefit but also their friends and relatives. In the NCAA manual (1998) on the page 114, there are very strict regulations from the big stuff like benefit, gift or money (“An institution may not arrange payment of the airline ticket to allow a prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete’s relatives, friends or legal guardians to take advantage of ticket bonuses, rebates, refunds, upgrades or other benefits connected with the purchase of the ticket”) to the minor things like meal, tattoo and all kinds of services. Let alone that average athletes are three thousand dollars short from covering their daily spending. Athletes not only have to work on papers for class and daily practices, they still need to work part time to put themselves with something to eat (Hehir, 2011). For the players that do not have the money to bring their relatives to the game, they could not ask for help. It was against the regulation to pay their player's family just to watch them play one game. The athletes were selling their soul and their family’s to the NCAA. They had to obey the rules either they like it or not. If students or their relatives dare to break it, they will lost their right to play for the respective team. No other team would dare to take a player in when they were labeled as rule breakers. They are doomed for the years to come.

Moreover, the establishments were making big, fat cash from endorsements. The billboards, the jerseys. In an interview done by the writer of Altantic Monthly, Sunny Vaccaro, former marketing executive from Nike, emphasized that Nike was paying coaches to put shoes on their kids by checks and stocks from Nike. Espically, Coaches like Bill Fosterform from Duke University and Jerry Tarkanian from University of Nevada, Las Vegas were making 7 digits combined and took full advantage of the system by asking for bonuses, country-club memberships, the occasional private planes(Branch, 2011, p.108). At the meantime when a kid does it, the whole world lost their mind. New paper article would expose the “scandal” of sportsperson and would be punished. As the biggest monopoly of college sports, they make the rules and decisions according to their interest. Following this further, athletes lost their First Amendment right to express their feelings towards the association. Because they might face serious consequences such as being cut from the team or a suspension. There are no alternatives since student-athletes have no voice or bargaining power concerning the rules or regulation. Yet, players stands to be affected by an association ruling declaring him to be unqualified to partake in intercollegiate sports (Eckert, 2006, p.914). The NCAA were corrupted from the bottom to the top. They were simply abusing their power to keep their market share. Without check and balance emplaced, there is no way to ensure the rights of participants not violated and being taken advantage of. Therefore, there is not only a need to a fair pay for the participant but to knock down the cartel that runs the show.

But they are going to make it in the NBA, or are they?

Conventional wisdom has it that the competitors were enhancing skills of a sport they are participated in. They were funded to train to get to the next level and make it into the profession spot light. Besides, players were offered to get an education form the outstanding halls of ivy in the east coast to the finest establishment in the west coast. To both sides, it seemed like a win-win situation. Let's do the mathematics, there are roughly 12 to 15 players in every basketball team. In total, there are approximately 900 teams in the whole NCAA league, which means there are well over 10,000 players competing for the National Basketball Association. There are no more than 400 active players in the big league (Men's Basketball DI, [NCAA], 2013). It translate into 0.04 percent of college amateurs make it into the NBA. Meanwhile, some college programs feed those hopes by advertising their connections to professional sports when recruiting athletes. Obviously gifted and commendable in different venues, the capability of these competitors is smothered by visually impaired confidence to their game and to their mentor. In another environment, it is justifiable that the voice of power included than a scholastic guide turns into the most regarded. It gave college athletes coming from low-income communities and locations a false hope where athletics is seen by some talented players as one of the few viable routes to a better life. In exchange, they could be shown that the chance of making into professional athletes is way lower than earning a degree for a professional occupation. Not just for children that live in poverty, kids in general do not even know the job they want to get when they graduate. So, what is the point if you are tactically not preparing players to make it to the professional level? They were left on an island when they graduate with no one to help them or give them solid advice. Since that, they were to repeat the footsteps of their parents and stuck in poverty.

Some may say that although they might not make it to the professional level of sports, they got plan B. First of all, these students were not students at all if they were not good at one particular sports. The NCAA simply does not emphasize enough on the importance of getting a good education. According to NCAA's Graduation Rates Don't Necessarily Prove Success (2014) published on Chronicle Of Higher, the NCAA manipulates the graduation because it does not chastise colleges for students who relocate before completing degrees so long as they leave in good academic standing which makes them still eligible to play. (Wolverton, B., & Newman) Many of the student that they would considered a good grade-point average would not graduate. Some athletes who are counted as non-graduates in their scale eventually graduate. Ironically, the graduation rate does not reflect the rate of graduation. Moreover, students were not prepare for the high standard prestigious school. They barely make it out of high school with a 16 or 17 ACT score. It cause them more time to catch up with the school work and assignments. There is a chance that athletes were injured and lost their ability to perform. They were left with nothing at all. Not to mention one's lifetime of health care bills that await some student-athletes in contact sports. To the athletes, they were forced to go to school because they want to perform on the sports level. What is more, the NCAA limited the scholarship to one-year, which means they do not get an education. Most of the high-schoolers never get a chance to play and were cut from the team. They were left out of the metric and gone for the rest of his life.

Ways to fix it

The cartel that runs college sport is keeping all the athletes from getting a fair playing field. It abuses its power to punish players from getting any support for any organizations, but takes billions of dollars form video game companies, sports cooperation and donations from individuals, and uses the images of player to promote their institution. Without them, there wouldn't be a huge number of fans purchasing tickets and subscribing to satellite games TV bundles, corporate patrons acquiring luxurious suits and school stadiums, or customers paying top dollar for games. They argued that the amateurism were the main element of the games and player were asserts of theirs. They might as well said that players were slaves. In the time when schools were first emerged, slave owners would manipulate the facts to suit their interests. Of course, they have every right to manage their properties, and the Constitution protected the NCAA’s right to their property. Likewise, it was their privilege to attain an institution so civilized and ahead of time, not only physically, but intellectually. By that, the NCAA was vindicating their profiteering through unpaid labor.

To solve this issue, the NCAA should review their code of conduct and limitation to all forms of benefit. Although there was travel and food offered from time to time, there is a need to soften the terms of basic nutrient needs. Refreshments need to be allowed not just before games but during road trips and after games. As well as financial and legal counseling, housing allowance and school and textbook subside, it would relieve monetary problem since textbook were unreasonably expensive. School and textbook welfare would include textbooks, school attire, bursary and waivers for miscellaneous fees. This would ease up their livelihood and support athlete to pursuit their dreams and study hard at the same time.

Equally important, a trust fund will be settled to reflect a certain percent of endorsements. To avoid eradicate amateurism, players will not get the chunk of money until they leave the team or graduate from the university. The fund will be speculated by the NCAA and will be invested by the athlete’s chose way. It equally reflects the ability of the athlete by paying them a portion of the revenue and address it as assistance, so that students were getting commercial aid instead of cash. There would be no concern of ruining the student's rightful place as well as catering the need of players.

References

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Wolverton, B., & Newman, J. (2014). NCAA's Graduation Rates Don't Necessarily Prove Success. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 61(9), A16-A17.