This past weekend the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) Final Four was held in Atlanta. The four surviving teams in
the bracket-busting Division 1 basketball tournament gathered for the semifinals
and championship game at the Georgia Dome before 75,000 howling fans. In
addition to the attendees, countless millions watched on television, listened
by radio, or tuned in via simulcast on the Internet. Sunday night I went down to
Centennial Olympic Park to enjoy the Final Four festivities that included a series
of free open-air concerts featuring top name acts. Before crossing the street
to enter Centennial Olympic Park I stopped on a street corner and stepped up on
a secondary curb that divided the parking lot from the sidewalk to survey the
scene. I was finally a seven-footer. Thousands of people were bustling about
enjoying the atmosphere. I put on my sociology thinking cap on and decided dissect
what was going on. I saw extra police
who were part of the 800 city and county officers working overtime. Specialty food trucks
were sprinkled about the area. Merchandise vendors were on
practically every street corner. The few local restaurants
in the vicinity were packed. I looked up to see the top of the Westin Hotel and
thought about how many hotels downtown were sold out, with the cheapest room
reportedly costing a stiff $300 a night. I noticed several out of town cars and
trucks stuck in the predictably horrible traffic: undoubtedly some of them were
rental cars. I saw posters highlighting musical artists like Zac Brown Band,
Sting, The Dave Matthews Band and Flo-Rida – about 12 total for the weekend – that
were performing for free during the weekend. Then it dawned on me. Folks were getting paid. Everyone who was
involved with putting on the Final Four by providing services or entertainment
or merchandise to the fans were all turning a coin. The ultimate absurdity is
that the only people who did not get a slice of this “Peach Pie” are the ones
responsible for all this – the athletes. The players do not see one single dime.
Why? Because according to the NCAA, college basketball players are amateurs, meaning,
they can’t be paid for their services or talent. That’s right. These amateurs
are generating hundreds of millions of dollars - probably closer to billions - for everyone
involved but can’t have any of it for themselves. If I did not know better I would think the
Robber Barons of 19th century were still around under the guise of
the NCAA.
Think about whom else is getting paid during Final Four
weekend. Georgia Power got paid because of all the electricity used by the
Dome, the Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Park. Airlines, trains,
cabs, buses and rental car companies all made money from the weekend. Even the
gas stations saw some extra green by supplying local fans and out-of-town
devotees with fuel. The local malls, department stores, grocery stores and
liquor stores saw an increase in business mainly from visitors in town for the
weekend. The City of Atlanta got a huge economic boost (a $70 million kick
according to Forbes Magazine). While
I enjoyed the Final Four immensely I could not help but wonder how the players
on Wichita State, Syracuse, Michigan and Louisville felt when they see all these
dollars being generated and they can’t have $1 of it for themselves. To me thats the real “March Madness”.
Everyone around
the college game is making loot. Usually the highest paid state employee is either the football or
the basketball coach. Millions are dolled out to coaches of these
supposed amateur players (University of Louisville’s head basketball coach Rick
Pitino, whose team won the National Title, earns $6.7 million per year). The
coach’s employment is dependent on the performance of the college athlete. CBS
and Turner Sports are in the second year of a 14-year contract with the NCAA to
broadcast “March Madness” tournament games for a whopping $10.8 billion. (The yearly payment from the contract
reportedly represents up to 90% of the NCAA’s total revenue per year.) Sports
broadcast personalities on ESPN, CBS and TNT are paid handsomely to provide predictions,
commentary, and play-by-play analysis. The college athlete gets nothing but
adoration and memories but no dough.
I used to argue that college athletes are already getting
paid with free college tuition, which includes room and board and meals. But my opinion has been evolving over the past
few years. After the Final Four weekend my thinking completed its shift. Given
the amount of money floating around that weekend and the fact that coaches got
bonuses for taking their teams to the Final Four (Wichita State’s coach Greg
Marshall got a $136,000 bonus; Louisville’s coach Rick Pitino got a total haul
of $325,000 in Final Four bonus money plus an additional $2.7 million retention
bonus), I don’t understand why the athletes who are truthfully responsible for ‘making it rain’ can’t be given a monthly
stipend. If anything, it’s the players that are taking the coaches to the Final Four. Further, the NCAA has a “basketball fund” of nearly $200 million used to
reward schools for their post-season success. And the schools can use that
money any way they see fit. When the price of a ticket to Final Four games rivals
the costs of Super Bowl tickets then college sports is already a pro league.
The average price of a semifinal ticket at this year’s Final Four averaged a
record-shattering $1,190 each. The most
expensive ticket to championship game was $4,199. They are charging
professional sports prices to watch supposedly amateur athletes. I agree with
former Duke standout and current ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. He says the only thing
amateur about college sports is the NCAA leadership.
I have heard the arguments against giving college athletes a
stipend or payment for play. A couple of days after the Final Four weekend I heard
a debate about this very issue on a local sports radio show. Callers against
the idea of giving athletes money used justifications like the athletes find a
way to get tattoos so they must have money (this has nothing to do with paying
them or not; if anything it reeks of racism since most revenue generating
athletes are black and most have tattoos). Or that they essentially need to
suffer like they did when they went to college – not even thinking that the
athletes are not like normal students who can get jobs. The NCAA bars student athletes from having a
job because it says the athletes ‘s job is to compete for their school. I
suspect if some of these callers were to trade places with these athletes and
see all the millions being made by coaches and campuses they would feel
different. Then others say that college athletes are already getting paid with
free tuition, room and food and they come out with no debt. That is actually
not the case with most athletes. They still wind up taking out student loans
because they have no other means to earn money. They have to borrow it. The
athletes would make ridiculously more money than a four-year scholarship, room,
board and food if they were given a fair share of the profits instead of free
schooling.
When I was in college at Oregon I was given a scholarship
(tuition remission) and a stipend for working as a TA for 20 hours a week. According
in NCAA rules student athletes are not supposed to practice more than 20 hours
a week. The university I attended gave me tuition and a stipend because they
had a vested interest in my success, just as the schools, the NCAA, television networks,
athletic gear companies and other sponsors have a vested interest in the
success of the athletes. The stipend did not make me rich, just as a stipend
would not make student-athletes rich.
An example of how unfair college athletics is and how every ounce of money is made off the sweat and blood of athletes is the gruesome injury suffered by the University of Louisville’s Kevin Ware in the Midwest Regional Final. If you want to get the whole story of what happened you can read it here. I was flabbergasted when I learned that Adidas and the University of Louisville peddled t-shirts to “honor” the incapacitated Ware. Adidas has a contract with the University of Louisville to supply uniforms, shoes, and other athletic gear (the coach and school gets paid by Adidas for letting them use their athletes to ‘advertise’ their wares). Adidas made special t-shirts bearing Kevin Ware’s name and number and sold them for profit. Kevin Ware does not get a dime. Not one nickel. Not one cent. Probably not even a freebie from Adidas because it’s against NCAA rules for players to accept gifts. To be fair, other manufacturers made Kevin Ware t-shirts and sold them for revenue, too. The young man suffered a horrific bone-break trying to win a game for his school. Adidas and the University pounced on this awful injury and found a way to cash in on this catastrophe. Eventually Adidas was shamed into removing the shirt from its website and merchandise racks after the media shed light on how they were exploiting the player. Even the pain, tragedy and trauma suffered by Ware had a price tag. Everything is for sale when it comes to college athletics.
Thankfully someone is challenging the NCAA. Former UCLA
basketball standout Ed O’Bannon is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit
against the NCAA currently being litigated in federal court. Among the
plaintiffs are NBA legends Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell who were superb
college athletes, along with several former football players and other
athletes. The NCAA requires all competitors
– regardless of the sport – to sign a waiver that essentially prevents the athlete
from receiving compensation from the use of their own name or likeness that references
their college-playing career. This
waiver is enforced while the student is in college and when their playing
career is over. The athlete can never make money because the NCAA owns their
college careers. O’Bannon says this is
unfair and is suing the NCAA for selling his UCLA likeness to EA Sports for a
video game. O’Bannon did not receive a dime.
Probably not even a free game. What the NCAA is doing, according to the plaintiffs,
is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits price fixing, which means that
a business or a person who labors should be paid what they deserve or what is
reasonably fair. Coincidently, the Act was partly aimed at reigning in the
Robber Barons who used any measure they could conjure up to crush workers and
competition to maximize profits. The
case is now before a federal judge and the NCAA is worried that a ruling
against them will release a floodgate of demands for monies and pave the way
for athletes to be paid. The NCAA is terrified that they will have to play by
the same rules any other multibillion-dollar business has to follow.
Jon Stewarts recently spoofed the ubsurdity of NCAA rules against athletes using their own names to earn money.
If the athlete is the product being sold, why aren’t the
athletes getting a taste of the profits? Its interesting that many
conservatives call President Obama a socialist when the NCAA rules prohibits 'working' athletes from earning a wage. That smacks of
socialism and maybe slavery. After all, slaves were given free room and board and food, too. How any self-proclaimed capitalist thinks this system is
fair baffles me.
The only consequence of being labeled an amateur is that you
cannot get paid for your athletic performances. That is it. That’s all. There
is nothing in the in state or federal law that prohibits players from being
paid or receiving a stipend. If anything, the law may actually be on the side
of the athletes. The aforementioned Sherman Antitrust Act may finally open the
wallets of the NCAA and universities. Title IX would not be a barrier because
all athletes, regardless of sport or gender would be paid a stipend. My
thinking is that if all competitors were given a stipend then the “supply” of
athletes for the non-revenue generating sports would not be affected. The
amount of the stipend could be different for each sport which would covered by
the Javits Amendment to Title IX in which reasonable provisions can be made for
specific sports. The only thing that is preventing players from getting a taste
of the “greens” they're growing is the greed and denial of the NCAA and the
college Presidents. As the growth of
college sports continues I suspect that someone is going to challenge the NCAA
to get something other than tuition and board for the millions they generate. No
one is saying that the players should get rich, but they should not be living
below the poverty line either. Not when they are the engines of a multibillion-dollar
industry.
Additional resources
Read the Ed O’Bannon case and how a typical big collegesports program uses the money earned through athletics.
