The
NCAA has long ranked as the overarching leadership for thousands of collegiate
student athletes, priding itself on its mission of “maintaining athletes as an
integral part of the student body and retaining a clear line of demarcation
between collegiate and professional sports.”
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For many young adults the NCAA has offered them a place to
continue their thirst for competition and sports well into their early 20s,
while receiving a quality education at a well-respected college or university. In the past week however, the student athletes
upon whom the NCAA rests its laurels, churning in millions of dollars off of
broadcast rights, tickets, and merchandise, have finally been given a
voice. The Northwestern University
football team took to the legal stage to get their day in court. They called for an investigation into how
much is given by these star student athletes and how little is received. The ruling by the National Labor Relations
Board that Northwestern’s
football players should be allowed to unionize should be recognized as an
opportunity for the NCAA. It’s an
opportunity to review what values it holds dear and how it wants its brand to
be seen by sports fans across the country.
Over the past few years, the NCAA has received one scathing public
condemnation after another with college presidents who are supposed to run the
NCAA often more concerned with keeping athletic boosters and sports-addicted
board members happy than defending academic integrity, or in the awful case of
Penn State, the welfare of children.
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As
an entry-level sports broadcast professional I’ve watched first-hand the race
for the sports pot of gold and the ill treatment of those at the bottom of the
pile. Working 80-hour workweeks while
being paid for 40, making minimum wage with hiring policies that claim
“freelance” with the “option” for full employment to get around
benefits and basic employment rights.
I’ve worked under constant reminders that if I don’t agree to these
practices that there are hundreds of thousands of other young people willing to
take my position and do it for free “just to work in sports,” and if my
performance is less than superior I would never make enough to live beyond a paycheck to paycheck state. Yet the difference between my employment and
a college student athlete’s is disappointingly minimal. A NCAA scholarship is guaranteed for only a
year. Athletes who don’t meet the
expectations of their recruitment are told to find another school where they
can play. If the athletes don’t want to
leave, their coach has the option to simply not renew their scholarships. In fact, the sole difference between my role
and those of a collegiate athlete lies in the fact that I chose this as a
profession, long after I put away my schoolbooks, earned my prized degree, and
started off into society with four years of skills, maturity, and a solidified decision
on my career path, a path I am free to change at will at any
time. The same can’t be said for
revenue-generating college student-athletes who rest uneasy in their classrooms
each day. Scholarships for these
athletes exist for one reason: because the school believes they are the ticket
to higher revenues and a prestigious reputation, it’s nothing more
than a contracted business deal.
Google “NCAA and
unions” and article after article arises asking should we “pay” athletes, but
let’s be clear, at no point has anyone involved with the Northwestern players
in the case suggested they be paid.
Unions are built upon a foundation of wanting an equal seat at the table
of discussion, where management is unwilling to discuss working conditions and
employees look for an opportunity to come together to bring change. The NCAA has lived in the past, a past of
one-way communication channels, of do as I say top down leadership, of pushing
their products on the field and court onto every TV and media outlet, while
turning a blind eye when those very same products lose out on educational
opportunities. Kain Colter, a senior on last year’s
Northwesthern team, testified
that there were certain classes he was discouraged from taking because they
conflicted with football practice, while the University of North Carolina is
still reeling from an
investigation revealing student athletes there were enrolled in classes
that didn’t even exist. For the term
“student athlete” to have a meaning the NCAA would have to put education before
sports, something it claims in theory, but fails to practice in reality.
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The NCAA remains
wedged in ancient times as emphasized with its latest round of public relations
attempting to strike fear in the public, and student athletes that play for
non-revenue generating sports, that the end is near. On “Face the Nation” NCAA President Mark
Emmert issued stern warnings about how disastrous it would be for all of
college sports if the Northwestern case propels forward. Never mind the fact that Emmert has commented
for two years about his own desire to see the full cost of a scholarship
funded, yet the topic still remains “under discussion.” Meanwhile the NCAA takes no issue with
spending millions in legal fees to fight a lawsuit to allow athletes to share
in any licensing revenue in which their likeness is used, a share of which
could more than offer them a full term education. Nor does it seem to recognize the hypocrisy
of coaches like Nick Saban (Alabama football) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke men’s
basketball) making in excess of $7 million a year, or the NCAA receiving a
billion dollar television contract for the NCAA Tournament and new College
Football Playoffs (see: http://bit.ly/QKRTY)
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| http://www.veooz.com/news/SH1hJHT.html |
The fact is student
athletes are often getting money outside of their scholarship funned to them. There’s no question when they arrive on campus
with fancy cars or buy their girlfriends over the top engagement rings that
these material goods came from some sort of back door shady booster or agent
clinging to them like a Willy Wonka golden ticket. Why not bring this behavior out on the open,
employ an open door conversation and create an environment where everyone helps
earn and reap a piece of the pie? Make
scholarships good for life, give athletes the money they deserve from their own
autographs and likenesses, and teach them how to use this money effectively so
they don’t blow it all in one sitting in the first professional setting they
enter. If the NCAA wants to be seen as
an entity that cares about students and education then it must stand behind
those values in every action it takes.
The NCAA has hidden behind the term “student athlete” for long enough, an
escape route for the organization to call upon whenever a problem arises.
Times are
changing, communication channels and digital platforms have given life to
students, parents, coaches, communities, and businesses sharing in discussions,
airing their grievances or allegiances and deciding on what is best for their
future. The NCAA can leap into this new
environment and acknowledge its need for change, seeking its own education from consumers and athletes to better support its business, or it can hunker
down into its outdated mentality and watch the rest of the world move on
without it. The NCAA must acknowledge
the storm of change is coming, stop fixating on trying to stop its progress,
and instead seek higher ground.
