Why do we
love college sports? I think the answer is quite simple really. As Americans,
we love college sports because of our loyalty to the schools we grew up with.
We root for the schools we’ve graduated from and the universities we admire.
Unlike professional sports,
collegiate athletics is the most basic of all sport. No contracts. No free
agency. No labor disputes between the players and owners. For these reasons, I loved college athletics
because it was refreshing to see players who competed purely for the love of
the game. All seemed perfect, until I asked myself, “How can the NCAA be a
multi-billion dollar industry, yet still claim to be a “non-profit” organization?!”
Let’s take
a look down memory lane at how the NCAA was formed before we come to the
present situation. The NCAA was formed in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt as
a consequence of the many injuries and casualties that came about from student-run
football teams. They had no rules and no organization. So, Roosevelt held two
White House meetings with collegiate presidents to discuss how to change the
rules of football so that it could stay a sport. On March 31, 1906 the
Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was formed as
a rules-making body to protect all collegiate athletics. In 1910, the IAAUS
officially changed its name to the NCAA.
That was
then. This is now.
The NCAA is defined as a nonprofit
association that represents more than 430,000 student-athletes today. However,
in April of 2010 the NCAA signed a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with Turner
Broadcasting and CBS Sports for the rights of the men’s Division 1 basketball
tournament. According to the NCAA, the projections for the 2012-2013 revenue
are $797 million dollars with $702 million coming from media rights agreements
with CBS Sports, ESPN, etc. Does that sound like a non-profit organization?
Do you think the NCAA’s contract
with CBS and Turner Broadcasting is extreme? Look at what the NCAA pays their
president, university presidents, and coaches! According to USA Today, NCAA
president Mark Emmert collected nearly $400,000 in his first three months on
the job. That’s 1.6 million a year, which is more than the president of the
United States makes! What makes the NCAA even slimier is that Emmert collected
nearly $23,000 in non-taxable benefits according to USA Today. Does that seem
like the president of a non-profit organization?
How much money do the top
universities have you might ask? In 2008, ESPN requested the financial forms of
all the major colleges to see their revenue and expenses. Alabama was the
number one overall college for both revenue ($123,769,841) and expenses ($123,370,004).
What I found most shocking is that Alabama pays their entire athletic coaching
staff ($13,118,559), which is almost five million more dollars than the $8,824,492
in student tuition costs!
That’s not even all of the massive
amounts of cash circulating through the NCAA. What about all those college
football video games you might ask? I always found it weird when I played NCAA
Football 2005 and Reggie Bush didn’t have his name on the back of his jersey. I
later found out that was because legally speaking, that wasn’t Reggie Bush,
even though all his physical characteristics and skills spoke otherwise. I mean
c’mon the guy even had the “619” San-Diego area code eye black on his
character!
According to Mark Fainaru-Wada, an
investigative writer for espn.com, EA Sports has made well over $500 million
since 2005 for its sales of the NCAA football and basketball games; with
basketball only accounting for ten percent of those earnings. If you don’t
understand what blockbuster TV contracts, enormous non-taxable salaries, and
ground-breaking video game deals have to do with college sports, you’re not
alone.
So, why is it that there are always
violations against the players and athletic programs and never any for the
presidents and financial supporters who make millions off of their talent?
The answer to your question is that
the NCAA is a cash-filled piñata and everyone wants to take a swing. Let
everyone make money off of these athletes talents now before roughly only a few
percent will make it into professional sports.
Let’s take
a look at the opposite end of the spectrum and discuss some of the recent
disturbing violations that college athletes and programs have been involved in.
The most disturbing act of recent memory
occurred on November 5, 2011 when the country discovered that the Penn State
football staff turned a blind eye to the monstrosity of rapist Jerry Sandusky
and his 52 charges of molestation with younger boys. Maybe the biggest shock of
all was that this happened at Penn State and under the supervision of legendary
football coach Joe Paterno who was seen as an example of sportsmanship and
class to millions of people. Paterno was a coach at Penn State from 1960 to
2012 and was portrayed as the leader of a university that could do no wrong.
This in itself is the best example I can recall that proves that even the most
idealized leaders in all of sports cannot be trusted.
Just this year, there have been
countless head scratching violations that make you question the purity of
sports. Take the Rutgers basketball program. Head basketball coach Mike Rice
was caught on camera shoving players in a violent manner and calling them gay
slurs on numerous accounts! This caused a shockwave throughout the university,
causing the Athletic Director Tim Pernetti to resign as well.
Another big violation by one of the
biggest universities in the country is Auburn. In 2011, Cam Newton led the
Tigers to their first championship in over fifty years! It isn’t until now that
we find out the true story, which is that nine players were ruled academically
ineligible but were allowed to play due to a lack of supervision from the
coaches and staff. Also, players who were seen as potential draft picks
reportedly were given money to stay in school rather than go to the NFL!
This shows that when the money gets
bigger, the scandals get bigger, and people will literally do ANYTHING to
protect the sanctity of something we value more than anything in America…
winning.
The NCAA is
a great example of American capitalism in that the rich get richer and the poor
get poorer. It’s a joke to believe that only the athletes and coaches are
corrupted by power in college sports. The whole damn system is a joke from top
to bottom! So if we are to blame the athletes and coaches for ruining the
purity of college sports, why not include the actual people who are paid to
prevent these scandals from taking place?
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