In my ongoing search for articles about college football and the possible transition to a professional collegiate league, I recently came across an article at ESPN titled the Myth of Parity. Below are my favorite quotes from the article with my humble responses.
“Yes, for the most part, colleges and universities are making money off of the backs, performances and success of major football and men's basketball programs and the scholarship athletes who play them. But ask yourself: Isn't that what most businesses do?”
Because businesses make money off the backs of its employees, it is okay that the NCAA does the same thing. In this country, businesses pay their employees a reasonable wage depending on the industry, employee experience, tenure (how long they have been there), and a variety of other factors. Some companies pay a decent wage while others, like WalMart, employ a large number of workers that make under $25k a year (there is nothing illegal about it). So with that logic, it is okay that the NCAA, along with the colleges and universities that field these players, make millions off these young adults (like big shareholders at WalMart) while these talented young players make thousands (I guess the NCAA is like WalMart).
The lesson to be learned here is make as much money off the backs of talented collegiate athletes, keep the best possible profit margin, and never change.
“The problem seems to be that we don't look at college athletics as a business. Instead, we subconsciously and constantly (and emotionally) look at college sports as something different. We allow the "school" part to blind us into thinking that the educational piece changes the dynamics of what is really going on and exempts athletics from being about something other than money. It's not. But that's our fault, not the NCAA's.”
I am not really sure who does not look at college athletics as a business, but for anyone who has watched a BCS football game or a I-A basketball game it is big business. With that said, if your are watching a lacrosse game, swimming, or golf, those sports are not about business and are/should-be about student learning (Tiger Woods dropped out of Stanford after two-years; why would be have stayed?). I do agree that people do have an emotional response to sports and this changes how people perceive what is going on on and off the court. But I do disagree that this is all our fault and not the fault of the NCAA’s; the NCAA is responsible for every action it has made and every marketing dollar it has spent in the name of hyping big time college sports.
“We need to stop looking for fairness in this because there is none and there never will be. There are very few businesses that are fair across the board to the people who work for them.”
I know life is not fair; I, like most people learned that lesson a long time ago. It just seems funny that this author is using the ‘life is not fair, so why try?’ argument in his article.
“No one is making kids go to school to make money for the colleges and universities. They and their families choose to do this. It is an agreement that is not set up to pay them in ways that is fair in relation to the money the schools make from their participation. It's rather like taking an unpaid internship to prepare for a better job later in life. It is a trade-off. An unfair one, but it is consensual.”
I agree; players who play for Alabama or Auburn enter a consensual relationship. But, they enter this consensual relationship because they have no other options. There is no minor league for football or basketball players to enter at age 18 unlike baseball, hockey, or soccer. If an 18 year old football player wants to be ‘seen’ he has to go to college and he has to agree to this consensual relationship (18 year olds do not head north and play for the CFL) because he hopes that by working hard he will eventually make the NFL a few years later. For many if they get a degree that is great, but most BCS scholarship players don’t care because it gets in the way of their number one job; playing football.
As an aside, I guess after reading these articles by Dorfman and Jackson I am a little disappointed. These are good writers with good careers, who have influential pulpits, with one loud and clear message; don’t change anything, the current systems works, and these athletes are doing fine (even though nothing is fair).
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