@ChangeNCAANow
Educating the public and creating a grassroots backing for an issue is one of the most effective ways for a topic to gain support. For my project, I chose to create a twitter account- @changeNCAANow- to help spread knowledge about the injustices that take place in college sports, and to try and gain a following on social media. Because I'm just a high school student from Bozeman, Montana, I realized that I wouldn't be able to change NCAA policies alone. Organizations backed by very influential figures in sports have been trying to change the NCAA's policies for around a decade and are just now starting to make significant progress. The only way that I could join the fight against the NCAA's oppressive policies was to try to gain support from a global community. While the twitter account has not "taken off," it has allowed me to reach a new audience outside of my school and state. I think that If I could even reach ten people with the information that I've found, it would be helping the fight to change the NCAA. The information that I'm sharing on twitter was very shocking to me when I found it, and it made me want to spread it to others. My hope through sharing the information is that it will inspire others to educate and research the topic in order to join the fight.
Hawk Tawk (School Paper) Article
80% of student athletes that receive a full ride scholarship to an NCAA Division I school, live under the poverty line. 80%! That’s right, the athletes watched by Americans every Saturday on the football field, or twice a week on the basketball court, live under the poverty line. The same athletes that generate billions of dollars annually for their schools don’t receive any more compensation for their work in sports, than a student does. How can that be? Americans spend hundreds of dollars on cable, hundreds of dollars on tickets, hundreds of dollars on jerseys and apparel, and the athletes that work year round to generate this revenue receive no more than a scholarship? This idea goes against all capitalist values that America holds. These young men and women have special talents that have created a billion dollar industry. Under the principles of free market values, these athletes should be compensated for their hard work.
The NCAA is the governing body in college sports, but over the last half of the century, it has become one of America’s greatest monopolies. By no means is the NCAA a monstrous institution that has enslaved players to make billions of dollars for them, but the NCAA’s policies are becoming rapidly outdated. The NCAA was built upon several key principles, one of those being amateurism. Amateurism is the idea that athletes should compete for glory and pride rather than money. Preserving amateurism in the early times of the NCAA meant that athletes would be students first, and athletes second. This idea was instated far before the age of television, the internet, or even sports broadcasting on radio. College sports had no monetary value at the time.
The NCAA is in fact a non profit institution, and this can make it unclear why they would want to preserve amateurism. Amateurism in college sports originated in the early 1900’s, and the NCAA has held onto it for over a century. It seems like this principle could just be changed in order to satisfy the majority of the general public, and more importantly, the athletes, but the NCAA has dug themselves into a large hole regarding amateurism. Changing the rules and policies on amateurism would mean overturning a legal precedent that has been around since the start of college sports. If the NCAA turned back now, it would overturn hundreds of court cases regarding the issue in the last fifty years. While overruling a century of history would challenge the NCAA’s authority, it is now the noble thing to do in 21st century sports.
In the year 2014, this is not the case. The role of amateurism is no longer to keep athletes focused on education, but to keep money out of athletes’ hands and in schools’ pockets. Instead of paying student athletes for their hard work and dedication on the field, money is spent to upgrade facilities and pay coaches. At schools like the University of Texas, coaches are paid salaries upwards of 5 million dollars annually. At the University of Michigan, hundreds of millions of dollars generated from athletics are used to expand stadiums. All of this spending is happening while the average Division I athlete isn’t making enough to live at a comfortable level. Current NCAA DI scholarships are leaving players $3285 short of average living costs. With excessively large sums of money being spent on coaches and facilities, schools should be able to cover an athletes cost of living at a bare minimum.
The NCAA, however, will not budge on the issue of amateurism and vows to bring any case challenging their authority to the Supreme Court. Every proposal to change policies such as a stipend after every game, or receiving money after graduation have both been shot down by the NCAA.
Fortunately for athletes, it appears as though change is on the horizon when it comes to compensating players for the use of their likeness. In the recent case of NCAA vs O’Bannon, an Oakland judge ruled that players have a right to profit from the use of their likeness. For example, whenever a jersey with a player’s name or number on it is sold, that player would receive a share of the money. This ruling is revolutionary when it comes to the NCAA’s policy on compensation. The effects of this ruling are set to take place in the fall of 2015, but it will most likely be challenged by the NCAA in the coming months. The NCAA can only stay static for so long. If they don’t evolve at the same rate as the sports that they regulate, they may become a thing of the past. Just like amateurism.
The NCAA is the governing body in college sports, but over the last half of the century, it has become one of America’s greatest monopolies. By no means is the NCAA a monstrous institution that has enslaved players to make billions of dollars for them, but the NCAA’s policies are becoming rapidly outdated. The NCAA was built upon several key principles, one of those being amateurism. Amateurism is the idea that athletes should compete for glory and pride rather than money. Preserving amateurism in the early times of the NCAA meant that athletes would be students first, and athletes second. This idea was instated far before the age of television, the internet, or even sports broadcasting on radio. College sports had no monetary value at the time.
The NCAA is in fact a non profit institution, and this can make it unclear why they would want to preserve amateurism. Amateurism in college sports originated in the early 1900’s, and the NCAA has held onto it for over a century. It seems like this principle could just be changed in order to satisfy the majority of the general public, and more importantly, the athletes, but the NCAA has dug themselves into a large hole regarding amateurism. Changing the rules and policies on amateurism would mean overturning a legal precedent that has been around since the start of college sports. If the NCAA turned back now, it would overturn hundreds of court cases regarding the issue in the last fifty years. While overruling a century of history would challenge the NCAA’s authority, it is now the noble thing to do in 21st century sports.
In the year 2014, this is not the case. The role of amateurism is no longer to keep athletes focused on education, but to keep money out of athletes’ hands and in schools’ pockets. Instead of paying student athletes for their hard work and dedication on the field, money is spent to upgrade facilities and pay coaches. At schools like the University of Texas, coaches are paid salaries upwards of 5 million dollars annually. At the University of Michigan, hundreds of millions of dollars generated from athletics are used to expand stadiums. All of this spending is happening while the average Division I athlete isn’t making enough to live at a comfortable level. Current NCAA DI scholarships are leaving players $3285 short of average living costs. With excessively large sums of money being spent on coaches and facilities, schools should be able to cover an athletes cost of living at a bare minimum.
The NCAA, however, will not budge on the issue of amateurism and vows to bring any case challenging their authority to the Supreme Court. Every proposal to change policies such as a stipend after every game, or receiving money after graduation have both been shot down by the NCAA.
Fortunately for athletes, it appears as though change is on the horizon when it comes to compensating players for the use of their likeness. In the recent case of NCAA vs O’Bannon, an Oakland judge ruled that players have a right to profit from the use of their likeness. For example, whenever a jersey with a player’s name or number on it is sold, that player would receive a share of the money. This ruling is revolutionary when it comes to the NCAA’s policy on compensation. The effects of this ruling are set to take place in the fall of 2015, but it will most likely be challenged by the NCAA in the coming months. The NCAA can only stay static for so long. If they don’t evolve at the same rate as the sports that they regulate, they may become a thing of the past. Just like amateurism.