Jackson Free Press

Sports fans, the NFL Draft is upon us. If you're like me, you anxiously wait to see which college players will become millionaires on the next level. Of course, I'm particularly interested in how the Cowboys or the Saints are going to help themselves. However, this isn't about football per se. This year, discussions have turned more to business vs. education—college athletes, or "amateurs" as they are called, and "professionals" who make millions on and off their field of play.

A recent HBO "Real Sports" segment gave some startling statistics about the dollars that college athletics generate for NCAA schools. These schools make millions of dollars. The coaches of these programs sometimes make millions. In fact, everyone from the officials in the NCAA offices all the way down to the guys who run the concession stands at these stadiums make money. If you add in commercials, apparel or shoe endorsements, and entities such as EA Sports video games, it's shocking to see the revenue student athletes generate. What's more shocking is that the guys who actually make it possible for all this money to pour in don't directly benefit from their talents.

Now before you present me the "value of education" argument, stop. I understand and respect it. I was lucky enough to get a full academic scholarship to Jackson State. Fortunately, that free ride helped me get (1) a top-notch education, and (2) all the way to adulthood without Sallie Mae calling my house every two days asking me when I can send my next student-loan payment.

In return for their talents, college athletes get a free shot at secondary education that they might not be able to afford otherwise. By the numbers, that's upward of $150,000 to $200,000 that these universities are shelling out. Good. But when you compare that to the millions the schools make and add the stringent rules placed on student athletes preventing them from receiving gifts off field, methinks these kids are getting used—big time.

Don't be fooled. University presidents are under extreme pressure to generate money for their schools. Money is the oil that greases the wheel. With schools like Alabama, Michigan, USC—hell, even my beloved JSU—athletics bring in much of that money. By the same token, the players, many of whom come from impoverished backgrounds, can't work, take financial gifts from friends or alumni, and can't do commercials. They can't even sell their own memorabilia. Nothing.

These kids, who often lead their schools to bowl wins, return home for the summer to a place where their folks may barely be able to make the rent or mortgage payment.

It's time the NCAA reviews its current model. Sure, these kids get free educations, but what about the money they make for the schools after their playing has repaid their tuition?

Do you want kids to stop taking "illegal" booster money? Let them get summer jobs. Let them do commercials if only for hometown businesses. I'm not saying pay them salaries, but to eliminate violations, you must first eliminate vulnerability. These students are just as valuable as the guys in the pro games who play on Sundays and maybe more valuable: The college players who don't turn pro may be our next doctors, lawyers or teachers.

Stop prostituting college players to supplement top-heavy payrolls at these schools. The NCAA wants them to be men in life and on the field, yet is treating them like children. Or worse yet, indentured servants.

And that's the truth ... sho-nuff.

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Previous Comments

ID

163298

Comment

As promised the long awaited rebuttal of Kaze's article. Just follow the line to the JFP Sports site. http://www.jfpsports.com/2011/04/28/jfp-sports-rebuttal-to-eliminate-vulnerability-in-jackson-free-press/

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-04-28T16:00:24-06:00

ID

163301

Comment

@ Bryan The gross disparity and exploitation claims made are not at institutions like Jackson State. People are concerned about the Ohio St.'s, Texas', and Alabama's of the world, where the athletic departments are profiting in the millions off of the athletes. JSU is a poor example to use in defense of the current system. The Real Sports documentary noted that the NCAA is making millions licensing products that feature athletes that they refuse to pay (the scholarship contract requires the athletes to sign away their licensing rights for eternity). Also, whatever happened to market value? In our capitalist society, we always espouse the virtues of the free market, yet we downplay that when it comes to college athletics. If the NCAA can sign a $10.8 Billion contract to broadcast the Final Four, doesn't the market bear that the players in the tourney are worth billions, rather than the cost of an academic scholarship to a state school (JSU was really a poor example to use)? How come the NCAA does not have to subscribe to market principles in this instance? Admittedly, paying the athletes their market share would be difficult and would require a radical change in the notion of college athletics, but that doesn't justify not doing anything and allow this gross exploitation to continue.

Author

Renaldo Bryant

Date

2011-04-29T08:22:02-06:00

ID

163303

Comment

Kaze, I used Jackson State because you said "With schools like Alabama, Michigan, USC—hell, even my beloved JSU—athletics bring in much of that money." You mentioned JSU. If you had looked at the link on where universities spend receive and spend their money you would see that there are not many schools that make money. Also I told you where the 10 billion went from the NCAA Tournament. Most of it goes back to the schools. That money includes licensing rights as well. I am so tired of hearing this junk we live in a capitalist society and everyone should be paid what they are worth. I have never been paid what I thought I was worth. Get over it and quit using a weak argument. Just because you think your worth a million dollars does not mean you will get a million dollars. Again you never address the fact that only football and basketball make money. This is not made up. Go Google it. There are plenty of studies out there on the subject. So who do we pay and how much do we pay them? Also athletes can have jobs so how much more money do they need? Common Kaze. Did you even look at the links or do you believe your right and refuse to admit athletes are not being used like you claim. Go read the NCAA manual. There are a bunch of perks being a college athlete like free medical care that the average student does not get. The average student cannot have their eye wear paid for by their university. Students doing research work do not get paid. What makes them different from athletes? Until you address that aspect. I think your argument is flawed. Just because your an athlete does not entitle you to any other than a free education.

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-04-29T08:51:44-06:00

ID

163304

Comment

Bryan, I am not Kaze, I am Blackwatch. Kaze can speak for himself. As for my argument, nothing you have posed justifies these athletes, that are worth Billions to the NCAA, receiving only full ride scholarships, most of which are year to year and are worth $50K on average (not the $200K you posed). And realistically, how many of these “student athletes” are in a position to take advantage of that “free education”? The Documentary noted even the assistant coaches at Auburn made it clear why they were there, limiting their majors and demanding too much practice time. Student researchers don’t command $100 a seat to watch them “do research” like these athletes command to play football or basketball. CBS/Turner didn’t pay over $10 billion to broadcast an undergrad perform a chemistry experiment. For all of your complaining about not getting what you are worth, it doesn’t negate the reality that these athletes are demonstrably getting exploited by a non-profit NCAA. While I agree that some of the money goes back to the schools to help fund non-revenue producing sports, how does that justify making a student sign away their licensing rights? At some point, the academic mission of schools has to be understood. No school has to field athletic teams, they choose to. Athletics helps with the culture of the school. Many schools choose to offer students an opportunity to earn an education by playing sports, just as there are music scholarships for talented musicians, and academic scholarships for academically talented students. At what point did athletics become a multibillion dollar industry that exploits those students’ athletic gifts? The only justification you give is that the money helps fund other sports. If it costs a school Like Alabama over $100 million a year to fund things like track, field hockey and wrestling, I think they may need to look at why those sports cost so much. The NCAA is not entering into multibillion dollar TV contracts to fund Title IX and other non-revenue sports. It is big business, and all I am asking is that the people who generate the revenue be justly compensated.

Author

Renaldo Bryant

Date

2011-04-29T09:12:14-06:00

ID

163305

Comment

Blackwatch, I am sorry I did not notice it was you writing and not Kaze. I was up till 5 am writing an article on the first round of the NFL draft. I apologize for my mistake. I did not post that a scholarship was worth $200,000. That was in this article not mine. If Auburn is adding extra practice time that is an NCAA violation. See Michigan under Rich Rodriguez. If athletes let coaches limit their majors or their education that is something they should change. They are there for an education and should strive to get the best education they can. No people do not pay to watch researchers work. But universities make millions off there back. Why is it fair for one because people watch but those not in light of day get shafted? If your going to argue something be consistent. Universities make millions off of drug companies for research but these students do not see a dime. Just because no one comes to watch their work is not as important. So if no one comes to watch you do your job should your employer pay you less??? You might not think the money goes to fund Title IX or non-revenue sports and that is fine. I hope you would look at my links and do some research yourself and you will see I am right. Alabama makes over 130 million (true numbers from NCAA/USA Today) in revenue and spends 98 million on athletics. But your cherry picking the best athletic programs. Trust me, MSU, UM, USM are not making the money Alabama makes. This goes for the whole college athletics landscape. Stop cherry picking. Look at college athletics as a whole and not the schools that make the most money. Most schools are operating their athletic programs in the red. Very few are in the black revenue wise. Trust me I have looked into the numbers. Look at the facts and draw your own conclusions but I feel you will not change your mind no matter how many facts I show you. And that my friend is sad. I believe you do not want to look at all the numbers

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-04-29T09:49:09-06:00

ID

163306

Comment

Bryan. Blackwatch is doing a well enough job of putting holes in your argument. So I'll let him continue. And in actuality, there are good points that aupport both arguments. You probably misunderstood my premise. I don't know whether or not athletes should be paid but I DO think, regardless of the numbers you present, that they should in some way profit from the money they bring in. How do you calculate that? I don't know. Folks showed up to Auburn football to see Cam Newton. Folks went to Gator games to SEE Tim Tebow. Folks showed up to BYU bball to see Jimmer Ferdette yet when EA sports makes MILLIONS of those games those athletes can't have their names on figures that are CLEARLY them and they get NO cut of that. If I'm BRINGING IN millions (not "thinking" I do) I should get a cut. Period. Scholarship, Jon, or whatever notwithstanding. Otherwise, YES, I'm being used to a degree. Bottom Line. EVen with a full scholarship, an affluent family, AND a part-time job and the free benefits you speak of. If you're making money off my likeness, or making money selling merchandise that I make popular, I deserve a cut.

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2011-04-29T10:22:31-06:00

ID

163307

Comment

Great conversation. I'm learning a lot: There are good points (holes) in both sides. I don't know enough to take a position, but maybe I will by the time y'all are done. I will say that I fear a world in which student athletes are paid big money and get big endorsement deals. That sounds like it would take a whole lot of attention away from their need to focus on academics and what they're going to do after college or injury in the pros. But that's just a gut instinct (and one that I suspect the NCAA rules are at least, in part, based on).

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2011-04-29T10:28:08-06:00

ID

163308

Comment

And further, until the NCAA examines it's model and adjusts it, you will ALWAYS have student athletes taking those "envelopes". eliminate the vulnerability. Nobody is paying $20, $40, $60 bucks a pop to see a kid test drugs for a pharmaceutical company. They should! I agree. It's much more important, but the reality is it doesn't sell tix and merch.

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2011-04-29T10:30:17-06:00

ID

163310

Comment

Bryan, I don’t know why you think I am cherry picking with these big university numbers. It is the big universities that are driving the market for college athletic TV contracts. Why talk about JSU, Milsaps, or any other small college when the money is being generated by the BCS conference schools (the SEC very prominent within the BCS). I think that you are cherry picking by ignoring the elephant in the room, the BCS schools. You have a good point about the drug research being done by universities for private companies. Many people question the ethics behind that, especially at the public universities. The same could be said about so called “Institutes” (like the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation and such) who are housed at Universities and do media research for conservative leaning companies such as Koch Industries. True, their research is worth millions as well, but that doesn’t legitimize them either for exploiting their student researchers. But, I thought you were talking about the NCAA. I shine the spotlight on research as well in my critiques. Ultimately, there is a danger in creating a class of “Student athlete” that has the potential to earn millions in college. That danger is eliminating the notion of amateurism in athletics. The NCAA holds that these are amateur athletes; therefore they cannot earn money to play their sports. What this does is makes it seem ethical to pay them a penance in the form of a scholarship so as to fund 6 and 7 figure salaries for coaches and athletic directors as certain schools. If this were simply about the academic missions of schools, then we wouldn’t have this discussion. College athletics, BCS college athletics, is a multi-billion dollar industry, built on amateur athletics. That is the true source of absurdity in all of this.

Author

Renaldo Bryant

Date

2011-04-29T10:54:41-06:00

ID

163311

Comment

Case in point Bryan. The Ohio State players that were suspended for SELLING THEIR OWN PERSONAL memorabilia...Ridiculous. The hypocrisy in some of these mandates is crazy!

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2011-04-29T11:06:18-06:00

ID

163328

Comment

I took an unbiased look at the draft and NFL teams and concluded the Steelers are the best team and had the best draft. Yes I know we picked lots of no names or unheard of players. It doesn't matter because we are the masters of finding unperceived talent at low cost and beating the so-called giants and moneychangers. Glad to see Cam Newton go first. Hopefully he will do well. I hope New Orleans and Dallas repeat their feats of last year with Dallas losing the other 4 games they won, but I ain't hating. As far as paying the players, so far I'm still against it. Players need to grow up before they become too capitalistic driven.

Author

Walt

Date

2011-05-02T17:39:19-06:00

ID

163335

Comment

As always I am probably going to be the odd man standing out on this one, but a closed man doesn't get fed. But being a college graduate I am well aware of work study programs, stipends and other avenues universities and colleges use to attract the best and the brightest, whether it is conducting research or other avenues in regards to academia. I have heard both arguments on why and why a college athelete should not receive any type of monetary reward, but after looking at the money generated by these young men and women, especially in regards to football and basketball - they should receive something, on top of the education. There are ways an means to keeping the corruption out of it, it's just people are too lazy to think or create a way. I am not a Tim Tebow fan, but its okay to put him on the cover of college football game and the university is the only one to capitalize off of it? Or his jersey sells? Like I said earlier, I know there are quite a few who will disagree, but I am just being honest.

Author

Duan C.

Date

2011-05-03T11:22:17-06:00

ID

163336

Comment

@ Bryan "If your going to argue something be consistent. Universities make millions off of drug companies for research but these students do not see a dime." Bryan I don't know what college you attended, where Master's and PhD level students didn't get paid for research? But I know at little ol' Jackson State they do get paid, even housing to boot - some of them are making more than me at my profession.

Author

Duan C.

Date

2011-05-03T11:27:11-06:00

ID

163339

Comment

I loved someone brought up the Ohio State players. We can argue over the right to sell something you think you own, like I cannot sell my kidney even though I own it. A few points. First, these players would have nothing to sell if they did not play football. The championship rings and gold pants (for defeating Michigan) were bought by the school/boosters for all the players. These players did not sell their rings and gold pants because they needed the money. Nope, they exchanged them for tattoos. They did not sell them because they needed food, pay bills, or because they wanted to go out "like regular" college students. They traded their items for ink that one could argue they did not need. Also they did this at a business that was under investigations for federal drug charges. So who knows what was traded for off the books. I could understand the outrage better if these players needed to trade or sell championship rings or gold pants because they truly needed money but for tattoos. Finally, the players knew the rules. This rule has been in place for awhile now. I have to say that there are plenty of rules in place we do not agree with everyday but we follow them anyway. No matter at work or otherwise. I do not feel sorry for players breaking rules they already knew where in place.

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-05-03T13:04:35-06:00

ID

163340

Comment

Blackwatch, My point of bring up research was to point out that not just athletes are used by colleges/universities to make money. Students of all forms are used for money making ventures. How many college students sign up every summer for unpaid internships. How many businesses make money off of this "free" labor? No one ever questions how much money the IOC (International Olympic Committee) makes off of athletes during Olympic years, NBC, and other media contracts. But the NCAA does same thing business, researchers, the Olympics does and those athletes should be paid but the other students/athletes do not get attention? Then this idea that people buy tickets to watch sports makes it o.k. for them to be paid. What about the sports that people do not show up for? Should those athletes get paid? What athletes should be paid? Just starters? Should the third string offensive lineman make the same as the star quarterback? Should the swimmer make the same as the star point guard? Should athletes draft to pro sports pay back their scholarships if they do not graduate? It seems to me that everyone who says athletes should be paid forgets that only football and basketball makes money. That is just about it. Kaze, no one is buying an E.A. Sports NCAA Women's Basketball, NCAA Track and Field, NCAA Baseball, NCAA Swimming, NCAA Soccer, NCAA Lacrosse, NCAA wrestling, NCAA field Hockey, NCAA Hockey, and I can go on and on and on. I guess Kaze and Blackwatch mean only football and basketball players should be paid. So much for equality.

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-05-03T13:17:37-06:00

ID

163341

Comment

@ Bryan "I loved someone brought up the Ohio State players. We can argue over the right to sell something you think you own, like I cannot sell my kidney even though I own it." You are comparing a piece of material, i.e. a jersey or a ring, to a kidney? LOL!!!! How much difference does it make if the student athletes were to sell the items after graduation? Because I have seen numerous championship rings for sell online (eBay) and in pawn shops?

Author

Duan C.

Date

2011-05-03T13:57:06-06:00

ID

163342

Comment

Duan C., The difference is that it is against the rules. My point was just because you own something does not mean there are rules against you selling it. Really what is the difference between a championship ring and my kidney? Is my kidney special? Should I not be allowed to profit off an organ I have two of and only need one to live? Rules are rules no matter if we like them or not. Same goes for college athletes selling their stuff.

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-05-03T14:56:06-06:00

ID

163343

Comment

Bryan, when ESPN starts devoting and hour or days coverage to the lacrosse draft or the post season swimming brackets then Ill agree with you. Until then, they should take their share of the earnings that they get from Football or Basketball (sometimes baseball) programs and then figure out how to get 50,000 screaming fans to come see THEM play. Not saying its fair but thats how it is. Football and Bball is king at the majority of colleges and by RULE they give a share of that to the other sports to help fund them. If the other athletes in other sports want a bigger piece of the pie then I suggest they figure out how to make their sports more popular and their merchandise more of a commodity. And YES! they should pay back the scholarship money if they do NOT graduate!

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2011-05-03T15:12:32-06:00

ID

163345

Comment

Bryan if you moved to a third world country, I guarantee they will let you sell your kidney without a problem. lol! But back to the kids at The Ohio State selling their wares they received from the Bowl Game. See your saying rules are the rules and they need to be respected. But you felt indifference when our government stepped in to investigate performance enhancing drugs in baseball and what a waste of time it was for them to do such. But yet, they write the laws of the land - right? I think the NCAA is one of the biggest sham associations in this country. They (The NC2A) sell the rights to their sanctioned sporting events to televeision networks and corporate sponsors, for billions of dollars then yet ask kids to settle with a educational scholarship? Let me make a fair comparison, my job contributes to my retirment plan, I have health insurance, multiple other perks, as well as a base salary. I receive all that in order to complete a service or do a job. "What athletes should be paid? Just starters? Should the third string offensive lineman make the same as the star quarterback?" It's just like at your job at the JFP, do you make the same thing Ladd or Todd makes? I doubt it? It's based on what you contribute, but I can only assume your work load is not the same as theirs? It's the same thing in the Pro's starters make more than bench warmers and the practice squad? I don't want to hear any arguments about the numbers and books, because after Enron, WorldCom, Bernie Madoff, and others like the aformentioned subjects, corporations will tweaks books in their favor in a heartbeat. So I, personally, have little faith in "accounting books" for large corporations/associations. But how they (student athelete's) get paid is not our problem to fix, its the NCAA's responsibility to set up a system that is sensible and fair, because they are the ones capitalizing off of these athelete's. They created this monster and now let them fix it.

Author

Duan C.

Date

2011-05-03T16:11:03-06:00

ID

163349

Comment

Baseball did not have testing or rules against PED use. Lying to congress should be a crime since they lie to us everyday.

Author

Bryan Flynn

Date

2011-05-03T17:51:16-06:00