Big $$$ & College Athletics Do Not Mix

By Joe Persinger
@Brew_Mastr_Joe on twitter

There has always been a celebrity factor when becoming the face of a division 1 program.  Football or basketball.  Player or coach.

With all of these growing egos becoming more entitled by the year and the NCAA refusing to acknowledge their major student athletic programs are semi-pros leagues now, not amateurs, two storms have converged on each other to become one "shit show".

What is going on in college athletics these days?

From all the "30 for 30" docu-films that have been made, you'd think the wild west days of paying players under the table were behind us.

Not so fast.

The last 4 years have given us a small glimpse into the dark world of NCAA athletic programs affect on the modern day college athlete and what they have to deal with.

From point shaving scandals, Pete Carrol and USC paying players, Lane Kiffin bailing on Tennessee, Terrelle Pryor, "The Vest", and Ohio State, Bobby Petrino's transgressions, and most recently, Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan attempting to blackball a transferring student into certain conferences.  

But what really has become disturbing, the amounts of money some of these conferences pull in each year.

The explosion of media in our everyday culture has helped the NCAA turn it's basketball and football programs into big business.

Really big business.


Let's use the SEC as an example.

In 2008, they signed a $55 million dollar (annually) 15 year contract with CBS for the right to pick the national SEC game each week.  Not to be outdone, the following year, they signed a $2.25 BILLION dollar/15 year contract ($150 million a year) with ESPN.

But as NCAA football grows into big business and the fat cats get richer, the labor force is being paid in education (not dollars).

Today's society isn't too kind to college graduates as it used to be in year's past.  The economy's recent recession combined with kids being churned out of higher learning establishments in droves, has turned today's college degree into a glorified work ethic on paper.

And there still lies the giant elephant in the room.

Paying the players.

This is met with opposition from universities.  Citing all student-athletes are just that.  They are brought into the school, and just happen to possess an extremely rare talent in the sport they participant in.

This ignorant stance these Big Business Schools (BBS) take, is possibly, the root of the problems that plagues major college sport programs.  It's basically the same stance the South took when in came to abolishing slavery.  What's even more ironic, the SEC basically covers the old confederate states.

Source: Wikipedia

Yea I said it.

The SEC and some of these other Big Business School's (BBS) are modern day slave owners, with modern day profits.

It's easy to understand why these Big Business Schools (BBS) take that stance.  As long as these student-athletes remain, the BBS will be eligible for tax exemptions that would maximize profits and minimizing their responsibilties (fiscally) toward their athletes.

The last thing the BBS wants, is to do is add a payroll for the 60+ players.

The nature of the relationship is no longer a student-school.  It becomes a job.  And that means benefits and whole array of different problems the BBS would rather avoid.

And the easiest way to do that is call this system something it's not, take an ignorant stance against what is right, and punish the players for trying to survive on nothing.

Terrell Pryor and his antics at Ohio State gave us a glimpse into what the college athlete of today has to struggle with.  Juggling his sport commitment and his academic/scholarship commitment. Trying to feed himself on college food stamps because he has no other form of income.

This whole process doesn't make any sense.  The amount of money allocated to a student player is enough to feed A STUDENT.  Not a student-ATHLETE!  These guys train year round and require a higher calorie intake (especially the bigger guys) than Hubert Q. Student.

To punish an NCAA player for trying to support himself is anathema.  If he owns a jersey, ring, or any other kind of memorabilia, and sells it, so be it.

It's a shame these rules are enforced.  The NCAA rule book is just a thick as the phone book, but with a lot more words and legal talk.  And none of the rules makes sense.

And is something that cannot be swept under the rug anymore.

It seems to have taken more of a (metaphorical) turn into hiding a dead body under an office building, hoping everyone who smells something decaying just keeps on walking, and doesn't ask any questions about the stench that is obviously permeating underneath the NCAA office building.