“When should a college athlete turn pro? Not until he has earned all he can as an amateur.” – Will Rogers
I used to enjoy college sports growing up. All those great football and basketball games, as well as the environment in which the contests were played.
You watched the stars of your favorite team progress over a period of four years and then on to the professional ranks, where the big money was awaiting those who could take their respective game to the next level.
Call me a dinosaur, but I remember when simply receiving a scholarship, room and board and a cafeteria pass was an equal trade off. You know, long before the NCAA became an alternative to the Federal Reserve in terms of printing money, and when a player’s likeness did not generate tons of cash for the university of their choice. Yes the purity of college sports has been gone for ages, and the disparity in the sharing of the wealth with players is beyond criminal.
Have you ever visited the Indiana University Varsity shop before you watch your beloved Hoosiers tackle an opponent at Assembly Hall? It is stacked to the roof with T-shirts and other apparel designed to help you show your pride at a handsome retail price. The school rakes in the cash, but when deserving young men like Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, who serve as conductors of that gravy train, say goodbye to study hall in favor of a fat NBA paycheck, they are labeled as “not ready” for the pros and encouraged by many living vicariously through them to stick around Bloomington for another year despite the risk of debilitating injuries.
Before you say “quit picking on IU,” let me quickly point out that this exploitation exists on the campus of every school that has a successful Division 1 basketball or football program. First there is the staggering sums of money changing hands via television and radio contracts that somehow finds its way into the hands of everyone except the players.
Enter Nike and Adidas, who have no regard for the welfare of the athletes, insist the institutions they bankroll force the young men to serve as nothing more than human billboards for their wares, displaying their logos from head to toe, and doing everything they can to assure their unpaid staff (uh, I mean players) they will be there to “take care of them” at the next level if they can cut the mustard in the professional ranks.
It would be unfair to simply single out the aforementioned corporate shills, as every Fortune 200 company salivates at the opportunity to pour endless dollars into sponsorship of a title game so their image can be shone to a high gloss that requires sun glasses to view it.
Yes, there is nothing like being the sponsor of something so wholesome and sound, and it undoubtedly warms the collective hearts on Wall Street as well, as they too have for some time been a part of the game known as the Final Four and the BCS Football Championship – one that features a deck of financial cards lopsidedly stacked against the young men on the playing field.
Please, save all the rhetoric about the value of a college education granted in exchange, as that is simply an argument that is as outdated as the neckties in my closet. The monster it has become is unstoppable and even with a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball standout Ed O’Bannon on the horizon threatening to take a piece of the pie athletes so richly deserve, the business of college athletics could simply follow the lead of the tobacco industry, paying out damages without blinking, all while fostering deals that make the shady ones already in place look equitable.
However, with billions in their back pocket, the NCAA has no fear of an unfavorable ruling, as they will appeal it (most likely successfully) all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.
The amount of money spent preserving the health and welfare of the golden goose they keep publicly in a cage for everyone to see is a great investment and will insure the windfall that allows a university president to drive a luxury car while an athlete drives a clunker or rides the bus.
So when you sit down in your recliner to watch the big game on your television, think about who is involved in bringing it to you, how they are profiting from it, and how they distribute the wealth to the players who place it all at their feet. When one becomes rich they should ask themselves if they stepped on anyone along the way and if they are spreading it around now that they have it.
The NCAA and its member institutions continue to hide from those questions, because after all, why put a price on something that really isn’t for sale? This charade can only be stopped by the players, who must demonstrate a unified front and collectively walk off the floor after the National Anthem is played before the title game, leaving the NCAA and its broadcast partners with nothing, which is exactly what the athletes are getting now.
Until then, it will be business as usual, with everyone involved but the players themselves getting rich. Somebody has to fall on the sword, and soon.
Danny Bridges, who in 1979 received $35 for meals on a five-day basketball road trip and felt like he had hit the lottery, can be reached at (317) 578-1780 or at Bridgeshd@aol.com.
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this column are the writer’s and not necessarily those of the Recorder Newspaper.
Danny Bridges is an award-winning journalist and a longtime sports columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder. He covers college, professional sports and especially all things IndyCar racing. He can be reached at 317-370-8447 or at bridgeshd@aol.com.
