Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports

     The NCAA is a ruling body whose mission is to provide a fair playing field for amateur student-athletes across the board by enforcing rules pertaining to conferences, universities, coaches, alumni, current student-athletes, and their fans. It claims commitment and responsibility to give its student-athletes the chance to not only perform collegiately, but also plan for a future on or off the field. Unfortunately, despite the claim of this mission, the NCAA is often accused of not adhering to its own goals at the expense of student-athletes in most situations. The NCAA was created to serve the student-athlete, however when under fire in court, the NCAA crushes the very student-athletes who support its industry because it is determined to maintain the utmost amount of power and control due to the amount of money college sports generate annually (Branch, 2011). The billions of dollars student-athletes in Big-Time College sports generate for the NCAA, their universities, and private companies has caused much debate in recent years because the players are not earning any money for themselves, despite the amount of work they put in to their sports.
     However, when suggested that Big-Time student-athletes should get paid, the NCAA immediately turns down the very thought because that would remove the "amateur" status of its participants, which allows them to profit vast amounts of money. The terms "amateurism" and "student-athlete" are of critical importance to the NCAA because time and time again, it is able to win court trials based upon the ideas those words convey. The ambiguity of "student-athlete" supports the NCAA's prowess because as athletes, young men and women are not held to the same academic standards as their non-athlete counterparts, but because they are still students, they do not receive any sort of compensation for their labor (Branch, 2011). That notion has allowed the NCAA to avoid workmen's compensation for injuries athletes sustain while in college because the "student" aspect of a student-athlete insures that these young people are not employed by the university or NCAA and this is supported by the fact that NCAA athletes do not pay taxes on financial aid (Branch, 2011). This is a topic that I believe should be reconsidered because playing collegiate sports is a high risk commitment and although athletes must sign waivers acknowledging the potential risks, the NCAA should stay true to its word and do its best to help provide its current and former athletes with a successful future, which I think should include financial support for life-long injuries sustained while on the collegiate playing field. On the subject of signing documents, student-athletes must sign a contract that waives their right to any proceeds made from merchandise involving their name or picture, which undermines the NCAA's claim that there are no property rights involved in amateur, collegiate sport (Branch, 2011). The amateur title should not be removed from all NCAA athletes, however the 1% of student-atheltes in Big-Time sports who generate 90% of the NCAA's commission should be paid (Branch, 2011). The removal of amateur status from those athletes could seek to make amends to the current problem of unpaid labor, though the problem of commercialism in collegiate sports requires a solution far greater than paying a portion of NCAA athletes a fraction of the money they generate annually.
     Coaches, by nature, are accountable for their players and therefore should protect student-athletes and amateurism at all costs, but this is not the case as they too have been lured by the amount of money brought in by commercializing Big-Time College sports. Due to lucrative contracts, which have basketball coaches at top programs earning more that $4 million per year and football coaches earning more than $2 million annually in addition to benefits and bonuses, coaches have lost sight of what should be their main concern - the student-athletes - and are immune to oversight (Branch, 2011). That oversight causes coaches to see passed potentially rule breaking and/or illegal activity, which when caught, is all over the media. Recent scandals include the 2011 University of Miami football players who were caught accepting cash and services from a booster due to their role on the team, 2013 Rutger's men's basketball coach being fired after caught mentally and physically abusing players, the 2001 Georgia men's basketball coaches forging grades in order to maintain eligibility for players (Scandals, 2013). Though these scandals differ in nature, those very difference speak volumes to the gap between the reality of Big-Time College sports and the rhetoric of the NCAA mission statement. The NCAA claims to guide athletes on and off the field, as well as in the future, but these scandals are indicative of cheating and breaking laws because the main concern is not the athlete, it definitely is not the student-athlete's academic success, but instead it is all about winning championships and bringing home the most money.

Reference List

Branch, T. (2011). The shame of college sports. The Atlantic, (3). 80.

Most significant college sports scandals. (2013, September 13). Retrieved October 2, 2014.