Ben Simmons (Source: The Big Lead)
Corruption in College Sports.
College athletics generate hundreds of millions of dollars every year, but the athletes are only directly compensated in the form of scholarships. Many argue that this is not fair, especially for the high-profile athletes who are largely responsible for the revenue, but others believe the opportunity for a free education is more than enough compensation. Who is right? What are the potential consequences of paying college athletes? How exactly would they be paid? In this piece, UC Berkeley student Alex Yeo explores these questions and more with a special emphasis on the experiences of one former college athlete and current NBA star, Ben Simmons, who personally struggled with the financial issues surrounding college sports.
The following is an excerpt from the piece. For the full piece, follow this link.
“The NCAA is really fucked up. Everybody’s making money except the players. We’re the ones waking up early as hell to be the best teams and do everything they want us to do. And then the players get nothing. They say education, but if I’m there for a year, I can’t get much education.”
These are the words of NBA star Ben Simmons in the HBO documentary One and Done, which chronicles Simmons’ journey from being a young basketball prodigy in Australia to coming to the U.S. and attending Louisiana State University before finally realizing his dream of joining the NBA. The documentary highlights, among other things, aspects of college sports which many consider to be clear weaknesses and failures by universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). These include the lack of pay for stars like Simmons, who generate millions of dollars for their respective universities; the corruption that takes place in both academic and financial contexts; and the hypocrisy of universities and the NCAA, who label these stars ‘student-athletes’ even though they often seem more like employees than students. Many argue that high-profile college athletes, particularly the ones who participate in lucrative sports like football and basketball, are being exploited because they are only being paid through scholarships, which are not worth much compared to the amount of money these athletes generate, and they have a strong case when one considers the numbers: the NCAA reportedly generated over a billion dollars from college sports in 2017, and some college sports programs make upwards of one hundred million dollars annually, mostly from their basketball and football teams.
However, it is also important to note that most college athletes do not fit into this high-profile category. According to the NCAA, only two percent of college athletes in major sports like basketball, football, and baseball go on to become professional athletes, and only a handful of this group consistently makes headlines and attracts national media attention. For the vast majority of Division I athletes, college sports offer a pretty good deal: scholarships, which often cover one’s full tuition and fees, along with the opportunity to compete in one’s respective sport. Of course, this is assuming that the athletes receive a quality education, which, after observing scandals like the one involving fake classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a big assumption to make; if the NCAA is going to continue using the term ‘student-athlete’ to refer to college athletes, then it must work with universities to ensure that such scandals do not occur in the future and that college athletes actually receive a quality education.
One can also benefit from other perks that come with being a college athlete, including access to alumni networks, the potential ability to impress employers with one’s experience as a college athlete, and sometimes even fame. Even those who do pursue professional sports can benefit from the system; one name that comes to mind is C.J. McCollum, an NBA player \ who earned his degree in journalism at LeHigh University and continues to be actively involved in journalism today. For people like McCollum, universities offer a mutually-beneficial agreement in which they profit off of the student-athletes who, in return, receive a free education and the opportunity to compete in their respective sports.
The following is an excerpt from the piece. For the full piece, follow this link.
“The NCAA is really fucked up. Everybody’s making money except the players. We’re the ones waking up early as hell to be the best teams and do everything they want us to do. And then the players get nothing. They say education, but if I’m there for a year, I can’t get much education.”
These are the words of NBA star Ben Simmons in the HBO documentary One and Done, which chronicles Simmons’ journey from being a young basketball prodigy in Australia to coming to the U.S. and attending Louisiana State University before finally realizing his dream of joining the NBA. The documentary highlights, among other things, aspects of college sports which many consider to be clear weaknesses and failures by universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). These include the lack of pay for stars like Simmons, who generate millions of dollars for their respective universities; the corruption that takes place in both academic and financial contexts; and the hypocrisy of universities and the NCAA, who label these stars ‘student-athletes’ even though they often seem more like employees than students. Many argue that high-profile college athletes, particularly the ones who participate in lucrative sports like football and basketball, are being exploited because they are only being paid through scholarships, which are not worth much compared to the amount of money these athletes generate, and they have a strong case when one considers the numbers: the NCAA reportedly generated over a billion dollars from college sports in 2017, and some college sports programs make upwards of one hundred million dollars annually, mostly from their basketball and football teams.
However, it is also important to note that most college athletes do not fit into this high-profile category. According to the NCAA, only two percent of college athletes in major sports like basketball, football, and baseball go on to become professional athletes, and only a handful of this group consistently makes headlines and attracts national media attention. For the vast majority of Division I athletes, college sports offer a pretty good deal: scholarships, which often cover one’s full tuition and fees, along with the opportunity to compete in one’s respective sport. Of course, this is assuming that the athletes receive a quality education, which, after observing scandals like the one involving fake classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a big assumption to make; if the NCAA is going to continue using the term ‘student-athlete’ to refer to college athletes, then it must work with universities to ensure that such scandals do not occur in the future and that college athletes actually receive a quality education.
One can also benefit from other perks that come with being a college athlete, including access to alumni networks, the potential ability to impress employers with one’s experience as a college athlete, and sometimes even fame. Even those who do pursue professional sports can benefit from the system; one name that comes to mind is C.J. McCollum, an NBA player \ who earned his degree in journalism at LeHigh University and continues to be actively involved in journalism today. For people like McCollum, universities offer a mutually-beneficial agreement in which they profit off of the student-athletes who, in return, receive a free education and the opportunity to compete in their respective sports.