It's supposed to be the best time of year for college athletics. The month we celebrate Cinderellas, buzzer beaters, fab freshmen, crown a national champion and, of course, rake in the billions of dollars made from TV rights to broadcast the whole thing. That's right. TV ad revenue for the NCAA men's basketball tournament exceeded $1 billion last year, more than the entire NFL postseason (including the Super Bowl).
As a former sports information director and self-professed college hoops fanatic it's a time I love. But this March a different kind of madness has ensued. And it's put the spotlight on the hypocrisy that exists between the NCAA and so-called amateurism of big-time college athletics programs, specifically football and men's basketball.
Let's recount:
- On the eve of the tournament, a group of football and basketball players filed suit against the NCAA and five major conferences alleging they operate like a "cartel" and seeking to not be bound by current limits of scholarships as payment.
- On March 24, HBO (as well as ESPN Outside the Lines) aired a story on football players - notably at UNC-Chapel Hill - who are steered towards no-show classes, easy majors and are being failed (and in my view failing themselves) on the academic promise of their scholarship. The Tar Heels storyjust won't go away, especially ironic given that the NCAA case is closed and there appears to not be any infractions penalties (though legal proceedings are pending).
- Then on March 26, a group of Northwestern football players passed the first hurdle in what will surely be a lengthy court battle to unionize and have bargaining rights. It's important to note that the players in that fight aren't fighting the NCAA or for a right to be paid but rather for better "working" standards that include health coverage or stipends from injuries during competition after their playing careers are over, limits of a regulated 50 hr per week practice/competition schedule during the season (talk about work-study balance), and assurances they will actually be steered (and supported) towards meaningful academic achievement. The ruling was simultaneously dubbed a victory by New York Times columnist Bill Rhoden and called a disaster by University of Delaware president Patrick Harker.
- And if an exclamation point to the hypocrisy was needed there was this article on Deadspin pointing out how Ohio State AD Gene Smith earned an $18,000 bonus when a Buckeye wrestler won a national championship.
There's so much to sort out and the issues are most certainly complicated. Painting all of college athletics with one swath is dangerous territory. But the tenor of rhetoric has reached a tipping point. With all the shuffling of conferences (clearly done for money grabs and budget balancing) and TV rights of the last four years, holding true to the fantasy that college athletics is about the athletes or about academic opportunity is like saying the mortgage industry is about fulfilling the American Dream. And the NCAA is really just a monopolized holding company.
One thing is for sure ... as college presidents continue to watch higher education face major change, tough choices, and increased scrutiny, athletics will be under the microscope more than ever before.
