Oh8ch;1918878; said:
There is no analogy for NCAA basketball and football in terms of the enormous sums of money generated on the backs of people who do not share equitably in the wealth.
The rules were put in place to create a level playing field in the same sense that vaguely comparable rules are needed in recreational softball leagues. But the explosion of dollars the past two decades has changed that.
What does a kid not being able to sell his own autograph have to do with a level playing field? Why is it that OSU can sell thousands of #2 jersey's but #2 can't sell his own personal property? What does the requirement that everyone stay in school for three years have to do with a level playing field?
There is no question that if you allowed players to start cashing in inequitably on their inequitable talents college football would change in ways we can not fully anticipate and would morph into something that would likely please neither of us. And for that reason I am happy with the status quo. And certainly the folks who profit from CFB today are quite happy to keep revenues flowing as they are.
But they are happy in the same sense that the owner of a manufacturing plant is happy to run a non-union shop. So don't suggest it benefits the players. And let's stop asking why college sports continue their current glide slope when the very underpinnings are driven by greed. Did I miss the thread where the NCAA has proposed such "field leveling" tactics as a cap on ticket prices and coaches salaries? Have any of the 14 most highly paid NCAA officials (all making over $270,000 per year) requested free tuition towards a doctorate degree in lieu of salary? Or are we still focused on making sure a car dealership that wants to give a kid a good deal on an SUV is unable to do so?
The NCAA is a non-taxed not for profit organization that does as good a job of maximizing revenues (3 BILLION dollars over the next 12 years for the PAC 10 alone) and minimizing expenses (what's that walk-on doing at the training table?) as any organization I can think of.
It's no different than any institution that controls the means of production.
The worker(player in this case) needs them(factory/school) more than they need the worker. Ergo they have the power, the worker is lucky to make a living. He can't pick up his tools and work(play) anywhere he chooses, they can bring in the next worker (high school hot shot athlete) anytime they want from a large, deep readily accessible labor pool.
It's no different than the real world for anyone who isn't a knowledge worker. As we move into the information age and the sun sets on the industrial age you will see less and less of this as knowledge workers do indeed control the means of production, they can indeed ply their trade anywhere they choose. In the meantime, it really is no different than a factory worker getting paid an hourly wage while GM sells the car he helps build for $30K.
CEO's of major corporations make a ridiculous amount of money compared to almost anyone else in the organization. Where is the outrage over that? Do they give up personal income to set up any kind of benefit for the workers?
The NCAA is like any 501c3, it has a mission that it is supposed to achieve and it has to be run professionally in order to do that mission. Charity's learned a long time ago that you have to bring in professional management and pay them comparable wages to what they would make in the for profit world if they wanted their charitable organization to last and achieve its mission. People who are qualified to run multi billion dollar operations don't do so for free because they can go to a for-profit multi billion dollar operations and easily get paid six figure incomes.
So long story short, in my eyes, this is no different than the real world. Nurses run the hospitals but the administrators get paid the most, NCO's run the military but officers get the money. A few manual laborers and some robotics guys make the cars, the CEO of Ford is the rock star.
Welcome to the real world kids, take advantage of the free education and enjoy the rock star status for the next 4-5 years. It will go by fast.
