Thursday, July 22, 2010

On the Warpath: the NCAA is Comin', To Your Cit-tay

Let’s talk about college athletes and money.

There’s been a lot going on in the last few weeks regarding athletes that have already done or might do things that compromise their eligibility with the NCAA. And the NCAA is not happy at all about that, if the sanctions against USC and the beginning crackdown against other programs is any indication. A lot of people will say it’s about time they started taking these things more seriously and levying penalties against players, teams, and schools who are found to be in non-compliance. But at the same time, it’s a much thornier issue that isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

As with all other sports, professional or amateur, using performance enhancing drugs is undoubtedly cheating. The on the field results are affected and gives the PED taker an advantage, however slight. But what about other non-drug things that might enhance performance in a less obvious or even in a peripheral way? Thinking about it this way, right off the bat we have a problem because the collegiate playing field isn’t level. Sure the NCAA divides up schools into different divisions based on number of students and other factors that are supposed to group schools according to relative power. But it’s been nearly 40 years since they divided schools into Divisions I, II, & III, and over 30 years since they split DI and DI-A for football. The landscape has changed dramatically in that time, and I’d argue that there are more differences today between the top and middle of Division I than there were between DI & DIII back in 1972.

In college football, the NCAA tries to even things out. There’s the Academic Progress Rate, which is supposed to track academic progress and discrepancies, and there’s the 85 scholarship limit, which is supposed to act as a sort of salary cap, if you will. But not all scholarships and academics are created equally, which is a big part of the problem. It’s not just the free education that attracts potential recruits – it’s the campus, the facilities, the experience, and the overall lifestyle. Schools that make a lot of money have a lot of money to spend on athletics and their student-athletes. They can have nicer training rooms, can provide better academic support systems, can travel better (when they have to travel), and in general are able to offer more to their athletes. The schools that don’t make as much revenue and don’t have as much to spend are at a disadvantage. Is it the bigger school’s fault that they can spend more money, or is it the smaller school’s fault they don’t have as much? No – that’s just the way it is. (Yes, we could take this cue to talk about BCS payouts and how they’re unfair to the non-BCS conferences, but we’re not gonna go there today, partly because I don’t want to bring it into this particular discussion and partly because I don’t believe it as I've stated before at length.)

Of course this all relates to the Reggie Bush case that USC got hammered over. Was he probably taking money? Sure. His parents had a nicer place to live, there might’ve been a nicer vehicle in the parking spot, etc. But did taking that money make him a better player on the field and contribute to USC’s winning? Maybe, maybe not. But the thing to realize is that this isn’t a black and white issue. Because of the discrepancies between schools, there are varying degrees of advantage of being at each school. Was the extra advantage Bush received any greater than the advantage a student-athlete at USC has compared to a student-athlete at Tulane? If a student-athlete at Hawaii took $20,000 from someone, would it give them a greater advantage (both on and off the field) than a clean student at Texas or Ohio State?

The big question here is whether or not college students should get paid, and a lot of people probably say no. That’s in part because they’re already receiving an advantage that most of the other millions of college students in the U.S. don’t get – a free education. In a time when sending a child to school is becoming astronomically expensive, a scholarship can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But paying college athletes just feels... wrong, I know. We love the players on our college teams because they're like we were - they chose the school for many of the same reasons we did. Paying them makes them into mercenaries who only go where the money is.

(Another side issue that comes up here is whether it’s right that the NCAA and schools make millions of dollars from athletics while all the students get are scholarships. This one I’ll touch on briefly – yes, it’s more than all right. Not only because of the aforementioned scholarships, but because they money is going toward education. It’s not going to a greedy company that sells do-hickeys, or the government, or an owner who already has billions like in professional sports. It’s going to schools and research and making the college students of the nation more educated. So yes, it’s more than all right that the schools make millions. They should get even more, as far as I’m concerned.)

It’s a real slippery slope, one that scholarships doesn’t help any. Is there a perfect solution? Not really. Athletes are already receiving an advantage just by being athletes, and that benefit is greater at bigger schools with more money. People lament that college athletes are already the minor leagues for the pros and that the first part of the term “scholar-athlete” is an utter joke. But maybe the solution is to just open the floodgates and allow them to be paid. Keep the academic standards in place, just so they have an official affiliation with the college. Maybe it would work, maybe not. I'm not saying it's the answer or even a good one, but here’s what we do know – there are already a lot of student-athletes getting paid, the NCAA is way too small to police every single collegiate athlete, and there are a whole host of people willing to give them money, from agents to boosters to community members. That’s a big tidal wave of influence, and it’s only going to get bigger as the money keeps rolling in.

Athletic Dept. Revenues in Millions, 2003-2008
Conf Team 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 6yr Total
Big10 Ohio St 103.9 89.7 104.7 109.4 118 119.9 645.5
Big12 Texas 83.5 89.7 97.8 105 120.3 138.5 634.7
SEC Florida 72.7 77.4 82.4 107.8 106 108.3 554.6
Big10 Michigan 68.9 78.4 85.5 89.1 99 95.2 516.1
SEC Tennessee 66.8 71.5 69.9 95.4 88.7 92.5 484.9
Big10 Wisconsin 58.1 75.3 78.9 82.6 93.5 89.8 478.2
SEC Alabama 59.8 62.3 68.6 81.9 88.9 103.9 465.5
Big10 Penn St 57.5 60.8 70.5 76.3 91.6 96 452.7
SEC LSU 54 60.9 64.9 76.5 84.2 100.1 440.5
Indy Notre Dame 55 57.6 78.2 83.6 83.4 81.1 438.9
SEC Georgia 47 68.8 79.2 75.9 84 81.5 436.5
SEC Auburn 46.8 50.9 68.3 81.7 89.3 87 424.1
Big10 Iowa 53.4 61.6 66.8 80.2 81.1 79.5 422.7
Big12 Oklahoma 57.9 63.4 64.5 69.4 77.1 81.5 413.8
Pac10 USC 53 60.7 65.4 76.4 76.4 80.2 412.1
Big10 Michigan St 49.8 59.2 66.7 73.2 77.7 75.6 402.4
Big12 Texas A&M 50 62.8 70.9 69.4 74.8 72.9 400.9
Big12 Nebraska 55.9 55.9 64.1 71.1 75.5 74.9 397.4
ACC Virginia 42.5 62.3 92.7 64.9 65.4 67.1 394.8
Big12 Kansas 59.3 49.9 63 65.2 86 70.6 394.1
SEC Kentucky 52.4 52.9 57.1 60.6 71.2 72.1 366.2
Big10 Minnesota 50 51.7 56.9 64.8 63.8 70.3 357.6
Pac10 Stanford 35.8 41.5 60.7 65.5 76.7 74.7 354.9
Big12 Oklahoma St 46.9 41.2 53.6 46.7 88.6 71.8 348.8
SEC South Carolina 40.7 43 53.1 60.5 66.5 76.3 340.2
ACC North Carolina 43.9 49.1 54.1 58.2 61.3 70.2 336.7
Pac10 UCLA 42.5 44.5 52.1 61.3 66.1 66.2 332.7
Pac10 California 38 43.9 52.7 60.5 63.9 73.4 332.4
SEC Arkansas 44.3 45.6 47.9 63.3 64.2 64 329.3
Big10 Purdue 43.8 48.9 50.2 56.3 62.1 59.9 321.2
Pac10 Washington 42.6 43.2 52.4 59.6 60.7 60.6 319.1
ACC Duke 39 42.2 50.5 47.5 67.8 71.1 318.1
Big10 Illinois 44 46.8 49.2 56.8 57.2 55.6 309.6
ACC Boston College 35.7 36.8 53.2 57.4 61.2 64.2 308.4
ACC Virginia Tech 38.9 45.7 48.5 65.5 56 52.8 307.5
BigEast Connecticut 43 47.2 49.9 52.8 54.7 58.5 306.2
ACC Clemson 40.8 40 46.2 55.7 59.1 60.2 302
Pac10 Oregon 40.8 40.1 45.1 50.5 56.6 60.3 293.4
BigEast Louisville 35.1 39.6 48.3 54.6 52.2 58 287.9
Big12 Missouri 39.9 46.8 45.2 48.6 49.1 57.8 287.4
ACC Miami 47.5 39.8 41.6 49.2 46.8 62 286.9
Big12 Texas Tech 42.3 47.3 53.3 53.6 42.8 46.6 286
Pac10 Arizona St 35 39.6 48.4 53.5 53.5 53.3 283.2
BigEast West Virginia 37.8 35.9 49.9 47 54.3 55.7 280.5
ACC Florida St 36 39 40.9 42.2 45.4 74.4 277.9
Big10 Indiana 36.4 38.3 39.5 44.7 54.8 60.6 274.4
BigEast Syracuse 40.6 42.3 47.9 43.7 44.7 52.1 271.3
ACC Georgia Tech 39.7 38.8 44.4 49.6 47.1 48.1 267.6
Big12 Kansas St 40.7 39 43.4 48.3 48.2 47.4 267.1
Big12 Colorado 36.3 35.9 46.9 42.4 52.6 49.9 263.9
Pac10 Arizona 35.3 39 40.3 45.3 47 51.8 258.7
BigEast Rutgers 31.9 37.2 41 44.1 50.2 54.3 258.6
Pac10 Oregon St 30.2 36.8 37.9 45.4 47.2 50.2 247.7
SEC Vanderbilt 33.8 36.6 40.4 39 45.5 45.6 240.9
ACC NC State 32.4 31.4 39 42.6 44.6 46.5 236.5
Big10 Northwestern 32.4 34.3 38.3 40.8 41.8 48.6 236.2
Big12 Baylor 28.1 31.1 36.2 40.5 44.2 48.5 228.7
BigEast Pittsburgh 31.8 34.1 33.2 37.5 39.7 45.8 222.1
ACC Maryland 40.5 46.3 60 22.5 24.3 27.2 220.7
ACC Wake Forest 29.6 31.6 34.5 36.8 40 44.6 217.2
Big12 Iowa St 27.1 28.7 32.5 36.9 38.6 45.8 209.7
MtnWest TCU 21.3 21.1 37.1 39.2 43.4 46.5 208.6
Pac10 Washington St 30.5 26.2 29.7 31.9 39.6 38.3 196.2
SEC Mississippi 27.6 28.7 29.4 33.6 34.8 41.3 195.4
MtnWest San Diego St 37.4 25.6 31.1 31.1 31.7 34.5 191.4
MtnWest BYU 26 29.3 30.8 32.1 36.7 35.6 190.6
CUSA SMU 28.5 22.7 32.7 27.7 33 35.4 179.9
BigEast Cincinnati 19.8 25.1 28.9 34.2 33.9 35 176.9
CUSA UCF 18.9 21.3 44.8 29.6 28.8 30 173.4
CUSA Memphis 22.5 24.3 27.2 29.3 33.4 33.5 170.2
SEC Mississippi St 24 25.5 25.8 25.8 30.4 36.5 168.1
BigEast South Florida 18.6 20.3 25.8 28.2 34.7 37.9 165.5
MtnWest UNLV 21.5 23 23.6 25.2 32.8 33.2 159.2
WAC Fresno St 27.5 25.4 25.7 25.2 26.3 28.8 158.9
MtnWest Utah 20.9 25.2 25.1 25.9 26.9 31.8 155.9
WAC Hawaii 21 20.3 23.8 26.5 33 30.5 155.1
CUSA Rice 23 21.6 26.4 26 26.8 30.7 154.4
MAC Temple 22.8 22.9 25.8 25.8 27.5 26.9 151.7
MtnWest New Mexico 20.5 18.8 25 26.2 28.8 32 151.3
CUSA Houston 13.9 22.5 26 28.2 30.9 29.6 151.1
CUSA East Carolina 18.3 19.3 21.7 25.1 29.3 30.6 144.2
MtnWest Wyoming 17.7 20.3 21.2 21 23.7 24.7 128.6
MAC Miami (OH) 17.6 20.1 20.5 22.3 23.3 24.7 128.4
CUSA Tulsa 17.1 16 18.2 24.3 25.8 27.1 128.4
CUSA UTEP 12.4 23.4 20.6 20.8 23.2 23 123.4
CUSA Tulane 20.6 20 17.6 19.2 20 20.8 118.2
CUSA UAB 15.5 18.2 18.7 21.6 21.6 22.6 118.2
MtnWest Colorado St 18 17.6 18.2 19.8 22.1 22.3 118
SunBelt Western Kentucky 20.9 21.2 16.1 17.2 20 21 116.4
MAC Buffalo 18.1 16.2 18.3 19.7 19.1 23.4 114.9
WAC Nevada 14.1 18.3 19.9 19.9 21.1 21.4 114.7
MAC Western Michigan 19.2 16.6 18.5 18.7 19.2 21.7 113.9
CUSA Marshall 16.5 16.3 17.9 19 21.3 22.1 113.2
WAC Boise St 13.9 15 19.3 22.3 21.8 20.6 112.8
MAC Central Michigan 13.3 16.7 17.8 20.4 21.5 22.5 112.2
MAC Bowling Green 16.9 15.4 17.6 23.5 18.1 16.3 107.8
MAC Eastern Michigan 12.5 17.5 17 19.6 19.3 22 107.8
MAC Ohio 12.9 14.7 16.7 18.7 20.4 21.9 105.4
WAC New Mexico St 8.8 12.9 12.8 19.4 25.1 25.6 104.6
CUSA Southern Miss 16.7 18.2 19.6 16 14.5 18.6 103.7
SunBelt Florida Intl 10.7 14.8 16 17.9 20.2 21.3 101
MAC Northern Illinois 16.1 13.4 15 16.9 19.2 19.9 100.4
MAC Kent St 11.3 15.3 15.9 17.5 18.9 17.9 96.7
WAC San Jose St 11.9 13.3 17.2 17 18.3 17.9 95.5
MAC Akron 12.2 13.2 14.5 17.8 17.9 19.8 95.4
MAC Ball St 13.3 13.7 14.5 15.5 17.4 19.4 93.9
SunBelt Middle TN St 12.5 13.6 15.3 17.3 17.3 17.2 93.2
SunBelt North Texas 11.4 14.2 15.1 16.8 15.8 16.6 89.8
MAC Toledo 2.1 15.3 16.8 17 18.1 19.2 88.5
SunBelt Florida Atlantic 9.9 13.2 13.5 14.1 14.8 14.9 80.3
WAC Utah St 10.6 10.4 11.8 12.8 13.2 16.5 75.3
SunBelt Troy 10.9 10.4 12 13.1 13.1 14.4 74
WAC Idaho 11.2 9.6 10.9 12.7 12.9 15.1 72.3
WAC Louisiana Tech 9.2 9.8 10.1 12.4 12.5 13.9 67.9
SunBelt Arkansas St 9.1 7.2 10.1 10.1 10.5 10.7 57.7
SunBelt LA-Lafayette 7.3 8 8 10.1 11.1 12.1 56.7
SunBelt LA-Monroe 5.5 5.5 7.2 9.1 7.7 7.9 43

1 comment:

nomorespinsports said...

The whole system is ridiculous. It's not exactly slavery, but no one should be forced to go to college in order to become a professional athlete. Last time I checked the purpose of going to college is to prepare yourself for a future career. It's not necessary to go to college to become a successful professional athlete. Getting a free college education is probably a good idea in case one does not succeed in a professional athletic career. But, that decision should be made by the players themselves. It's a free country, and people should be able to make their own decisions about their future careers.