The Befoulment of March Madness through the Exploitation of Student Athletes and Fans
When we look at March Madness, we see “Cinderella stories”; 5 seeds losing to 12 seeds; teams and players seemingly doing the impossible in the final seconds of the game to muddle our brackets. But when we really look at March Madness we see student athletes being exploited by the governing body that is supposed to be looking out for the best interest of these athletes. We see coaches, schools, conferences, and the NCAA making millions of dollars at the expense of the athlete. So we have to wonder, is the construct of the student athlete a sham? Is the NCAA so fundamentally rotten that we should boycott March Madness? Is our participation in March Madness exploiting these athletes?
In another piece that I wrote, Should Collegiate Athletes Be Paid?, I stated how the NCAA makes $771.4 million a year from March Madness alone through their media rights contract with CBS and Turner Broadcasting System. They will continue to generate this much revenue through 2024. Also, with the ACC having a record setting six teams advance on to the Sweet 16 this year they are slated to generate a minimum of $30 million dollars according to ESPN. Unfortunately these college athletes will never see a dime of this money unless they are on some sort of an athletic scholarship. These athletes, unlike contrary thought, are not equally trading their athletic talent for a quality college education and a possible shot of turning professional. These athletes are being used as a piece of entertainment and marketing ploys by the NCAA and their institutions to generate large sums of revenue. These athletes are also traveling like the professionals and all the while hinder the very education that these institutions are promising them. I personally do not believe that collegiate athlete should be paid monetarily but I do feel that the construct of the student athlete is a sham and it needs to be reconstructed.
The thing that has most ruined college basketball is the one and done system that the NBA helped the NCAA create. The NBA has claimed that the reason they support this was to help protect their front office because it helps to deter poor judgment form their scouts and helps the maturity of levels of these athletes. Unfortunately for them, their claims are very weak because one year doesn’t make all that big of a difference. Most players who leave after the first year of college ball were good enough to go straight out of high school. For this very reason high school players need to be allowed to enter the NBA after they graduate from high school. One thing that I think should happen is, if a player chooses to play in college they should have to play for two years. All colleges would then help these athletes work to get their associates degree and if they choose to stay for a third and/or fourth year than they can work towards getting their bachelors degree. This way there is more of an emphasis put on the student aspect of the student athlete.
Even with how corrupted the NCAA may be, we should not boycott March Madness. It would not solve any of these problems. They already have tons of money and will continue to have tons of money because of their sponsorships and media rights deals. So, as we continue to watch these players shoot it out for a spot in the next couple of rounds to get to the championship, we have to remember that they are human. They face real dilemmas and they have lives to live outside of the two plus hours we see them on the big screen. They have friends and family and some of them truly do care about their education and realize that there is a very small percent that are granted the opportunity to have professional careers. We need to support them, not complain about how they missed a free-throw or wide open shot that lost us our chance of winning this years bracket tournament challenge. If we are not able to do this, then we are just as guilty of exploiting these individuals and are no better than the NCAA or the colleges that these athletes play for.
