ESPN's Tom Farrey and Paula Lavigne have a very careful examination of amateurism and the NCAA this weekend. Here's a excerpt:
University of Texas football brought in $93.5 million in 2009, with quarterback Colt McCoy leading the Longhorns to the national championship game. Punch the numbers. NFL players get 58 percent of league revenues. If McCoy and his 80 teammates on scholarship were to divvy up that share of the pie, the average cut would be $672,676.
Instead, each athlete, by NCAA rule, could receive no more than tuition, fees, room, board and books -- valued at $18,172 for in-state students, $35,924 if for out-of-state.
"I personally think that it's the greatest injustice in American sports," said Andrew Schwarz, a Bay Area antitrust economist who has studied college sports finances. "We have these people that everyone loves to watch on TV and in person. We adore them, we adulate them, but we do not let them benefit from all of the money that they generate in anywhere near the way they would if there was a market system in place."
The athletes generate huge amounts of money for their schools, and many of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The temptation to turn some of their notoriety into cash is great, particularly when the school can sell replicas of their jersey for fifty dollars a pop.
The piece is accompanied by a full-length video feature with some illuminating interviews and perspectives.
Would a more equitable system reduce the temptation to cheat? Many NCAA Division I football programs generate surpluses in the tens of millions of dollars.
Farrey and Lavigne lay out a compelling and thorough case for examination and reform.
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