Well that's what it may as well be called. They make enough rules to keep themselves in business till kingdom come.
From NCAA.org:
The NCAA makes $10.8 Billion in rights agreements with CBS and Turner Broadcasting alone (over 14 years), just to show Division I sports on TV. Out of the $771M a year they receive, approximately $740 goes to conferences and schools. For what else, intercollegiate athletics funding (i.e. - athletic department staff, facilities, and more... including scholarships).
That still leaves $31M that they pocket (and this is just from these two networks). What about the hundreds and hundreds of other networks that broadcast NCAA Division I sports? I wonder how much Comcast and ESPN gives the NCAA to broadcast sports...
Their website says this:
"The NCAA is no different than other highly visible nonprofit organizations that raise significant revenue but spend it in beneficial ways that are consistent with federal law. In the case of the NCAA, the benefit is the education of student-athletes within the collegiate model of athletics. That model calls for student-athletes to participate in sports as an avocation while balancing their academics, social and athletics experiences. The NCAA believes the entertainment qualities of intercollegiate athletics do not diminish the educational value of those programs."
They spend their money in "beneficial ways that are consistent with federal law" but create rules that back student athletes into a corner while allowing them to pull in billions of dollars displaying their gifts and talents on national platforms.
Under NCAA rules, an athlete on full scholarship may work but may not be allowed to earn more than $2,000 during the school year. Let's break this down:
A school year is roughly 9 months. That averages out to about $222/mo an athlete is allowed to earn before taxes. After taxes it's about $180 (or $90 every two weeks). Hardly seems worth it, eh?
So unless you make up the difference of what you may need over the summer (vacation time... no such limits during this time), you're broke. I mean, really broke.
Under these circumstances, what can you say to athletes who are in school and have children when someone offers them $1,000??? What do you say to kids who get their utility bills paid by people because their own parents can't help them do it because they're just as broke as the student?
What about the Ohio State kids who traded memorabilia for tattoos? Some yo-yo wants an autographed baseball cap from a player to give him a tat -- and the baseball cap was probably GIVEN to him in the first place (by "given" I'm implying that the article of clothing/item belongs to the athlete, not the school). What happens, the rules get him suspended for half the season next year and/or possibly kicked out of school. Could these athletes have had the money to afford to pay for these services? Probably. Who knows. What's next... is the NCAA going to keep tabs on kids' bank accounts too?
When I ran Division I track/xc in college, I had a car that I had to keep gas in, keep up insurance payments on (that were high at one time because I hadn't had my license very long), and keep up maintenance on. If you add that up, I'm well over the monthly limit that the NCAA allows. Fortunately, God blessed me with summer internships and great parents. Whenever I needed anything, I was able to get it. However, I knew some other athletes who were not so fortunate.
I watched students on full scholarships have issues getting books from the bookstore because their "vouchers" didn't cover enough. I watched students struggle to pay phone/utility bills in school because they were living in an on-campus apartment setup under scholarship but they were broke and their parents were too. Heck, when I was running, I remember I had to ask my mom to mail care packages to me because we didn't get out of practice early enough to get a decent selection of food out of the cafeteria before it closed. Consequently, one year I ended up losing over 20 lbs in one month because of it and when I came home my mom thought I was sick (she never questioned my care package requests again).
I wish the NCAA knew how many athlete friends of mine had come to my apartment for pot lucks, etc just to get a decent meal because the rules won't allow them to afford gas AND groceries (sounds a lot like what America is going through now). If I was in their situation and needed food for my apartment, a couple bags of groceries for a track sweatshirt seems like an unfair trade, but if I'm hungry, I might have done it. If I needed books, I might have considered it (and I was an engineering student... those books ran $500-$600/semester between 2000-2004).
Then if you break the rules, you can get suspended, or worse, have your scholarship taken away (or in some cases kicked out of school). If they take your scholarship, where does the money go? Back to the school. Usually to fund another puppet. Where did the money come from? Oh yeah, television network deals, fines, etc. paid out to the NCAA. Just one crazy cycle.
So Dear NCAA, If you really want to spend your money in a beneficial way, how's about making it possible for students to earn more than milk money while being an athlete or give them some sort of stipend that would cover their survival expenses while being a college student. And don't tell me you don't have the resources to do it either.
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