(ThyBlackMan.com) When I read about a report released this week showing that NCAA athletes are worth six figures, the only thought I could muster was, “that’s all?” Perhaps because I’m a Finance Professor, I’ve been hearing the “cha-chings” in college athletics since I first learned how business models work. Any activity being presented to an audience as large as the one hosted by collegiate athletics is typically a multi-billion dollar venture.
Let’s be clear: The NCAA earns far more money during March Madness 
alone than the NFL, MLB and NFL earn during their respective post seasons. CBS sports doesn’t lick their chops to sign multi-billion dollar TV rights deals with the NCAA for nothing. There’s a reason that financially-strapped universities will break the bank to pay a coach millions of dollars that they simply cannot afford.
On the converse, the massive wealth being generated by the league is also the sole cause of rampant corruption. It’s the reason that the NCAA writes a series of self-serving regulations that control the rights and images of athletes. It’s why they make rule after rule keeping athletes from ever earning or receiving a dime for their play on the field (other than the scholarship, which only has limited value in a multi-billion dollar enterprise). But it’s also the reason that there are no less than five athletic “scandals” every year when a booster, agent or coach has paid an athlete or his family for the player’s services.
Paying someone for their labor is not scandalous, criminal or unethical. Actually, it’s American. The NCAA is not an enterprise that is reflective of the values of liberty and labor rights that we claim to profess as American people. It is a system that represents the very worst that we can be.
There are only three things that can change the NCAA and end the swamp of corruption being created by distorted and problematic regulations: Congressional intervention, a massive lawsuit, or a work stoppage by the players themselves. If players refuse to show up to play in a game, then the NCAA has no choice but to concede to their demands. Even if one disagrees with everything I’ve said in this article, you can never argue that a basketball game can happen without a basketball player.
I love the fact that Ramogi Huma has released this study, and I’m glad that the conversation remains on the table. But when it’s all said and done, all of this is basically common sense. Perhaps it’s time that we wake up and smell the money.
Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.
