Billion dollar babies dont get a cent

The way it is.....Anthony Moyles

 

It’s that time of the year. The clocks jump forward and every athlete, especially every Gaelic player gets an extra spring in his or her step.
Players who were doing their best to avoid the hard slog of winter running sessions are now appearing for the brighter evenings and the attraction of the 'ball’ sessions!! The ground hardens up and the championship begins. A great time of the year.
In another part of the globe and in another sporting code one of the biggest amateur events in the world is coming to a close.
March Madness, as it is dubbed, is the USA National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament.
It features 68 college basketball teams in a single elimination tournament played over the month of March, into April.
Since its humble beginnings in the early 1980s it has grown into a $1billion national enterprise.
Let me just repeat that again. $1billion dollars in revenue.
The event has become an advertisers dream. Everything is sponsored from the game ball to the ladder that is brought out at the end of the final to allow the players to fulfil the traditional ceremony of cutting down the basketball nets.
This is massive enterprise and the figures are mind boggling.
Of course you would think with this level of revenue the players would get something, but you would be wrong.
The NCAA believes that this is a purely AMATEUR competition and that players should not receive any endorsement whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, the players, prior to entering the competition, have to sign a contract that prohibits them from receiving any type of gratuity before or during the competition.
This contract does not only cover monetary payments, but all endorsements for example clothes, cars or anything else that may be deemed to be a form of gratuity to the AMATEUR player, even food.
Now the NCAA argues that each player is receiving something that money cannot buy. A fantastic education!
This may be true of a portion of the players, but a fair proportion of the athletes end up being enrolled in what are called “paper classes”.
These are classes that are designed to maintain a player’s GPA standard (educational merit) and are in the main of no benefit to the long-term development of the person.
The sole purpose of these paper classes is to make sure no main players drop below their standard and so ensure the “TEAM” have the strongest panel of players.
So if these students are not receiving some form of remuneration and some are not receiving an education that will ensure a professional career after college then surely they will go onto make millions playing NBA??
Well actually, NO is the answer here too.
Less than TWO PER CENT of all college basketball players go onto the NBA and become a professional player.
So not too fair either it seems.
So last question is, where does the money go??
Well let’s just say that the remuneration the managers or coaches receive is eye-watering.
Most college coaches are better off than their NBA counterparts. Some are on high six figure salaries with others on multi-million dollar packages.
This also does not include endorsements from sponsors or affiliates. The coaches of course are allowed receive these, but not the players.
Also some of the venues that houses these AMATEUR players would put Croke Park to shame. I recently visited the home of the LSU (Louisiana State) Tigers in Baton Rouge, New Orleans.
The football stadium has a 105,000 capacity. It is built like a coliseum and has its own real life “Bengal tiger” mascot.
The facilities are amazing and sure why not, where else is the money going to go? Certainly not to the athletes.
The NCAA is not for turning on these issues, but rumblings have started in earnest over the last few years.
Some players are beginning to take a stand and have sued for image right violations, for example.
It is a very thorny issue in American sport at the moment and one that does not look like it will go away anytime soon.
The students need a body to assist them in finding a level playing field, but as long as both the sponsors, media companies and vested parties (i.e. the NCAA) are making money who really cares about the players??
Sure isn’t there another crop on the way every year?