Crazy Logic from the NCAA

You may have read recently that former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon is suing the NCAA because this so-called nonprofit organization which makes billions of dollars in sales per year doesn’t see fit to share that revenue with the college athletes whose names appear on jerseys, T-shirts, and all sorts of other paraphernalia. O’Bannon seems to have this absolutely crazy notion that maybe the college athletes that generate the billions of dollars in revenue for the NCAA should get a small piece of the action.

Let’s be clear about something: anyone who believes that the NCAA is a nonprofit organization or that Division I sports celebrates amateur athletics is living in some sort of an alternative universe. At many Division I schools, the football and basketball teams especially seem to serve as nothing more than minor league systems for the NFL and NBA, respectively. At least Major League Baseball has the decency to have a bona fide minor league system, and often recruits kids right out of high school. But can we stop with the utter insanity that the NCAA should be collecting billions of dollars in revenue and not sharing a penny of that with student athletes?

The notion of the true student athlete flew out the window a long time ago in Division I sports. At many schools, the athletic departments have corroded and in some cases disintegrated the reputation of the academic institution. The most spectacular Exhibit A is obviously Penn State, but places like Ohio State, SMU, and any university that’s ever hired John Calipari can tell you that there’s a fine line between having a vigorous athletic program and becoming an institution that elevates athletics over academics.

I wish O’Bannon all the best in his legal action, and I hope that more follow his path.