The Illusion of Amateurism Within College Athletics
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
didn't exist." ~
Verbal Kint/Kaiser Soze, The Usual Suspects
It is time to
wake up.For decades the NCAA has
created the illusion that their sole purpose was to defend the concept of
amateurism within higher education.This
trick has been sanctioned by none other than the Supreme Court when, in 1984, they
recognized the NCAA as “the guardian of an important American
tradition.…amateurism in intercollegiate athletics.”[1]And, for far too long, the American public
has accepted this deception; that those competing in college sports should
remain amateurs, as defined by the NCAA, so as to delineate them from paid
professional athletes.
The argument is
stale, the facts don’t support reality, and the public is recognizing the absurdity
of the NCAA’s position: they insatiably embrace commercialism in all facets of
intercollegiate athletics except on a single issue—athlete compensation.College athletics has evolved into an
industry generating billions of dollars a year without paying the labor that
produces the demand for this product.Perhaps
one of the reasons public outcry has been muted is that the students engaged in
these sports are, predominantly, minorities whose access to college the public
often labels “an opportunity.”The popular
argument, that scholarships offer free education to many athletes, is rebuffed
by the systemic failure of schools and the NCAA to ensure that students
competing in football and basketball graduate with their college degrees or
even a valuable education.
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[1]NCAA v Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
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