As the NCAA investigates college sports programs from the University of Miami to Fresno State and various places in between, a new report states that ?big-time college sport is about big business? and focuses blame for the on-going and seemingly burgeoning situation on a ?black market created by unethical and unpractical NCAA restrictions on college athletes.?
The study, ?The Price of Poverty in Big Time College Sport,? from the National College Players Assn. and Drexel University Dept. of Sport Management, shows that the average scholarship ?shortfall? (out-of-pocket expenses) for each ?full? scholarship athlete was approximately $3,222 per player during the 2010-11 school year.
The report also found that the room and board provisions in a full scholarship leave 85% of players living on campus and 86% of players living off campus living below the federal poverty line.
Based on findings in the study as well as an Inside Higher Education report showing that almost half of FBS colleges were caught violating NCAA rules between 2001-10, the report ?implicates the NCAA as the entity primarily responsible for the scandals that have plagued college sports.?
?We all know that big time football and basketball players receive much less than they are worth, but the disparity between players? fair market value, what they receive, and the money that others receive is shocking,? Ramogi Huma, NCPA president and study co-author, said in a statement. ?The NCAA?s version of amateurism is not only unjust, it is impossible to maintain without guaranteeing more embarrassing and costly scandals.?
?The Price of Poverty in Big Time College Sport,? estimates the fair market value of the average Football Bowl Subdivision football and basketball players to be $120,048 and $265,027, respectively.
According to the study, University of Texas football players? fair market value was $513,922 in 2010 but they lived $778 below the federal poverty line and had a $3,624 scholarship shortfall.
Duke basketball players were valued at $1,025,656 while living just $732 above the poverty line and a scholarship shortfall of $1,995.
The University of Florida had the highest combined football and basketball revenues while its football and basketball players? scholarships left them living $2,250 below the federal poverty line and a $3,190 scholarship shortfall.
Concurrently, according to the report, the top paid 60 FBS football coaches in 2010 averaged more than $2 million in total compensation. At the top, Alabama?s Nick Saban and Texas? Mack Brown earned approximately $6 million and $5.1 million, respectively.
The top 25 highest paid basketball coaches in 2010 averaged about $2.4 million with Louisville?s Rick Pitino earning $7.5 million in total compensation, per the study.
According to the report, ?Through the NCAA, college presidents mandate impoverished conditions for young, valuable players and throw money around to all other college sports stakeholders when those players perform well, a formula that drives the powerful black market that thrives at so many universities nationwide.?
The report also points out that, despite athletic programs? record revenues, salaries, and capital expenditures as well as prohibitions on countless sources of income for athletes, the NCAA ?explicitly allows taxpayers to fund food stamps and welfare benefits for college athletes.?
According to Huma, ?The NCAA is forcing taxpayers to pay for expenses that players would be able to pay themselves if not for NCAA rules. I guess the NCAA expects both college athletes and taxpayers to finance its greed and lavish salaries.?
Dr. Ellen J. Staurowsky, Drexel University professor and co-author of the study, said in a statement, ?Big-time college sport is about big business. The mythology of the ?student-athlete? as promoted by the NCAA is revealed to cover up a system of inequities in compensation and treatment for the athletes who make the most sacrifices and contribute the most to the enterprise.?
The joint report recommends that the U.S. Department of Justice and Congress act to bring forth comprehensive reform through NCAA deregulation and more educational support for college athletes including:
1.? Alleviating some of the athletes? financial desperation by using new TV revenues to provide athletic scholarships that fully cover each school?s cost of attendance.
2.? Adopt the Olympic amateur model by lifting restrictions on college athletes? commercial opportunities such as endorsements and autograph signings.?? A portion of the funds could be placed in an educational lockbox (described below) to help increase graduation rates and decrease NCAA violations.
3.? Allow revenue-producing athletes to receive a portion of new revenues that can be placed in an educational lockbox, a trust fund to be accessed to assist in or upon the completion of their college degree.? Players who violate NCAA rules could lose some or all of their portion from this fund.
The authors of the study said that FBS football players? fair market values were estimated using the minimum 46.5% revenue-sharing percentages defined by the NFL collective bargaining agreement.? FBS basketball players? fair market value was estimated using a 50% revenue-sharing percentage that the NBA owners publicly stated as their desired revenue sharing split in a new NBA collective bargaining agreement.
The data used to calculate scholarship shortfall numbers, federal poverty line comparisons, and fair market values was taken from information published by the schools in the study as well as information made available by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Complete study results are available on the NCPA Web site.
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