12/18/24
February 27, 2018
LeBron James: NCAA is Corrupt: "I do know what five-star athletes bring to a campus, both in basketball and football. I know how much these college coaches get paid. I know how much these colleges are gaining off these kids. [......] Me and my mom was poor, I'll tell you that, and they expected me to step foot on a college campus and not to go to the NBA? We weren't going to be poor for long, I'll tell you that. That's a fact."
posted by rumple to basketball at 06:21 PM - 8 comments
The NCAA makes billions off of college athletes. They make money off of selling the rights to athletes photos, video footage, and likeness to corporate entities. The athlete becomes "owned" by the NCAA for the duration of the college career and partially owned afterwards.
Secondly, the NCAA rules and rule enforcement are a joke. High profile programs where athletes get hundred thousand dollar interest free loans (Duke) or have been proven to have created a culture of academic deception (North Carolina) and others are never punished whereas others are prohibited from participation in playoffs because their athletes overall GPA's have dipped below a threshold.
posted by cixelsyd at 10:41 AM on February 28, 2018
I have to agree with what LeBron has said and what has been written above. The NCAA and the colleges are making a fortune off of athletics, and few of the players receive any real benefit. Pardon the possible racial taint to the following, but I look at it as a huge and profitable plantation. The players are the field hands, and they labor on with their only hope of reward being able to play at the professional level some day. True, there are some who profess to play for the love of the sport, but most of these are people who have good prospects for a career in the "real" world.
The thing that bothers me most is the refusal of the NCAA to allow even a small stipend to be paid to collegiate athletes. Consider a young person who comes from a situation in the lower socio-economic bracket. Basketball may be have the greatest percentage of players in this situation. Take a youngster with a single mom who is marginally employed. This kid is probably working at least part time in order to help his family survive. For him to go off to college to play basketball will put pretty sizeable dent into the family finances. Now along come the scouts, or whatever you call them, who are making some pretty big offers under the table. It would take an awful lot of spine for this kid to resist. Yet until the NCAA starts to understand the real world, the corruption will continue.
posted by Howard_T at 02:28 PM on February 28, 2018
The thing that bothers me most is the refusal of the NCAA to allow even a small stipend to be paid to collegiate athletes.
I don't think this is true anymore. I think it's a small amount of monies, but they do get something. Along with free room and board and a free education, it's not exactly the worst deal in the world.
Though, I do think that since the NCAA as an organization does rake in so much money per year, there needs to be a more equitable distribution of that money to the ones that are playing the sports.
And that's all I got to say about that!
posted by NoMich at 04:24 PM on February 28, 2018
Consider a young person who comes from a situation in the lower socio-economic bracket
Exactly. It's great that some of the kids get the opportunity to attend college where they otherwise could not. But for some of these kids their parent(s) might never have an opportunity to see them play on the big stage unless they make it to the NBA. The NCAA can create TV ads that run 4 times an hour that feature the same kid in pumping it's product, but it's against the rules for his/her college to arrange for the parent(s) to see the same kid play in an NCAA game.
I don't think this is true anymore
Oh, it's true, it all depends on which program the athlete is part of. Athletes of programs that abide by the NCAA rules get nothing. Some programs have their own methods and "booster clubs" to get around the rules.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:32 AM on March 01, 2018
Oh, it's true, it all depends on which program the athlete is part of. Athletes of programs that abide by the NCAA rules get nothing.
OK, I'll do the web search for you. Again, it's not much, but it's not nothing.
posted by NoMich at 07:29 AM on March 01, 2018
Dude needs to shut up and just dribble a basketball.
posted by holden at 11:54 PM on March 01, 2018
The NCAA is most definitely corrupted and always has been in all sports. It's just easier for it to get exposed these days.
posted by Bobby12 at 07:02 PM on March 05, 2018
A lot of damning info has come out recently about college hoops. I wonder if there's a larger bombshell about to drop right before Selection Sunday. One that would make some major teams suddenly decline to take part in the tournament after they'd been seeded and scheduled. Schools trying to limit sanction damage by voluntarily self-punishing on the spot and throwing the tourney into utter chaos.