Big, Big, Big money

There's big, big, big money in basketball shoes. Just look at Nike and Adidas. Coincidently, there's big, big, big money in College Basketball. A sanctimonious and hypocritical NCAA, major colleges, and big-time coaches collectively make billions of dollars while the performers who bring in those billions—college basketball players—make nothing—nada.

Of course, that's not completely accurate. There is big money that is passed under the table—from recruiters, agents, and those big shoe companies to players' families and in many indirect ways, to the players themselves. Every once in a while, there's a scandal. In such cases, the media and the NCAA, the coaches and the colleges put on their shocked face and claim to be outraged by it all. What B.S.!

Jason Gay comments:

... you’ve heard the stunning news that our multibillion-dollar men’s collegiate basketball economy might not be completely on the up-and-up.

It’s true! The feds have swooped in and busted a high-ranking Adidas executive and a handful of college assistant coaches in what is alleged to be a wide-ranging series of bribery and fraud schemes designed to steer players to collegiate programs, and later onto financial advisers when they depart college and turn pro.

On cue, the officials within the NCAA will express shock and outrage, passing even more onerous rules that restrict players from making a dime from the sport that earns the NCAA billions. Coaches will be fired (Louisville Coach, Rick Patino, already has been), athletic departments will be re-organized, and life will go on as before. It's a sham and everybody knows it.

Gay comments:

Once more, a scandal shows the monetary value that young players have—a value that extends beyond the incentive of a college scholarship, which, in the case of a player who intends to only stay a season, is basically meaningless. It’s time to get real. Opening the market and compensating athletes may not square with the romantic ideal of college amateurism, but it would likely cut down on under-the-table nonsense. “The incentive goes down,” [economist Allen] Sanderson says.

I’m not holding my breath. Paying athletes in high-revenue sports like men’s basketball and football is an idea that remains controversial, and would necessitate major changes—reclassifying college athletes as employees, for example, which would allow schools to circumvent Title IX requirements. Sanderson thinks a more likely scenario is a pair of conferences—the Pac-12 and the Big Ten, for example—breaking off from the NCAA to create their own, compensated system. Intriguing! A real Rose Bowl, baby! But not happening tomorrow.

Players should be compensated, but that won't happen any time soon. After all, no one who currently makes big, big, big money wants to share it.