In the new Supreme Court case, NCAA v. Alston. It's unanimous. Gorsuch writes the opinion. A snippet:
From the start, American colleges and universities have had a complicated relationship with sports and money. In 1852, students from Harvard and Yale participated in what many regard as the Nation’s first intercollegiate competition—a boat race at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. But this was no pickup match. A railroad executive sponsored the event to promote train travel to the picturesque lake..... He offered the competitors an all-expenses-paid vacation with lavish prizes—along with unlimited alcohol. The event filled the resort with “life and excitement,” N. Y. Herald, Aug. 10, 1852... and one student-athlete described the “‘junket’” as an experience “‘as unique and irreproducible as the Rhodian colossus’ ”...
Life might be no “less than a boat race,” Holmes, On Receiving the Degree of Doctor of Laws, Yale University Commencement, June 30, 1886... but it was football that really caused college sports to take off....
Yale reportedly lured a tackle named James Hogan with free meals and tuition, a trip to Cuba, the exclusive right to sell scorecards from his games—and a job as a cigarette agent for the American Tobacco Company.... The absence of academic residency requirements gave rise to “‘tramp athletes’” who “roamed the country making cameo athletic appearances, moving on whenever and wherever the money was better.”.... One famous example was a law student at West Virginia University—Fielding H. Yost— “who, in 1896, transferred to Lafayette as a freshman just in time to lead his new teammates to victory against its arch-rival, Penn.” Ibid. The next week, he “was back at West Virginia’s law school.”....
College sports became such a big business that Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, quipped to alumni in 1890 that “ ‘Princeton is noted in this wide world for three things: football, baseball, and collegiate instruction.’ ” By 1905, though, a crisis emerged. While college football was hugely popular, it was extremely violent. Plays like the flying wedge and the players’ light protective gear led to 7 football fatalities in 1893, 12 deaths the next year, and 18 in 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt responded by convening a meeting between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to review the rules of the game, a gathering that ultimately led to the creation of what we now know as the NCAA....
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3 comments:
Washington Blogger writes:
I have a day job and thus not enough time to read the entire opinion. I found the historical evolution of college sports fascinating. It explains in some fashion the reasons for the current system. But one thing I have always landed on with college sports is the concept of amateurism. WIth respect to Football and basketball for sure, they aren't amateur sports. These are professional athletes with professional coaches and all (as described in the SC opinion.) They are paid. The compensation includes and education and living expenses. In many cases these athletes do better than baseball players in the minor leagues who make between 12,500 and 20,000 during the normal season. They can earn extra in various off-season leagues. Most of them have side jobs to make ends meet. Why are NCAA athletes considered amateur and minor league baseball players professionals? Semantics. Football and Basketball don't really have a monirs system like baseball. The colleges take that role. My stand is that the only ameteur athelete is the one who plays for free on his own time. NCAA sports does not qualify.
Mike writes:
"Without having studied the arguments, I’m content to assume the NCAA was indeed wrong on the law. That said, now that any pretense of amateur-athlete is disappearing, so will be the pretense of student-athlete. My interest in minor league football and basketball will be about the same as it is for minor league baseball. *College* football and basketball was a lot of fun while it lasted. "
From the Desk of Colonel Mustard:
A few thoughts:
ALL athletes participating in college sports should be actual students; admitted by meeting prevailing standards for ALL students. Affirmative action admissions should be held out of competition until successfully completing a year of study. This is now a joke.
The service academies may be the only exception. They will send a promising athlete to their Prep School for a year to help them meet admission standards. Math is hard. My cousin was an athletic prospect of interest at West Point. But, after his Prep year, math was still hard so the Army packed him off to flight training, gave him a helicopter and sent him to Vietnam!
There should be no limit on amount that can be earned – would we dream of capping earnings of music or drama students? How about science students who discover or invent useful things. HOWEVER – any use of university or team images will incur use fees AND require approval of the university (as in, I can sing the song you wrote but I have to pay you a royalty – neither could I make a music video that depicts cheerleaders as nuts and sluts).
Paying athletes (or any revenue producer) is the right thing to do.. Unfortunately, the “unionization” of athletes will soon follow and that will be exploited by all kinds of hustlers and social activists. Alumni support will falter, I believe. Enter the really BIG money that will run the system; Nike, big beer brewing companies and others (although I suppose underage athletes will not be allowed to promote alcoholic beverages).
As for public universities, I would like ALL to offer 2/3s of all athletic scholarships to state residents. After all, they limit the number of out-of-state students admitted and charge a pretty penny for doing so (my NY grand daughter was accepted by UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Davis but had to pass when she learned that the out-of-state premium was well into five figures AND the UC system offers no financial aid to non-Californians.
Non-revenue sports really ought to have very limited non-regional schedules. Establish tournaments like March Madness, NCAA wrestling, college world series, etc. so even the smallest schools have a chance to compete for national championships.
In closing I’ll risk a visit from the Anti-Racist SWAT Squad by noting that college athletics underwent a fundamental change at the time of the civil rights and desegregation movement. There is no white privilege in Division 1 College Athletics. Local high school heroes, in most cases, need not apply. Wars fought on the fields and courts of colleges and universities are now fought mainly by mercenaries. I’m always amused by friends and neighbors who look down their noses at professional sports yet worship at the alter of ‘Bana, Oklahoma and The Ohio State U.
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