"There are millions and millions of dollars being made off the sweat and grind of the student athlete," O'Bannon said. "Student athletes see none of that other than their education."
...The debate over compensating college players is almost as old as the NCAA, founded in 1906. Amateurs have long-been expected to compete for free and the love of sport — or at least the cost of a scholarship.
But the NCAA's revenues have skyrocketed in recent years — it recently signed a $10.8 billion, 14-year television deal for basketball — and so have the demands of athletes to share in the money.
This is an excerpt from Paul Elias' article, Lawsuits seek to compensate college athletes. The article reports on lawsuits by amateur players seeking to share in profits the NCAA earns from licensing former players' images in commercials, DVDs, video games and elsewhere. A judge refused to toss the cases out and they are now progressing further than ever before against the NCAA. This will be an interesting story as it develops. As the monetary pie continues to grow, expect no end to the debate as to whether amateur athletes should be allowed to share in the profits.
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On the business side of sport, here are some recent developments:
(a) the Manning brothers and Reebok are looking to extend their sponsor deal by another 3 years.
(b) MLB and YouTube have concluded a deal where YouTubve will broadcast MLB games in Japan. The games will be available online 36 hours after they air.
(c) Toyota has extended its deal with the Bears and they will once again be the official car of the Bears.
(d) Head & Shoulders has taken out a $1 million insurance policy on Troy Polamalu's hair. The new H&S commercial with Steeler safety has been a hit.
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According to ESPN Magazine, in a typical NFL season, comprised of 256 games, we see the following:
(a) 789 field goals, 149 missed field goals and 27 game-winning field goals
(b) 315 replay reviews and 113 reversed calls
(c) 22 blowouts (wins by 28 points or more) and 9 shutouts
(d) 8192 balls used
(e) 26 two point conversions
(f) 15 kick returns
4 comments:
There is too much money in college sports for athletes to continue going unpaid AND abiding by NCAA rules. The NCAA either has to accept controversies like the agents-on-campus and the Reggie Bush fallout as collateral damage for having an unpaid labor source, or they have to start compensating athletes aside from a free education.
Aaron - would have been interesting if Bush had refused to give up the Heisman and used it as platform for this bigger issue.
I'm not entirely convinced the Heisman Trust was going to demand the trophy back. But, if that scenario played out, my impression is he would have been forced to give it back because there is specific language in the Heisman Trophy Award acknowledging complete accordance with NCAA rules and regulations. Could he have fought the legitimacy of the rules themselves?
I'm guessing he agreed to those rules when he signed. That being said you can always challenge the rules; however unlikely to take him anywhere.
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