Hruby Outlines NCAA’s “Fuzzy Math”
By Ken Reed
It’s long amused me how the NCAA claims that they don’t have the money to pay student-athletes. How ludicrous!
Big-time NCAA football programs fill stadiums that are in many instances bigger than NFL stadiums. Seat prices are nearly similar, and in many cases, college fans are forced to pay seat license fees for the right to purchase season tickets. Additionally, and more importantly, the college media rights contracts (primarily TV) have gone through the roof in the last decade. Then, of course, there’s the millions in ancillary revenues, e.g., marketing rights such as the sale of licensed products, etc.
On the other side of the ledger, consider that NCAA player compensation, in the form of athletic scholarships, is but a tiny, tiny fraction of what the NFL pays its players.
It gets worse. As Patrick Hruby points out in his recent SportsOnEarth piece, the NCAA claims that 90 cents of every dollar goes to schools to support student-athletes. The key here is examining the fine print to see what “supporting” student-athletes entails.
“Thing is, the 90 percent support claim is the product of creative accounting,” wrote Hruby. “And by ‘creative,’ I mean the bookkeeping equivalent of duct-taping a waffle cone to a donkey’s forehead, then claiming you’ve discovered a real-life unicorn.”
What the NCAA claims as “support to student-athletes” includes head coach performance bonuses, assistant coach car stipends, country club memberships for athletic department staff members, and housing allowances for key athletic department personnel.
Fuzzy math indeed.
“Like amateurism itself, spending on college athletes is whatever the association says it is, and a depressing reminder of the real golden rule: Those who have the gold, rule,” wrote Hruby.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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