Filed under: Football
Adams is being asked to repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten Championship ring and Heron was busted for selling his jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000. Also among the list of offenses being investigated was that the players received free tattoos in exchange for autographs.
When I read this story, I thought, "Here we go again, the NCAA participating in their typical sanctimonious and hypocritical behavior."
Here's a news flash for the NCAA: Terrelle Pryor and the other players are worth millions to the massive financial machine called NCAA athletics. Part of the reason that Pryor was not suspended for the bowl game this year is likely because millions in corporate sponsorships would be jeopardized if the star player doesn't show up to the game. Terrelle Pryor is one of the key reasons that Ohio State is playing in the Sugar Bowl this year. The bowl game will lead to a $17 million dollar payout for the winner, and only a complete fool could argue that Pryor and his family don't deserve some of that money. The mere notion that such a valuable athlete would have to sell trinkets for a few hundred bucks in order to get by is nothing short of dastardly.
The NCAA and Ohio State University (my alma mater - where I earned my PhD) are now doing a difficult dance. They know that Terrelle Pryor is likely going to leave for the NFL after this season, where he will have a chance to have some semblance of true labor rights. By allowing Pryor to play in the Sugar Bowl this year, the NCAA is going to be able to earn a few million from him before he can actually earn income for his family. Also, rules such as the one that requires college athletes to be three years out of high school before they can go to the NFL are designed to keep athletes like Terrelle Pryor in college long enough for the NCAA to extract wealth from them. Only in sports that are dominated by African American males (football and basketball) does Congress allow for such blatant violations of anti-trust law and labor rights (I wish the Congressional Black Caucus would speak up on this one). Besides the prison industrial complex, the NCAA strips more wealth from African American families than any other system in America. It also strips them of the chance to get a proper education, since their academic endeavors are consistently interrupted by their athletic pursuits, and coaches are given almost no incentive to make sure players are educated. Hence, dropout rates are highest for black male athletes and their graduation rates are incredibly low.
Terrelle Pryor did nothing wrong, and neither did his teammates. The only thing wrong with this scenario is that we've somehow decided that it should be illegal for free Americans to be properly compensated for their labor. Such a value system is inherently unAmerican, unfair and downright embarrassing. NCAA officials, coaches, administrators, commentators and others earning millions off of players as they scrape to get by should be ashamed of the system they represent.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.