Filed under: Basketball
"Given that most of the NCAA coaches and commentators who earn millions are white and most of the top athletes in revenue-generating sports are black, does racism play a role in the disparity in compensation?"
The majority of the respondents chose the answer that "Yes, the NCAA's policies are racially biased in favor of whites." The other options were "No, the disparity has nothing to do with racism" and "I'm not sure." Roughly 15% of the respondents said that the pay disparities have nothing to do with racism.
The survey is telling in that many, including former University of Michigan basketball star Jalen Rose, have criticized the NCAA's compensation policies. The NCAA, during March Madness, collects more advertising revenue than the post seasons of both the NBA Major League Baseball. All the while, many of the athletes, a large percentage of whom are black, have families in poverty. A large number of NCAA basketball coaches earn well over $1 million dollars per year, and often receive signing bonuses as a result of the play of athletes.
John Calipari at the University of Kentucky, for example, signed an eight-year, $32 million contract during a time that the university was experiencing significant budget cuts in faculty pay and student services. Calipari makes his money from the labor of his top players, most of whom are black. The same business model is used all throughout the United States, as the NCAA is allowed to skirt around anti-trust and labor laws in order to engage in a form of black wealth extraction that would be unimaginable anywhere other than a communist country.
Making matters more interesting is that there is very little congressional oversight of NCAA activities, allowing the league to create rules that severely punish players and their families if they are caught being paid for their services. The rules are analogous to the laws that once punished slaves for learning how to read, or blacks who wanted to attend the same schools as whites. The comparison is accurate because many might logically wonder why it should be illegal for an American citizen to be compensated for his/her labor in a free and fair market. Additionally, the NCAA's consistent exclusion of African Americans from coaching positions creates a form of unspoken academic and athletic apartheid that leaves black families disproportionately harmed.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and NAACP President Ben Jealous have spoken about the disparities in graduation rates between white and black players. Additionally, civil rights and labor leaders are starting to take note of the NCAA's practices. What's most important is that the parents of the young men being used by the NCAA cartel make themselves aware of how the system works. It's a sad state of affairs in academia when making money becomes more important than educating our children. But that's exactly what is happening with the NCAA.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.