Black American History "racism in Ncaa"

Anonymous

BAMS 110

Assignment 2

11/21/11

NCAA "Student Athletes"

The phrase "student athlete" has changed drastically over time. At first the phrase meant to have a sound mind in a sound body. Today it can be an internship for a career, a way to market product, and a place for racial bias to exist. There are many racial biases in college athletics for both male and female athletes. Along with race effecting college sports, the commercialism of the sport hurts the athletes in their "student" form. The preconceived ideas about race, structures the interpretation of athletics and this in itself is a way that hurts student athletes.

The racial bias in the NCAA really affects the players more so than the administration or coaches of college athletics. One study shows that 95 percent of college football head coaches are white while over 50 percent of the players in football are black. This is a big difference in numbers, which doesn't bother most people when said. The problem with this situation is that the coaches and administrators make millions of dollars, while players make nothing. Reggie Bush should have been compensated at least 5 million dollars a year when he played at USC, but the only people that saw any of the revenue that he generated were working for the University. Dr. Boyce Watkins recently conducted a survey, which asks people if it is racist that University officials make millions, when the young college athletes are doing all the work. "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?" 74 percent of the black respondents said that the NCAA's policy of giving financial compensation to coaches and administrators and not compensating athletes is racist. The NCAA, during March Madness, collects more advertising revenue than the post seasons of both the National Basketball Association and 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 one million dollars per year, and often receive signing bonuses as a result of the play of their athletes. A good example would be the University of Kentucky's, Men's Basketball Coach, John Calipari. Coach Calipari signed a contract for around 32 million dollars during a time where the school was going through budget cuts, which included cuts in pay for professors. Coach Calipari makes his money from the labor of his top players, most of whom are black.

With no Congressional oversight on the NCAA, the league is free to make rules as they please. One such rule is the ability to punish a student athlete for receiving a form of payment, which helps their family who is living in poverty. With more black families coming from impoverished areas this rule has hurt more African Americans than other races. Doctor Boyce Watkins states, "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