It is that time of the year again when every guy begins making bets with their best friends, its March Madness. Intelligence will be measured by statistics and pure luck for this time period. Many people will lose a lot of money, and only a select few will walk away with their best friends beer money.
So it should be time to make the routine discussion of a basketball players rights to financial compensation. The NCAA had staggering revenue of 1 billion dollars in 2014, later in 2015 that number was constant. The winners and collectors of that large sum of money are the schools, coaches, and NCAA. The one group of people who are not paid a financial sum is the players. The players are the only reason the NCAA is in business.
Taking into consideration that the players are compensated through tuition, room and board, meal plans, and fees. All of those compensations are very rewarding and is well deserved.
Much of the revenue made from the sport events comes through viewership. However another large part of the revenue comes from the selling of merchandise. Essentially the NCAA has been marketing the player’s jersey numbers and names.
Compensating players with a highly esteemed education and basic living conditions is a great compensation. But marketing a player’s name and jersey number is unethical. Players should be receiving a percentage of the merchandise that is sold in their name.
Any normal professional sports player reviews a contract with the sports organization they are associated with and agree upon a percentage of the merchandise sales. The NCAA is no different than any other sports organization; the only difference is that they commission athletes before they officially become professional.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah interviewed Joe Nocera this week on the topic of NCAA. Nocera is a credible New York Times writer who has recently written a book titled "Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA." His recommendation on the show was that if any players want to receive their rights to any monetary privileges they should refuse to play. More specifically the final four in March Madness refuse to play to take the NCAA off their guard.
The NCAA would have to meet their demands as this is the biggest pay out time of the year for them and they would not want to see it go down the drain. The players have the right to demand for merchandise compensation above all else and should be compensated immediately.
Side note, Kentucky do not stay in the lockers and refuse to play. I put a lot of faith in you this season and I intend to win again this year. Purdue losing set my bracket off enough as it is. The other teams can protest in the lockers, please not you.
