Is the NCAA inviting the FBS to leave?

by utesfan100 on Jul 28, 2010 6:33 PM EDT in BCS Examination Comment 0 comments

I was planning to get around to this eventually, but this post on this article by David Moulton forced my hand to get these ideas set down now.

Is the NCAA inviting the FBS to leave?

The FBS constantly pushes the NCAA's core principle of amateurism. The past two NCAA presidents have been former University Presidents and have been actively pursuing making college sports a better example of amateurism.

Perhaps they have come to the conclusion that FBS football is too big of a fight, and it may be better if they just went their own way.

University presidents may be aloof, but they are not stupid. They know that actions produce reactions and can come to a fair idea of what those reactions will be, given a choice of actions.

Action 1: The USC sanctions

These sanctions are a bit heavy handed, as have been many recent NCAA sanctions. Each year one can almost expect some number of games to be erased from the record books of years past by the NCAA. Loss of scholarships and postseason opportunities punish current students with no proof of wrongdoing while the guilty are often making millions in the NFL.

These punishments are escalating and are not sustainable.

Action 2: Micromanagement running Amuk

The NCAA has gone on a scholarship killing spree with rules regulating things as minor as text messages, twitter use and Facebook contact that fail to recognize the realities of modern social networking.

Is a simulated stadium entrance really that big of a deal?

These are examples that come to mind quickly. I am sure coaches could name many more limitations of practically trivial issues that make little practical sense to regulate.

Action 3: The agent investigation scourge

Before teams could continue on and hope that nothing in their ranks would draw attention. Self reporting and self imposed sanctions appeared to be a way to avoid the NCAA hammer. Help the NCAA watch your ranks and you would have leniency when something did turn up.

Now it appears that webs interconnecting institutions are being pursued, and that all schools could be at risk for the actions of individual players instigated by people with no ties to the institutions whatsoever. North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. No one is safe.

Reaction

With the NCAA increasing its enforcement of increasingly micromanaged rules with heavier hands each time around, what is the natural reaction?

Is the NCAA inviting the FBS to leave?

Then again, did the NCAA start the fight? Reading Michael Oriard's Bowled Over will show that the tension has been brewing since the 1890's when it first became apparent that money was to be made from a universitie's football team.

The BCS

The NCAA's escalation is not a new phenomenon. The BCS is.

The BCS is an agreement among the FBS conferences to pair the top two teams in a bowl game. Staring this year all eleven conferences were invited to the table. This brings the conferences together to discuss the global issues shaping college football.

The same people who would need to find or create a governing body if a break from the NCAA was agreed upon.

Was the BCS formed, in part, as cover for deeper talks about a potential break from the NCAA among the conferences? If a break was decided upon, the group would have an obligation to inform all FBS conference of the move to avoid liability for potential losses this may cause them. Could this be part of why all 11 conferences are at the table now?

Even if this is not the motivation for the BCS, conversations in the corridors of its meetings could serve this role.

Why FBS football would be better without amateurism

A university education is about more than learning facts and earning a piece of paper. It is about preparing young adults to fulfill civic roles in our society. Increasingly, our society has elevated the roles of entertainers, including elite athletes, to positions of great weight and responsibility.

Too many, with names tied to our best universities through athletics, are failing to fulfill those civic roles. Too many students athletes are failing to handle the pressures of being an unpaid participants in a system generating lots of money.

Money that could pay players more than a $40,000 estimated value of a full ride scholarship.

Should we just pay players, without expecting something in return? No. We should expect them to maintain a marketable image and learn the importance of ethics and financial responsibility.

It is hard to learn ethics when much of your surroundings is aimed at getting past every little loophole to gain every drop of an advantage available. It is hard to learn financial responsibility without money.

So how do we accomplish this?

Allow Universities to act as Agents for their Athletes

Why deal with unscrupulous agents when top universities and their vast networks can be put to work for you? Unlike the agents currently under investigation, universities have a stated mission to develop students holistically. They would at least attempt to maintain that mission.

This would not be limited to future sports employment. The advertising value of athletes could be enormous, for those athletes with a good public image. Lose your public image, lose your advertising income. Just like a professional athlete. As agents the universities would get a commission. This could help fund the general athletic scholarship fund.

Issues of using athlete's images in university promotions would be gone. They are now paid for those images.

Teach Ethics, Marketing and Financial Responsibility

You want to be a student following a career path outside of sports but just want to play ball? Fine. If you want to become a part of the endorsement program you need to take these one hour credit seminars.

Ethics

What is expected of quality citizens? Understanding this quaint concept can save celebrities much heartache by avoiding the potential scandal that can ensue if these protocol are not used. Bring in former athletes who have gotten into trouble with the law. Bring in former athletes who have found success outside the sport. Bring in former athletes with success at their sport and beyond.

Bring in the paparazzi and let them tell about how hungry they are to catch any of the athletes in that room in the act of unethical behavior.

Mostly they won't listen and do their own thing. For some students, from the most unrefined backgrounds, this might be the first time they heard these messages. Universities owe these students the opportunity to hear these warnings.

Marketing

Most money from athletics is not from the sport itself but from the endorsement deals prominent participants can secure. How do you project an image that marketers want to sell their products?

This message ties in with the former, because no marketer wants to be tied to the bar brawling sexual predator.

Even if one does not have an ethical bone to lean back on, keeping a clean record to keep the cash flow rolling is a strong motivator. Even Tiger Woods took a hit in marketability when faces with scandal.

Finance

Athletics has long been a bridge for the lower class to raise up to the middle to upper middle class. The result is a disproportionate number of athletes with little experience in dealing with finances and less family support for education as the student body at large.

Big time college athletics may be the most libertarian method to achieve those progressive ideals we all agree our society should strive for.

If you grew up on welfare you may never have seen what it means to save for the future, or pay taxes on significant portions of your income. The effects of compounding are striking if you have never been on the up side of interest. So are the benefits of debt free living on a budget.

With a free ride scholarship and supplemental income from endorsements, student athletes would have an opportunity to practice these lessons. As long as they file and pay their taxes (a new eligibility requirement), the lessons learned the hard way are sometimes the strongest lessons of all.

Conclusion

The NCAA and FBS universities have had a long history of success built on a fundamental tension between amateurism and consumerism that has reached the straining point.

Professional athletes have taken on an increasingly prominent role in our society, one that universities are failing to prepare their graduates for.

It is time for the FBA to leave the nest afforded them by the NCAA and forge a new plan that addresses their unique needs, and allow the remaining 1161 NCAA institutions to pursue their ideal of amateurism on their own.

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