Regular readers of this blog know that I have regularly commented on the corrupt nature (see also here) of big-time college football and basketball.
Although corrupt, big-time college football and basketball resist comprehensive reform because – let’s face it – they are a very entertaining form of corruption.
But as this masterful (and quite long) Taylor Branch/Atlantic article explains, that resistance to reform is being challenged:
A litany of scandals in recent years have made the corruption of college sports constant front-page news. We profess outrage each time we learn that yet another student-athlete has been taking money under the table. But the real scandal is the very structure of college sports, wherein student-athletes generate billions of dollars for universities and private companies while earning nothing for themselves.
Here, a leading civil-rights historian makes the case for paying college athletes–and reveals how a spate of lawsuits working their way through the courts could destroy the NCAA.
And one of those lawsuits is by a former Rice student-athlete!
For anyone interested in the future of big-time college football and basketball, this is a must read. A series of short interviews of Branch are associated with the article and provided below:
Why stop with college football and basketball? Why not legalize payoffs to junior high school athletes?
From Ron Paul’s “let ’em die” campaign promise to
the total corruption in sports, IMO, once the public
fully understands the depth and breathe of what some of these libertarians are advocating, they’ll recoil
at the poisoning affect of paying-off young people
just so some yahoos can show off THEIR teams new
stadiums, private clubs, perhaps their “hot”
cheerleaders, and their 10 million dollar coach.
I oppose all this, and I firmly believe that most
other voters will too.