Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The revolution from within

For the most powerful empires, revolution resulting in substantial and lasting change usually must come from within. I believe the NCAA has already begun collapsing under the weight of its own injustice and inconsistencies. This report by ESPN's Tom Farrey  reveals much about how troubled some of those within the upper ranks of the NCAA cartel are by the illogical house of cards that is the student-athlete to institution relationship.

Here are some choice passages:
"This whole area of name and likeness and the NCAA is a disaster leading to catastrophe as far as I can tell," wrote [University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey] Perlman, a former member of the NCAA Board of Directors and law professor specializing in intellectual property. "I'm still trying to figure out by what authority the NCAA licenses these rights to the game makers and others. I looked at what our student athletes sign by way of waiver and it doesn't come close."
...
 A stalwart of the NCAA's economic model that redistributes money from revenue sports to other parts of the athletic department and university, Renfro [, NCAA senior policy advisor who has worked at the NCAA since the 1970s,] proposed a re-focusing of sports on the educational mission of universities. At the same time, he conceded that the philosophy underpinning the model has become antiquated -- and even posed whether the time has come to allow athletes to hire agents.
I was amazed by some of the counter "arguments" made by others within the cartel. Go read the whole thing.

No comments:

Post a Comment