State of College Sports

It is now the time of year that college basketball fans look forward to most.  Even those that don't like the sport in general often find themselves wrapped up in the madness.  And why the heck not?  It is a test of not only the abilities of the players to compete but also a test of the ability of the coach to do their job.  But tonight, while watching my beloved Orange lose, I was reminded of what
all college sports are coming to, a money making machine.


It isn't that I haven't know this has been the case for years but it is becoming more and more apparent.  Several times during the game there was an advertisement for the Capital One Cup.  This is something that really has nothing to do with what happens in the events of the college or the academics of the college, rather it is something made up by Capital One to generate false hopes at the colleges that their school will be picked.  It is supposedly a multi-year competition between division 1 colleges but they have never stated how the colleges get involved or how they progress.  And, though hard to believe, the more popular colleges are at the top of their "leader-board."  It is a way in which to generate business for Capitol One that is attached to a popularity contest, nothing more.  And that is really sad!


But what makes things worse is all of the shuffling of conferences.  Take, for example, the Big East.  Two of the founding colleges of the conference are leaving.  This league was a league built around basketball and was originally only basketball.  The colleges that started it have become powerhouses in the nation and it is considered one of the best conferences in the nation for it's competitiveness.  So why are these colleges leaving?  Simply put, since the conference has grown to include all sports the big money maker, football, is a weak point of the conference.  So in order to put their football program into a better position the colleges have decided to move to a different conference.  It wasn't that there was no chance the football portion of the conference would get better, it was slowly doing that.  Rather it is all about money.  They are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) who just signed a huge financial deal with ESPN.  It is all about making the most money possible.


College is about continuing the education of our future.  The sports programs have come a long way in the last 30 years to support that but money is more important to the college than their educational value.  These players are supposed to be unpaid but if you really look at it, they are paid handsomely.  Take Syracuse again.  The cost to enroll for one semester is somewhere around $25000, not including room and board.  These players are given a full scholarship which means they pay nothing for the education, room, board, or travel to all regions of the country.  How many other people have a free ride like that?  The worst part is that, even with all of the improvements, the standard for them isn't the same as it is for the athletes.  Quite often the athlete is out of town during the week which means they are not attending classes.  If any other student were to miss as many classes as the athlete does they would fail the course.  But it doesn't happen and that isn't good.


Coaches are paid a salary that ranges from several hundred thousand per year to well over a couple million per year.  And that doesn't include the incentives for going beyond the regular season.  I'm not stating that they don't have a difficult job but they will usually leave for more money.  There are a few exceptions to the rule on that last point but not many.  Again, it has become about money.


When will it stop?  When will college become about an equal educational opportunity for all students?  Probably not in my lifetime...