The Blatant Hypocrisy in Big-time College Sports

Murray Sperber, ["Myles to Go at the NCAA,” InsideHigerEd, January 20, 2005], does a neat job describing the blatant hypocrisy of the NCAA and its cartel of universities and colleges. He correctly informs us that Brand’s job has been to change the public perception of the NCAA — speaking constantly in public about the need for NCAA reform, backing various “reform initiatives,” and most recently appointing a committee of college presidents to study the finances of sports programs. Concerning Brand’s latest initiative, the Knight Foundation, and the NCAA itself have organized similar groups of presidents with comparable missions periodically over the past 25 years without any notable success, save for the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform (PCAR), organized by Tulane President Scott Cowen. PCAR successfully lobbied to get non-BCS schools a bigger slice of the BCS pie. A sportswriter friend once told me: “Here’s the bottom-line problem with college sports reform: The buck stops nowhere.” I agree. That is why The Drake Group (http://www.thedrakegroup.org/), a faculty-driven movement to reform college sports, has been directed toward stimulating governmental intervention with the help of the media. It appears that the buck has no place to stop but at the Congress. First Congress might first take a look at what is transpiring all across the out-of-control, commercialized-college-sports-entertainment industry and then launch a comprehensive and coordinated set of hearings followed by an investigation of the NCAA and its cartel of member schools — spanning:

1. Privacy law that shrouds many nefarious practices and violations in secrecy,

2. Not-for-profit IRS Tax Code status that provides monetary fuel for the continued growth and corruption of big-time college sports,

3. Lax judicial oversight re: antitrust and due process, and

4. The use of PEDs and stimulants — BALCO-like products and beyond.

Murray does a neat job of describing why it has been difficult of late for The Drake Group to perform its Toto-like mission of exposing the Wizard of the Oz Land of the NCAA and the blatant hypocrisy of big-time college sports. The issues have been teed up. Perhaps we will see the press take up the cause — illuminating issues that have thus far eluded serious consideration by (college) presidential panels, the media and the Congress. I believe the press can hit a home run on this story — I urge the media to take a swing. Finally, I truly believe that with decisive leadership and a recognition that they are part of the problem, the Congress can work to improve the system for the sake of our athletes, teachers, fans, and entire educational system. Together with intensive scrutiny by the media, those efforts could surmount the formidable barriers that have thus far shielded intercollegiate athletics from serious reform.

Frank G. Splitt, McCormick Faculty Fellow at Northwestern University, at 3:49 pm EST on January 21, 2005