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As I am watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament, I see there are several players who could possibly make more money in the next 10 years that I possibly ever will. Some of these athletes won’t be on campus for more than a year, leaving their universities early for the NBA. But most will stay at their schools for four years earning a degree. Some question the integrity of an university and an organization that will make millions off of amateur athletes who do not see any
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Comments
03.31.09
"This gives an athlete more than enough time to finish their degree, giving them something to fall back on if their athletic career goes south."
It appears this strategy is not working
Per Sports Illustrated (http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1153364...)
• Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.
03.31.09
Although this is a very interesting and disturbing point, I would argue that it is a symptom of a larger problem. A number of the problems with the economy are from people defaulting on their house loans. Athletes and non-athletes alike have been living beyond their means for years. The mistakes that the athletes make are just on a larger scale and more visible to the public. Instead of defaulting on a 400,000 dollar mortgage, they are defaulting on mortgages worth millions of dollars.
The temptations and possible pitfalls for a celebrity are well documented and are not restricted to athletes. See: MC Hammer, Mickey Rourke (http://econ4u.org/blog/index.php/2009/02/23/mickey-rourke-probably-not-a...), Ed McMahon (http://econ4u.org/blog/index.php/2009/02/02/financially-illiterate-celeb...) or even Britney Spears (http://econ4u.org/8-celebrity-financial-mistakes.cfm)
03.31.09
"The only way to keep their skills sharp is to enroll in a university." - Not if they play in Europe.
"Once excelling in NCAA sports, it is a seamless transition into the competitive environment of professional sports." - WRONG. How many NFL offenses do you see that play the spread????? How is JJ Reddick(one of the all-time leader NCAA hoops scorers) doing in the NBA? Ryan Leaf, what's he up to these days?
"This gives an athlete more than enough time to finish their degree, giving them something to fall back on if their athletic career goes south." - Yes, I'm sure their cake degree in communications or, better yet, kinesiology will greatly aid them in becoming successful.
03.31.09
@Phalange: There is another option to keep their skills sharp by playing in Europe. That is an option that I had not considered.
Maybe I was wrong to say that it is a seamless transition. I would argue for the many who have the skills and the right mental attitude, it is. However, there is the transition period of learning more complicated offenses or defenses when being drafted into professional sports, especially the NFL.
JJ Redick is currently playing 20 minutes per game on a playoff caliber Orlando Magic team. He is not a superstar, but he is still playing in the NBA three years later.
It was well documented that Ryan Leaf had an attitude problem (http://www.nbcsandiego.com/sports/football/Ryan-Leaf-Re-live-His-Not-So-...) Maybe if he had been drafted into better circumstances like the #1 pick in his draft, Peyton Manning, he might have won a Super Bowl.
As for the comment to belittle what degrees athletes will earn while at school, consider how they can use their experience in pro sports to supplement those degrees. Who better to study and teach the science of human movement than someone who was paid millions of dollars to move more quickly and skillfully than players on the other team? Who better to hire as a journalist or a anchor person than someone who spent years in front of reporters while playing pro sports?
03.31.09
I think the rewards are too little for too few, basically how I perceive NCAA sports comes from how I was brought up to see them, for me they were never a vehicle to anything and I still don't believe, from the stats or from the few articles I can pull up in just one Google that the NCAA benefits the many, and for the money they should.
I did read an article at a quasi political blog I read about basketball that interested me, and made me see a different kind of light to this sport thing. You might find it interesting.
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