No doubt, Ridpath’s book will be considered by NCAA , college, and government officials as well as media supporters and other defenders of the status quo, as just the latest in a very long list of revelatory books on the corrupt college sports entertainment business – books they seem to believe are akin to attacks … Read more
University athletics benefit from in what can be likened to a stealth entitlement. Donors can usually write off gifts for athletic facilities and the right-to-purchase tickets. For example, federal tax revenues are lost because more than 1,000 university sports departments are eligible to extort deductible gifts as a condition for ticket sales. »Read more
Simply stated, the big lie is that, for the most part, college athletes at big-time schools are counterfeit amateurs—passed off as legitimate students.[6] The objective is to create the illusion that NCAA and conference operations fit the academic mission of the participating schools. These athletes generate billions of dollars for said untaxed business operations—a tax … Read more
Over the years, it has been a given that higher education in America is the envy of the world. However, Murray Sperber’s 2000 book, Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education provided deep insights into the debilitating impact of big time collegiate athletics programs on the overall quality of education at the … Read more
Although faculty and faculty organizations, such as the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA) and The Drake Group (TDG), do not have vested interests in maintaining the status quo, occupy the moral high-ground, and have repeatedly advanced compelling arguments as well as strategies for reform, they do not have the wherewithal—financial resources and unified leadership—requisite to … Read more
Emmert appears to be holding to the NCAA’s party line that has been characterized by frequent mention of mythical “student-athletes,” the denial of its responsibility for the professionalization of big-time collegiate athletics—with its emphasis on revenue generation that not only fosters corruption but also compromises academic integrity—and the use of wealth and power to maintain … Read more
On February 8, 2011, Allen Sack and Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player and president of the National College Players Association, testified at a potentially transformative Connecticut legislative hearing on Athletic Scholarships and Medical Expenses. »Read more
Absent federal and/or state, Bills of Rights for prospective college athletes, Truth in Recruiting legislation, or NCAA Transparency and Accountability Acts, unwitting recruits face quadruple jeopardy, i. e., double-double jeopardy, when they buy into the recruitment packages proffered by NCAA member colleges and universities. This exploitation is especially hard on the academically disadvantaged. How might this be? … Read more
The Secretary is seemingly unaware of the fact that NCAA’s highly-touted APR is not a realistic measure of academic progress. In light of the intrinsic defects of the APR and the historic failure of the APR process to promote academic reforms, as well as the lack of reform-leadership abilities of school presidents, it is almost … Read more
One would think that stories keyed to the devastating impact of collateral damage to our nation’s education system and its students would cause public outrage and thus go viral—not so in a culture that apparently values sports and entertainment above academics and learning. So what’s up with collegiate athletics reform? »Read more