Capitalism and Amateur Athletics

Image courtesy of, The Policy, Raheem “Rocky” Williams. 05/15/16

Humanity has an ingrained sense of competitiveness which is equally matched by betting on any form of competition.

So, for the past 115-years, amateur and U. S. high school students have received scholarship offers to colleges and universities because of their mental and physical athletic abilities.

The non-profit organization managing all collegiate sports is the National Colligate Athletic Association (NCAA) that began March 31, 1906. They govern 24 different collegiate sports programs at almost 1,300 division 1, 2, and 3 level universities and colleges across the United States.

The NCAA establishes the rules, and their number one rule about amateur sports prevents scholarship student-athletes from profiting from their athletic skills.

Each year individual universities and colleges collect millions in profits from event parking, arena or coliseums gate receipts, concessions, and multi-million dollar deals from national television, radio, and internet networks. This all before the millions in profits from the sale of student-athletes jerseys and other novelty items associated with their teams.

The collegiate profits have built enormous coliseums, arenas, student housing, funded scholarships, and pays for the multimillion-dollar salaries of coaches, staff, and college presidents…