Tag Archives: NCAA

10/21/2011: From Brad Wolverton in the Chronicle. The proposed reforms give players $2,000 each in “travel money” but they then cut the number of scholarships – leaving the total take for “student-athletes” unchanged. So where will all the money from the new conference TV deals go? To the coaches, ADs, NCAA insiders – and of course free cars for all the hangers on. And the NCAA is spinning this as reform?

One part of it is progress: multi-year scholarships contracts for the athletes. Nathan Tublitz’s group, COIA, has been pushing the NCAA to do this for the past 10 years. Currently the coaches can cut a player when they want, and then give the scholarship to a better or uninjured player. UO is known for *not* doing this, though athletes who are not working out are of course encouraged to transfer to a different school.

10/5/2011: From Frank Deford at NPR:

All the worse, the current national model has it that some impoverished kid from the inner city risks concussions and obesity to play football in order to pay for the scholarship of a javelin thrower and the salary of an assistant swimming coach and the plane fare for the volleyball team. That’s a disgrace. Where is it written that that’s the way an athletic department should be operated, on the shoulder pads of poor kids …

10/4/2011: From Rachel Bachman’s Twitter. Story here:

Guerrero, 27, is thankful he was among four former players chosen in 2009. But over the years he’s wondered about the process – he says he wasn’t asked for approval or invited to give any input on the bobblehead that bears his likeness. He’s also wondered how much money is made on sales of BSU-licensed products – and who got a cut.

He raised the question: Do ex-players deserve a cut of the bobblehead profits, given that the product is, essentially, a tiny reproduction of them? If they had asked for Custom bobbleheads, it would have been fine, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Guerrero said he received a box of free bobbleheads to give away – his mom got two – but he never got any financial compensation. That has changed for the latest athletes inducted into BSU bobblehead history.

Rachael Bickerton, director of trademark licensing and enforcement at BSU, confirmed Friday that the former collegiate athletes featured in this year’s bobblehead set, including Austin Pettis (now with St. Louis Rams), Titus Young (Detroit Lions) and Ryan Winterswyk (free agent) are all receiving $500 this year.

This $500 may well be the first time that college players have ever succeeded in getting money from a licensed product. All the money from selling duck paraphernalia celebrating the Duck players goes to the athletic department for their own salaries, cars, etc. Even after the players graduate UO and the NCAA still own the rights to their name and likeness as players. Fixing this is one of the goals of the National College Players Association. The NY Times had a story on this in 2009, after several players sued over the NCAA’s use of their likeness’s in video games. All the money goes to the NCAA – the players get nothing:

The N.C.A.A. would not disclose its earnings from video game royalties. But they are a significant source of income for the association and the universities, said Martin Brochstein, senior vice president of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association, a trade group. A 2008 survey conducted by his group found that video-game royalties represented the second-largest category in earnings from collegiate licensing deals, behind apparel. “Video games have been one of the biggest categories for some time now, even with the popularity of piracy or people preferring emulated games,” he said. “If people are download wii games copies of the games for free it barely cuts into the margins earned from royalties to the N.C.A.A.”

The NCAA is a tax exempt IRS 990 not for profit – that pays their president well over $1 million a year. Players get nothing. And they don’t have to disclose their business dealings to the IRS. Wow.

9/30/2011: Lache Seastrunk was recruited by UO under the $25,000 Willie Lyles deal. This summer he transferred to Baylor because he thought it would improve the chances he would get playing time, and someday get an NFL contract where he could make some money off his skills.

Not so fast – the NCAA has just denied his petition to play this season, and is making him sit out a year. Why? Because the players are getting uppity, and they need to be shown who’s the boss.

The other people involved? Willie Lyles is working in a Houston grocery store, for $8 an hour. Chip Kelly is getting about $300,000 a month. His contract with UO is here.

Excellent article in the Atlantic on the larger scandal, here.

9/28/2011: Today in the the Chronicle:

In all, the NCAA took in $741-million in the 2009-10 fiscal year, up from $706-million the previous fiscal year. As a nonprofit organization, the NCAA is not required to pay taxes on its revenues.

Their job is riding shotgun on the gravy train for the coaches and AD employees at the universities. The biggest threats to the cartel? Some student’s mom getting a free ticket to visit campus, and some coach slipping an $8 an hour street agent $25,000 on the side to deliver a few players.

8/2/2011: I don’t know what to make of this RG op-ed by Pat Walsh of local PR firm Vox PRPA. Starts off sensibly:

For Duck football coaches who spend their days managing the fitness and academic pursuits of the youngest of adults — and pocket more money in a month than many of their team’s fans will make in years — being investigated for alleged recruiting violations by the NCAA “suits” must be new and unfamiliar dates on the game schedule. …

Then he says we should respect the NCAA’s process? Nobody is that naive. Or maybe he is:

Guilty or not, fans will know whether the values all university presidents and their coaches preach about the educational compatibility between big-time locker rooms and big time classroom are true at the UO.

It will be clear if leadership, integrity, character, teamwork, sacrifice, commitment, excellence and so on are lived by the UO administration and beloved Duck football coaches, or are just punch lines in the script of another big-money entertainment experience.

If?

7/31/2011: There’s really no other way to interpret this Oregonian story by Rachel Bachman:

On online-auction site eBay Friday, 270 items purported to be signed by current or former Ducks were for sale. They focused on high-profile athletes, from a mini-helmet signed by senior tight end David Paulson (buy-it-now price: $79.99) to gloves signed by James ($100), the junior who was a Heisman finalist last season.

A fan or dealer selling items whose signatures he acquired, or that were given to him, is allowed. But it’s against NCAA rules for players to receive anything of value in exchange for autographs or gear.

Complicating matters is that a university may have a player autograph a jersey or helmet and auction it off; the player just can’t get a cut.

What an amazing scam the NCAA has put together. The players need to organize.

7/17/2011: “This is simply unacceptable”. From a post on his Presidential blog. Oh wait, he’s talking about the athletes:

Athletes must maintain standards of behavior 

The University of Oregon has clear expectations of how its student athletes are to behave both on and off the field of play. Lately, several of our athletes have fallen far short of these standards. This is simply unacceptable.

The University of Oregon does not tolerate inappropriate conduct from any of its students. I know Athletics Director Mike Bellotti and Head Coach Chip Kelly share my concern about recent events involving UO players and are working hard to address these incidents. I have every confidence that they will restore the UO athletic program’s long and proud tradition of sportsmanship and integrity. Our loyal fans and alumni expect no less and neither do I.

Sorry, never mind. My bad. This post was from February 20th, 2010. Something to do with this string of incidents and court cases. But no one at UO is going to talk about the athletic department while it’s under investigation by the NCAA. Because that might prejudice the results of their investigation. Understand?

7/15/2011: They allowed a football player to keep $312 in free clothes. That’s right – a player. Not a coach or an athletic director or an ESAADFFAA, but a player. Unspeakable.

We all know what rewarding people for their work can lead to. So our protectors in the NCAA have come down on them, hard, as a warning to others. A $100,000 fine. Presumably the academic side will pay. From Derek Quizon of Insidehighered.com.

Meanwhile back at UO we did an end run on Randy Geller and should have records showing who is paying for the Glazier contract before too much longer. And Rachel Bachman of the Oregonian reports on how screwed up UO’s public records situation is – worse than LSU. Huey Long would be amazed.