This morning on ESPN’s Mike and Mike show, NCAA president Mark Emmert took up questions from listeners via the Twitter hash tag #AskEmmert.
Needless to say, the questions asked were not only hard hitting and direct, but the answers to some of these questions were rather controversial.
The embattled NCAA President did not help his image any when making the statement that “Athletes are taking seats from a paying student”. Yes, he said it.
In a time when NCAA profits from student athlete sports programs are sky rocketing, an NCAA President says these same athletes that generate the profits for the schools are taking seats from paying students.
Imagine if you will what the NCAA landscape would look like without all of the revenue coming into schools via these student athletes suddenly disappeared?
Imagine what the cost of a college education would be if not for the revenue these student athletes bring in. Just how many seats would be available for paying students then? Could you even get students to pay for a college education or would it become completely unaffordable?
The average out of state costs to attend the University of Michigan is somewhere in the $60,000 per year range. In state student costs are roughly $30,000. I use Michigan because its a big institution, and its big on sports.
If not for the multitude of well attended sports programs at Michigan, what would those costs be? Is it safe to assume those costs would double to $120,000 and $60,000? Who then would be able to afford to attend?
Without NCAA sports, and the student athletes who take up seats, many universities would simply cease to exist because the cost of attendance would price them out of business.
Perhaps the NCAA should look at how easy it is for Coaches to make millions of dollars, while the athlete makes nothing. Perhaps the NCAA should look at how easy it is for coaches to bounce from one school to another while the athlete can not.
Maybe the NCAA should really look in the mirror and do a self assessment. Self assessments are what all addicts are required to do when going into recovery, and the NCAA is addicted to the income its student athletes generate.
So maybe Mr. President, before you comment about student athletes and the seats they are taking up in the class room, you might want to instruct your institutions to wean themselves off the financial addiction they have with those student athletes. If not for them, you would likely not have a job.
Joe Hughes
