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By Robert T. Green, CEO of Pre-Post Game Inc, For The African-American Athlete
Those that believe that NCAA student-athletes are not employees, and are getting an education commensurate to what they are sacrificing and generating for their respective universities and the NCAA (501c3), do not understand today’s college athletic business model.
It’s called Sports Trafficking.
Understand, the information you hear on television are not the facts. The education that you hear them speak of does not exist.
The 20 hour a week practice rule that supposedly insures student-athletes do not spend more than 20 hours per week on the field, simply does not exist.
The money today’s NCAA student-athletes generate builds the campuses and pays the salaries of many, including the coaches.
However, without those players, the coaches wouldn’t get a salary. They are the stars of the show. They are who the people pay to see.
Despite that, in many instances they are nothing more than pawns. The concussions, the injuries, and the lies told to the players and their families prior to entering an agreement are staggering.
The coaches that say their players are family, and they’re like their children, would not coach “their family” for free.
Just ask coaches Jimbo Fisher and Willie Taggart, who bolted on their so called families at Florida State and Oregon, for new jobs elsewhere.
Fisher and Taggart are guilty of telling the lies coaches tell families, including their own families, knowing they are leaving prior to going to the university, is dishonest, manipulative and solicitation.
Sports Trafficking uses cheap labor. Fact: They play off 70,000 football players a year across Division I, II, and III (FBS, FCS) and NAIA.
In addition, two out of every three of those players are from predominantly from urban areas. They are told to ‘trust the process’ in an institutionalized manner.
These young people are having their hopes exploited as they attempt to find a way to make a better life for them, and their family, through athletics.
However, what the athlete and their family are never told what that ‘process’ consist of.
At a minimum, 650 out of those 700 coaches and universities exploits those athletes and family’s dreams. They use them as a stepping stone to the next job, and to fund their athletic programs.
Every major and minor university uses the NFL to sell the athlete to come to their school, before changing the kid’s position 10 minutes after he gets on campus.
Let’s be clear, there are only 32 NFL teams, and more than 700 college’s playing football. Therefore, it’s impossible to say the college game is about amateur, and not business.
Listen, it can’t be about education and amateurism when you spend 55 million on facilities and add perks such as nap rooms, slides, and ping pong tables, in the locker-roomin order to recruit 15 to 19 year-old kids to your college.
It’s not amateurism when you have sure fire millionaires in three years or less, going to college, and they don’t know the difference between a checking account number and the routing number.
Sadly, many of these future millionaires are doomed to be robbed by the same people smiling in their face everyday. Why? Because they are entering a business a ruthless business environment and they are simply not prepared.
Here is another fact to consider: Universities were giving $73.5 billion in 2013 by the NCAA for the SAF (Student Athletics Fund).
However, schools don’t tell, or try not to pay, for their star athletes insurance policies.
And when they do pay, they try to tell family which provider to use, which is a conflict of interest. If they use that provider, the university’s business interest is met again based on the uninformed and unprepared decision, of the athlete and their family.
Here is the deal. An athlete has to be out of high school for three years to enter the NFL Draft. If that kid is 6-foot-5 300 pounds, and runs a 4.7, 40 yard dash, he getting drafted high, no matter where he goes.
Look at Philadelphia’sCarson Wentz, who was the No. 2 pick in 2016 out of North Dakota State. Former New York Giants star Victor Cruz who is the 10th ranked Giant WR of all-time, is an undrafted free agent out of Umass. Some of the game’s greatest players, Walter Payton from Jackson State and Jerry Rick from Mississippi Valley played at small HBCUs.
If the college student-athletes’ experience was about education, the athlete and parent wouldn’t be required to sign a contract.
If it wasn’t business, they wouldn’t be exploiting these kids in Rome and China, when they would rather be home with their friends and family during the summer, or taking classes so they could graduate.
Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight couldn’t take summer classes because the Wolverines went over to Rome to practice during the summer.
Sure, everyone would love a trip to Rome, but everyone wouldn’t like to be told they had to go, even when it didn’t fit their schedule.
Athletes need to understand they don’t have to let the university exploit their likeness, ability, and notoriety, and then allow the coach to leave for another school and collect millions.
An athlete can win or lose, with any coach, at any school.
If student-athletes start doing that the individuals that keep hurting the opportunities of the student-athlete will start to lose more often than not.
They will start to be held accountable by the athlete and their family. The next athlete and family will take their talents and notoriety elsewhere.
If that continues to happen the school can’t sell tickets, can’t win, and that coach and university will start to lose business and ultimately, their jobs.
It’s time for young student-athletes to understand that sports is not a game, it’s all business.
They need to know it is not good business when the kid is introduced to sex, drugs, and alcohol on their recruiting trip.
It’s time to learn proper decision making, and learn how to thoroughly vet perspective schools and coaches, and conduct a proper interview and negotiation with coaches and schools.
What we do at Pre-Post Game Inc is to help these young athletes make the best decisions, by giving them the information they need.
It is wise to remember that without the players, there isn’t a coaching profession, NCAA, NFL, ESPN, or Nike. There are no vendors, or construction workers building stadiums.
Everyone from the parkingattendant, printing company that provide media guides, and even my company, Pre-Post Game, Inc., there is no game or business.
(Robert T. Green is also known as #ThePlayersRep is a former high school, collegiate Professional football player. His current profession is National Sports Chairman for Friends For Good Health and CEO of Pre-PostGame Inc. www.prepostgame.com)
