I wrote about privilege and power, and exploitation, in college sports. Amateurism is a label slapped on this system to make it seem ethical, pure, moral, educational, clean, just. Let’s refuse to keep playing this game. 1/ globalsportmatters.com/culture/2018/0…
Not only do the Olympics provide a nice model for the NCAA to follow and move away from collegiate amateurism, but the Olympics also reveal who really benefits from it—the non-revenue athletes whose academic and athletic experiences are subsidized by revenue athletes. 2/
The Olympic Model is a great first step toward proper compensation of revenue-producing athletes. Amateurism criminalizes economic activity that doesn’t need to be—and wouldn’t be—illegal in virtually any other context. 3/
And looking to the Olympics provides yet another example of the divide in college sports, revealing who is monitored, controlled, and criminalized by, and who benefits from, amateurism. 4/
Collegiate amateurism (aka Black labor/white privilege) is grander than an American tale—we’ve developed a global color line in American college sports with Black athlete labor paying for white American, European, and Commonwealth athlete privilege. 5/
What if we removed the burden of having to continue the charade of calling this billion-dollar college sports enterprise “amateur”? 6/
Seriously. Could we (the U’s) let down our guard, & seriously consider this question? The world won’t end if we do. We might even have the space to come up with something profound. 7/
This is much bigger than permitting athletes to make money. What types of innovative educational approaches could we develop, after we remove these restrictions which not only discourage, but criminalize creativity, and deem any special treatment an “extra benefit”? 8/
Historians should be part of policy conversations—our recommendations for the future are informed by deep knowledge of the past. We deal in complexity. We understand social, economic, political, cultural contexts. We identify connections across time, space, field. 9/
It’s time we abandon outdated, hypocritical notions of college amateurism, & build a consistent approach that doesn’t continue to exploit disproportionately black basketball & football teams, the ones earning the resources that allow everyone else to flourish. 10/
Big shout out to @2bkings, @CoachTadBoyle, and @RogerPielkeJr, who hosted us @CUBoulder. Look forward to continued collaboration with @CUsportsGov & @cubuffs. You all are doing good work in Boulder!
Congrats to @GlobalSportMtrs @GlobalSportASU @KKudravi @kenshropshire on the launch of @ASU’s new media platform GlobalSport Matters!
Sharing my new piece on the Olympic Model in college sports. Would appreciate if you could take a look @patrick_hruby @WCRhoden @Blacketologist @anya__alvarez @andyhre @ChuckModi1 @JayBilas. Please check out ASU’s GlobalSport Matters.
