March 23, 2021
It’s March Madness, the time of year when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue off of the unpaid labor of Black college athletes. But this year, it’s during A PANDEMIC! This is beyond madness. Despite universities remaining closed to students for the year, athletic coaches summoned the predominantly Black football and basketball athletes back to college campuses, subjecting them to increased exposure to the deadly coronavirus and without adequate health protections. While Black college athletes are being treated as essential workers without pay, the NCAA staff and university coaches continue to line their pockets with multimillion-dollar salaries.1
But now, after years of fighting against the NCAA’s outdated and racist rules, we have federal legislation in Congress that can turn the collegiate sports industrial complex on its head! The College Athletes Bill of Rights will provide necessary protections against the NCAA’s physical, economic, and academic exploitation of Black college athletes. Written by Senator Cory Booker—a former college athlete himself—this bill is a potential game changer for our players. But we need more support to push this legislation forward. So we’re calling on the NCAA’s corporate champions, that sponsor the NCAA’s March Madness, to join us in endorsing this Bill of Rights and do right by Black college athletes.
STAND WITH US!
TELL NCAA SPONSORS TO STAND UP AGAINST THE EXPLOITATION OF BLACK COLLEGE ATHLETES!
The predominantly Black football and basketball athletes, who often come from low-income households, are not only financing the salaries of wealthy white men, but their labor is also providing resources for more affluent white students.2,3,4 A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research revealed that when “Power Five” schools generate higher revenues from men’s football and basketball, the schools use that money to increase the spending on other sports, facilities, and coaches’ salaries. The top NCAA Division 1 schools earn around $8.5 billion in annual revenue, the majority of which comes directly from men’s football and basketball programs. Less than 7 percent of that revenue goes to the athletes in the form of scholarships and stipends for living expenses.2 While many of these Black athletes struggle to pay for room and board or lack sufficient money for food, the NCAA criminalizes athletes who receive any gifts or financial compensation for their work. And because of the rigorous demands that the NCAA places on Black athletes to generate revenue, many find it impossible to earn a degree or even work a part-time job while they play. These players deserve their fair share of the rewards and profits generated on the backs of their talent and work. That’s why this legislation is necessary.
The College Athletes Bill of Rights will:
- guarantee fair and equitable compensation
- enforce evidence-based health, safety and wellness standards
- improve educational outcomes and opportunities
- establish a medical trust fund to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses and treat sport-related injuries, for up to five years after the college athletes’ eligibility expires
- require accountability across college sports
- allow freedom for college athletes to attend the institution of their choice
- establish the Commission on College Athletics5
Many of the NCAA’s top sponsors are also corporations that have made strong statements in support of racial justice. So we are calling on them to put real power behind their stated values by empowering these athletes with the protections they need—that they earned. The College Athletes Bill of Rights is already endorsed by the United Steelworkers, the National College Players Association, Sports Fans Coalition, and University of Baltimore’s director of the Center for Sport and the Law, Dionne Koller. The NCAA cannot continue to exploit these players. Right now, college athletes and fans are trending online, exposing the ways that the NCAA’s rules oppress them and declaring that they are #NotNCAAProperty. It’s time to transform the future of college sports for the next generation of Black athletes by pushing these corporations to take a stance and endorse lasting change!
Until justice is real,
—The Color Of Change Team
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.
References:
- “NCAA Salaries,” USA Today, March 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/297995?t=8&akid=49482%2E11493084%2EnQo4Wt
- “Who Profits from Amateurism? Rent-sharing in Modern College Sports,” NBER Working Paper Series, October 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/297996?t=10&akid=49482%2E11493084%2EnQo4Wt
- Brandi Collins-Dexter, “NCAA’s Amateurism Rule Exploits Black Athletes as Slave Labor,” The Undefeated, March 28, 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/297997?t=12&akid=49482%2E11493084%2EnQo4Wt
- Jay Connor, “The NCAA Is Big Business for Everybody but Black Players,” The Root, November 5, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/226469?t=14&akid=49482%2E11493084%2EnQo4Wt
- “Senators Booker and Blumenthal Introduce College Athletes Bill of Rights,” Cory Booker website, December 17, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/297998?t=16&akid=49482%2E11493084%2EnQo4Wt
