We as College Athletics fans love our favorite teams. Whether it’s a school we idolize, currently attend, or proud alumni of the university.
I get a lot of enjoyment myself of watching the players go through warmup routines. And the added aurora with music pumping up the players, as well as fans, surrounding. The experience is unlike any other in North America.
But over at least the past 6 years, the paradigm of college athletics has shifted dramatically. What’s even worse is that the corruption has been going on for much longer than 6 years.
But with the NCAA’s action, comes others consequences. And over this timeframe, they have become hated more and more. Not only by normal people, but their own student athletes.
The NCAA over the past 6 years has showed their cards on what is acceptable and what should be punished. But in the process, has quietly turned their student athletes into cash crops.
Cancellation of NCAA Football series
This all began back in the summer of 2013 when it was announced that the “NCAA Football” series would no longer continue. Just hearing that sentence gives fans of the series groans as it’s been missed dearly by the community.
This is not the first time the NCAA has cancelled one of their series. The NCAA also featured a “College Baseball” and “College Basketball” series. But both were discontinued.
Now, I understand that NCAA was only half of the issue and the other half was EA. But, neither could come to terms then and definitely not now.
The reasoning behind not coming to terms was no use of “player likeness”. Many roster creators use updated rosters, so technically there is a new game every year. But the same exact game outside of that.
CFP System Created
Ironically, around this same time, the NCAA got rid of the old “BCS Computer” System. Instead, they implemented a College Football Playoff. This began in 2014 and was a 12 man committee with a spokesman. The playoff featured a 4 team playoff format with the 2 winners facing in the National Championship game.
There were major questions regarding the Committee as their criteria for ranking teams was flawed and rigged. Most of the committee members were affiliated with the SEC, ACC, and Big 10. Adding that with the lack of Big 12 and Pac 12 representation gave the others an upper hand.
That is more of a conspiracy than a concrete fact, but the logic behind the hypothesis isn’t insane. This gave the NCAA a bit more control of who they wanted to make the playoff.
FBI Scandal in CBB that is still not resolved
This isn’t just a College Football issue either. Prior to the 2017-2018 College Basketball season, there was a huge FBI Scandal. It’s no surprise anymore that College Basketball schools are getting funds from their sponsors to pay recruits.
This scandal involved a lot of Adidas based schools and was headed by agent Christian Dawkins. There have been 25 schools that have been apart of this and the number of payments are well clear.
This is a scandal that has been going on for nearly 3 years and the numbers and evidence is eyepopping. So, why is there no consequences? Because the NCAA needs the top recruits and players to play for the team that’ll give them the most exposure.
Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Kansas, Xavier, Kentucky. All blue blood schools that are linked in this. All affiliated with Adidas.
The infamous Transfer Portal
The transfer portal within itself isn’t an NCAA issue. However, the decisions they’ve made for immediate eligibility is poor to say the least.
The Free Agency of College Football, the Transfer Portal stole headlines over this past off-season. The marquee players involved in transferring have made it must watch TV for this season.
Potential stars like Justin Fields, Tate Martell, and Kelly Bryant all transferred from big time marquee programs to go to other big programs. And if you take a look at the Transfer Portal, there are a plethora of players that are getting immediate eligibility.
I’m not complaining about players are getting that, but look at other positions. The QB list is full of them. While on the other hand, other positions are either getting their transferred waived or a year off.
These two made headlines and not necessarily fair for them. But Illinois TE Luke Ford and Virginia Tech C Connor Hoffman fall into this.
While players like Tate Martell and Justin Fields got immediate, because of losing a QB battle. Players with serious, family issues have to stay. Ford and Hoffman both fall into that and it’s sickening.
This isn’t meant to be a “we should stop the NCAA”. Instead, it is a “we need to be informed” that this is a legitimate issue. Not only with these specific sports, but with all sports.
The NCAA uses these student athletes as cash crops and market them. And what they get back will be a degree. But the wear and tear of their body won’t be given back.
Image Credit: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/basketball/news/final-four-2018-march-madness-mark-emmert-salary-ncaa-violations-fbi-investigation/14pxxs70fg07w1dy17cacwvwvz
