On Wednesday evening, NCAA players’ dissatisfaction went viral with the hashtag #notNCAAProperty on the eve before March Madness, the biggest tournament in college basketball. Players from fifteen of the tournament’s teams, including Rutgers’ Geo Baker, Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon, and Michigan’s Isaiah Livers, posted on social media in protest. Echoing the criticisms made by hundreds of athletes over recent years, players voiced that NCAA rules are unjust and “deny college athletes equal freedoms and basic protections.”
“The NCAA owns my name, image, and likeness,” Geo Baker tweeted, “Someone on music scholarship can profit from an album. Someone on academic scholarship can have a tutor service. For ppl who say ‘an academic scholarship is enough.’ Anything less than equal rights is never enough. I am #notNCAAProperty.”
It seems that the athletes desire more for this movement than a moment of viral attention on social media. The players have called for a meeting with NCAA president Mark Emmert, as well as meetings with Congressional lawmakers and members of the Biden administration. If NCAA refuses to make changes, players are looking to the federal government to make laws that give college athletes “physical, academic, and financial protections.”
The issue of name and image rights has been a point of contention between the NCAA and college athletes for many years. As it stands, athletes who receive any compensation for sponsorships or endorsements are ineligible in the NCAA. While the organization has slowly succumbed to the pressures of outspoken athletes and families and is lifting specific restrictions in some capacity, athletes are demanding more. Among the requests in the social media, protest is the changing of NCAA rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness by July 1st.
Much of the frustration stems from the strenuous COVID protocols that players are having to undergo in order to make this year’s tournament possible. While players undergo extreme testing and weeks without seeing family or friends, the NCAA rakes in billions of dollars. The broadcasting rights from March Madness make the NCAA $900 million dollars alone. The players see none of this revenue.
The conditions upon arriving in Indianapolis for the tournament only aroused feelings of being used and exploited. Athletes have been served cold, boxed meals without utensils. Their entertainment options are limited to puzzles in their hotel rooms. The NCAA has continued to unabashedly demonstrate their lack of respect for their student-athletes, who make them $900 million dollar checks.
There were whiffs of a boycott taking place but, all teams suited up for the beginning of the first round on Thursday night. Comments from Rutger Guard and movement leader Geo Baker, however, warn that a protest in later rounds might not be off of the table.
“The good part about this tournament is that it is over several weeks,” he said, “So there is time to come up with something.”
For more visit Talking Points Sports.
