rec’ing this because it’s a great article.

The current system can go one of two ways: Towards amateurism or towards professionalism. This article was very enlightening.

Slavery analogies should be used carefully. College athletes are not slaves. Yet to survey the scene—corporations and universities enriching themselves on the backs of uncompensated young men, whose status as "student-athletes" deprives them of the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution—is to catch an unmistakable whiff of the plantation. Perhaps a more apt metaphor is colonialism: college sports, as overseen by the NCAA, is a system imposed by well-meaning paternalists and rationalized with hoary sentiments about caring for the well-being of the colonized. But it is, nonetheless, unjust. The NCAA, in its zealous defense of bogus principles, sometimes destroys the dreams of innocent young athletes

I hate this stuff. While the NCAA and college athletic departments are blurring the line, comparisons with slavery, and even colonialism are absurd.

The problem isn’t that college athletes are mistreated by universities, but that they are given special treatment even within the rules – by the administration, alumni and student body. They’re given free room and board (in the money sports), tutors, counselors, access to facilities, the best dorms, an instant network with heads of state and corporations, women. High school prospects kill themselves for this type of treatment. And, they have the choice.

On the flip side, pro sports has no business denying 18-year olds the right to work in their chosen profession. Further, these pro drafts dictate where someone will work and who they’ll work with. It’s a practical matter to ensure competitveness, but with certifed monopolies, it doesn’t make it right.