Athletes deserve better, financially and ethically

It has been four weeks since I sent President Capilouto a letter urging him to publicly repudiate the cynical hoax of amateurism that allows UK to exploit young people and corrupt higher education’s academic integrity.

I wrote in my capacity as a concerned UK alumnus (B.A. 1995, J.D. 1998, M.L.S. 1999). He has not yet responded.

I write to share my view with the UK student body that college basketball and football players have an equitable right to a fair share of the $6 billion that their labor generates.

UK’s published values of integrity, institutional accountability and social responsibility are inconsistent with building a sports entertainment business on the backs of unpaid labor.

Although the players receive some in-kind benefits in exchange, the value is far less than they would earn if the market determined their compensation.

Tensions between academics and athletics are always resolved in favor of maximizing revenue. It is best to dispense with the charade that requires both the institutions and players to engage in student-athlete theater.

Rejecting the hoary sentimentalism that requires fealty to the “student-athlete” fiction would remove the incentives that drive academic corruption.

UK Athletics is directly funding $65 million of the new science and academic building. It is hypocritical to maintain that paying the players would destroy the integrity of the competition. I fail to understand the alchemy that leverages the shibboleth of “amateurism” to launder the otherwise corrupting loot into something virtuous when it funds UK facilities.

I encourage you to read Professor Taylor Branch’s October 2011 Atlantic article “The Shame of College Athletics,” and Joe Nocera’s December 2011 New York Times Magazine piece entitled “Let’s Start Paying College Athletes.”

Contact Dr. Capilouto to urge him to publicly support social justice for the players and to restore higher education’s integrity by paying a fair wage to college football and basketball players.

See letter from Coy-Geeslin to Capilouto here.