ASM’s payments to college basketball players is the latest reminder amateurism is a sham
By Chris Stone
Payments made to many of college basketball’s stars by agency ASM are the latest reminder NCAA amateurism rules are a sham
When a sports agent paying $100 for a meal for a prospective client’s family becomes a major news story, you know the rules are stupid.
Of course, the dollar amounts are higher and the purposes differ for a variety of payments and/or loans listed on balance sheets and expense reports from ASM Sports. The agency previously employed Christian Dawkins, one of the many individuals arrested and charged in September 2017 for playing a role in college basketball’s corruption scandal.
On Friday, Yahoo Sports detailed findings from its review of “hundreds of pages of documents” from the investigation. Enclosed in those documents are the details of how agencies like ASM do business. There is accounting of five-figure loans made to future professionals and/or their families or associates while still in high school or college as well as various expenses — including a $106.36 meal for lunch with Wendell Carter’s mother at what appears to be LongHorn Steakhouse — for the same.
Numerous others are named in the documents, from former lottery picks like Markelle Fultz and Josh Jackson to current stars, including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Kentucky’s Kevin Knox. They’re all there.
And that’s going to be the story. Big names from big schools in college basketball took money from an agent whether on loan or otherwise as part of the agency’s recruitment process. Such payments violate NCAA rules and therefore have significant implications.
Indeed, the NCAA has already issued a statement suggesting college sports in America as a whole is at risk as a result of these rules violations.
Seriously.
These things shouldn’t have to be the story. The headlines shouldn’t be about college players earning money. They should be about what this says about the sham of amateurism in college sports.
In other industries, these things aren’t uncommon. Law firms purchase meals for potential new lawyers and summer associates during interviews while they’re still in law school, for example. The legal industry is in no danger of collapse.
Like future lawyers, many college basketball players have marketable skills worth money to several people. That they aren’t allowed to be paid for those skills is asinine.
But, after all, we are talking about an institution whose lawyers are citing precedent used to deny prisoners fair wages for work as a justification for not paying its players. Yes, they are effectively comparing college athletes to prisoners.
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The futures of several of the country’s most prominent college basketball programs and players were tossed up into the air this morning. Many writers will spill ink on and many talking heads will chirp about the affront to college athletics that’s occurred here.
They shouldn’t.
Take a step back and focus on the larger institutional factors at work. The forest, not the trees. Amateurism in college athletics is a farce designed to generate profits for the few at the expense of the many. These latest revelations are only the most recent reminder.