The first day of spring is March 20. Before that day hits, The NCAA will have gone through the Bowl Championship Series Bowls, consisting of the Sugar; Orange; Rose; Fiesta and a BCS National Championship, and also the start of March Madness. The first round of the NCAA basketball tournament starts on the 16th of March. Between TV contracts, ticket and merchandise sales, the NCAA stands to have a big pay day. Super Bowl Sunday just wrapped what many might believe is probably the largest ad season: the NFL Post Season. According to The Washington Post, for the big game, the average price for an ad is $4 million. But March Madness has consistently made more over the past few years... and the spread is growing.
Marketplace.org says in 2012, TV ad revenue reached over $1 billion for March Madness. Think Progress says that in 2009, the college football bowl season made $261 million. In addition to this, the money from bowl season is tax-free, because bowls are considered non-profit organizations. The total for bowl season is less than a $100-million difference in what Major League Baseball made in 2012, and trumps the $101 million made by the professional hockey.
Once again, the large revenues for the NCAA question the idea to not pay student-athletes for the "risk" they take on the fields of play. A Forbes article says the waiting period to enter the NBA, one year, or the NFL, three years, is what forces people to feel students in these sports are exploited by their colleges. In all fairness, a lot of the rhetoric to go straight to the pros before the waiting period ended got louder once the NBA enacted its one-year plan in 2005. However, as the NCAA continues to see increased profits, the rhetoric will get louder.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I really want to know what you think.
Thanks for reading!